Central Overland Trail
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Central Overland Trail
The Central Overland Trail across Nevada emerged in the late 1850s as a critical shortcut on the Overland Route to California. Originally scouted by Howard Egan in 1855 and surveyed by U.S. Army Captain James H. Simpson in 1859, the route crossed the central Great Basin south of the Humboldt River, linking Salt Lake City to Carson City, crossing a series of north-south mountain ranges and barren valleys of the territory's Basin-and Range geography. At the time, standard routes like the California Trail looped far to the north to avoid the harsh, arid basins of central Utah and Nevada. By following a chain of mountain passes and desert springs through the basin-and-range terrain, the trail cut roughly 280 miles and about two weeks of travel time compared to the previous California Trail along the Humboldt River. The Army improved the road and developed the desert springs in 1859-1860, and it quickly became the preferred corridor for stagecoaches, freight, and emigrant wagons.
Throughout the 1860s, the trail served as the critical national corridor linking California to the rest of the Union, particularly during the Civil War in 1861-1865. It hosted the Pony Express relay riders from April 1860 until October 1861, on their 10-day mail service between Missouri and California, and was immediately followed by the first Transcontinental Telegraph line in 1861, linking coast-to-coast communications along the same path. The route was used heavily by Ben Holladay's former Butterfield, and later Wells, Fargo & Co. stage and mail coaches, with their relay and home stations spaced roughly every 10 to 12 miles. The trail remained the primary artery for mail, passengers, and freight until 1869 when the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad permanently shifted cross-country movement of this traffic further north.
Egan's Route
On September 19, 1855, Howard R. Egan departed Great Salt Lake City on mule-back to deliver Pacific Express Company packages to Sacramento. It took 11 days to traverse the 500 miles. The result was that Egan scouted a Central Overland Route between Great Salt Lake City and San Francisco. Egan's route was in contrast to that of the Oregon Trail to the north and the Santa Fe Trail to the south, and to Chorpenning's Overland Mail route along the Humboldt River. When Captain James H. Simpson of the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1859 was ordered to map a road from Camp Floyd to Genoa at the California border, he recommended the route scouted by Egan. This became the Overland Trail for the stagecoaches, the Pony Express, and subsequently the telegraph, the railroad, and the "Lincoln Highway."
In 1855, and for several years thereafter, Howard Egan was employed by Livingston & Kincaid of Great Salt Lake City to purchase cattle and drive them to California.
When Chorpenning changed his Overland Mail route from northern Nevada to central Nevada, Chorpenning hired Egan as superintendent for his overland stage mail route between Great Salt Lake City and the California along the route Egan had scouted in 1855. Egan established his headquarters at Deep Creek, where he and his family remained until 1875.
While Butterfield ran the southern route, explorers and stage operators were proving the benefits of a direct central passage. The surveys of Howard Egan in 1855, and Army Captain James H. Simpson in 1859 identified a direct route straight across the Great Basin. This "Central Overland Route" went south from Salt Lake City to where the military post at Camp Floyd was set up in 1858, then west to the Deep Creek mountains and across central Nevada directly to Carson City, cutting 280 miles off of Chorpenning's old Humboldt River trail.
(Archive.org - Howard R. Egan, "Pioneering the West, 1846–1878," published in 1916)
The following comes from the Salt Lake Tribune, November 26, 1950.
To Goshute Indians of the region, this valley between the mountains had long been a favorite campsite known to them as Ibapah — "the place of deep-down water." Major Howard Egan, pioneering his new wagon route from Salt Lake to Sacramento, probably did not know of the old Indian name, but he decided upon the valley as a desirable relay station for mail stages and entered it in his log as "Deep Creek." This name it was to bear through all its historic years, the ancient Indian title having been restored only in comparatively recent times.
Searched for Trail - The Egan trail, in its day, was as important a development as jet propulsion would be to the civilization of a century hence. Virtually every California-bound wagon train of the late 1840s and early 50s had followed the Humboldt river, whose tortuously winding course led them far out of their way in endless miles of weary, unproductive travel.
Egan, a major in the Nauvoo Legion, was during these years in the employ of Livingston & Kinkead, pioneer Salt Lake traders, and was engaged in driving Utah cattle to the coast where better markets were available. He long had felt that a shorter and more feasible crossing of western Utah territory must be available than that afforded by the circuitous Humboldt, and on one of his return trips to Salt Lake, in 1855, he took leave of the river route and headed east across the mountains from Carson valley.
Made a Bet - Few difficulties attended Major Egan's passage and his arrival in the city of saints found him so enthusiastic over the new route that he offered a wager: To prove the advantages of the Egan trail he would follow its course and ride a mule from Salt Lake City to Sacramento in 10 days—an accomplishment seemingly impossible.
In September of that year [1855], the Major proved his claim, leaving Salt Lake on the 19th of the month and arriving in Sacramento on the 29th. The record-smashing ride was made by way of the watered valley which Egan had logged as Deep Creek.
George Chorpenning, pioneer mail contractor on the Utah-California run, eventually became convinced of the advantages offered by Egan's route and in October, 1858, began the establishing and equipping of relay stations and forts along the new trail. By mid-December, all stages of the Overland Mail were clattering over the new road and in their wake came freight wagons and emigrant trains.
Meanwhile Egan had become associated with Chorpenning as superintendent of the Salt Lake-Sacramento division of the Overland, and he and his several stalwart sons were operating stage stations at Ruby valley, Nevada territory and at Deep Creek, which was known as the Egan's' "home ranch."
Early Truck Farm - Here, on irrigated valley lands tilled by Indian laborers, the Egans raised hay and grain for mail stations less favorably situated, likewise supplying their tenders with vegetables and potatoes from a huge garden, and with fresh beef and mutton. Twenty cows were kept for milking. Here was brought one of the first threshing machines in the territory, and a small sawmill was installed for the milling of logs cut in Eight-Mile and Fifteen-Mile canyons and hauled to the ranch by ox team. With riding range, herding sheep, breaking and training and shoeing wild horses, plowing, planting, irrigating, harvesting and haying, no ranch between Salt Lake and Carson valley was busier or so well maintained.
In addition to ranching and freighting activities, the Egans served meals to stage drivers and passengers, provided lodging if desired, and operated Deep Creek's first general store, stocking everything from diapers to dried apples. Whether much profit attended the latter venture is open to question.
Captain James H. Simpson
In 1859, Captain James Hervey Simpson of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers led an expedition across the Great Basin, crossing today's central Nevada. His mission was to locate a direct, practical wagon road between Camp Floyd, Utah Territory, and Genoa in Carson Valley, at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada range, at the far western edge of Utah Territory (modern Nevada).
The surveyed path he established followed Howard Egan's earlier path and became a major transportation artery in the American West. The new route shortened by roughly 250 miles, what was then the standard route along the Humboldt River.
Emigrants traditionally followed the northern curve along the Humboldt River. Simpson sought a direct central overland route across the succession of north-south mountain ranges and desert valleys comprising the Great Basin.
The Simpson survey had been ordered by General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding the Department of Utah at Camp Floyd, to find a shorter route west toward California to resupply existing and planned military posts and improve communications.
Simpson left Camp Floyd on May 2, 1859, leading a party of 64 men. The command included scientific specialists (such as geologist Henry Engelmann and photographer John K. Fellers), military escorts, guides, and teamsters.
Traveling westward through central Nevada, Simpson relied heavily on local Shoshone and Paiute guides and local mountain men like John Reese. His route crossed several prominent valleys, including the Diamond, Antelope, and Reese River valleys, before reaching Genoa in early June.
On his return trip to Utah later that summer, Simpson explored a slightly modified variant route to test better water sources and lower mountain passes.
Simpson’s Central Route proved so direct and viable that it was immediately adopted by William H. Russell for the Central Overland Stage Line. In April 1860, the Pony Express adopted this same alignment across Nevada.
Edward Creighton utilized Simpson’s surveyed path in 1861 when stringing the first transcontinental telegraph line across the Great Basin.
Simpson’s final report, "Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah for a Direct Wagon-Route from Camp Floyd to Genoa, in Carson Valley, in 1859," provided meticulous mapping, geological observations, weather measurements, and early ethnographic documentation of the Great Basin Shoshone and Northern Paiute.
Simpson named numerous physical features during the survey, including the Reese River (after guide John Reese), Egan Canyon (after Howard Egan) and various valleys, passes, and mountain peaks across central Nevada.
Today, U.S. Route 50 (often dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America") closely follows the general corridor surveyed by Captain Simpson across Nevada.
Simpson's Report
The "Report of Explorations Across the Great Basin of the Territory of Utah" is a historical government document written by U.S. Army Captain James H. Simpson detailing his 1859 expedition to map a direct wagon route across the Great Basin.
- Author: Captain James Hervey Simpson (1813–1883), a U.S. Army topographical engineer.
- The Route: A direct, roughly 300-mile wagon path stretching from Camp Floyd (Utah) to Genoa in Carson Valley (Nevada).
- Purpose: To find a faster path than older southern routes, which later helped guide the Pony Express, the Overland Mail, and telegraph lines.
- Contents: The 518-page report includes detailed observations on geography, geology, meteorology, and local tribes.
- Publication: Though the expedition took place in 1859 and the report was submitted in 1861, full publication was delayed until 1876 due to the Civil War.
More Information
(Read the FamilySearch Wiki about the Central Overland Trail; includes a map)
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