A Forgotten Highway: The Henness Pass Road, Part 1

Editors's Note: The following article was originally printed in Sierra Heritage (1997) and included in Echoes from the Hills (2022), the collection of Baker's writing issued by his daughter Betsy Webb. The article is the last of his published pieces, released a few weeks before Baker died.

The history of transportation in California discloses remarkable contrasts: from the sandal-footed Padres with their wooden-wheeled ox carts to today’s thousands of highly engineered automobiles. Modern highways and railroad lines in the Sierra Nevada today follow the pioneer trails through the mountainous passes with one exception: the Henness Pass. Who would believe that one of the most heavily traveled routes in its day would disappear from even most California maps?

Originally a trail first used in late 1849, the Henness Pass Road stretched from near Verdi in the then-Territory of Utah (later to become the Territory of Nevada), over the Sierra Nevada Mountains via Webber Lake, over 6700’ Henness Pass, down the ridge between the North and Middle forks of the Yuba River to its junction with Yuba and Nevada counties.

It is thought that the road route was designed by Patrick Henness in 1849 or 1850, although some argue that Joseph Zumwalt, who later became a miner in Downieville, established the route.

In 1852, construction on the primitive road made the route over Henness Pass into a toll road passable for wagons. Records show that as early as 1850 the Henness Pass Road was heavily traveled to the rich quartz and placer fields of Northern Mines.

Alternate routes over the Sierra Nevada were explored subsequent to the 1846-1847 Donner Party tragedy, Other trails with less grade and more forage for livestock were chosen - the Henness Pass among them. Starting at today’s Verdi in Nevada, through Dog Valley to Webber Lake, the Henness Pass Road avoided the deep canyons of the Yuba River system. It followed the ridge tops over the 6700’ summit down to Marysville and into the Sacramento Valley. For over a decade supply trains from the valley and emigrants from the east to gold camps traversed the road.

A letter sent to the editor of The Mountain Echo by Mr. J. L. Henness, published in the September 11, 1852, issues of that newspaper, describes the emigrant route over the Henness Pass, starting in the region of the Meadows of the Humboldt River east of Reno, Nevada:

“From the Meadows to the Sink - 20 miles; thence across the Great American Desert - 45 miles to the Big Meadows’ to the Big Truckee River; thence up the Truckee 30 miles to the Big Meadows; thence up said river - 12 miles (5 crossings), thence up a sloping mountain and down a beautiful valley - 4 miles; thence up the old Nevada Road to the junction of roads - 4 miles (here the Downieville Road leads to the right); thence to the Little Truckee - 8 miles; thence up said river to the Lake and Summit; thence down the middle Yuba to Jackson and Henness Ranch - 8 miles; thence to the foot of the mountains - 5 miles; thence to Galloway’s Ranch- 14 miles; thence to Downieville - 4 miles.”

By the end of the 1850’s the Gold Rush was waning and miners sought other endeavors. A rag-tag group gathered in Carson Valley in the Utah Territory (now Nevada) and hit meager pay dirt at the Northern Canyon in 1857. Too focused on gold, they tossed away material they termed, “that danged blue stuff” that clogged their sluices and rockers. In May 1859, Pat McLaughlin and Pete O’ Riley hit good color in Six Mile Canyon but still moaned about “that danged blue stuff.”

In late 1859, a rancher at Truckee Meadows (now Reno) named Harrison and a trader by the name of J.F. Stone had a hunch about that “blue stuff” and sent two sacks of it over the Henness Pass Road to Nevada City and Grass Valley. There assayists J.J. Ott and Melville Atwood found the ore to be worth $3,000 in silver and $800 in gold per ton.

Judge James Walsh had helped arrange the ore analysis and agreed with the others to keep this information quiet until the insiders had a chance to buy into the claim. Before daybreak, he and Joseph Woodward were astride at a full gallop over the Henness Pass Road toward Virginia City and the Big Silver Bonanza.

As word of the strike spread, the rush was on. Soon all the roads to “Washoe” were jammed with stages and freight wagons. With its easy grades and established mining camps along the way, the Henness Pass Road became one of the more popular routes to the Comstock.

The dust was almost unbearable, and traffic became so heavy that passing became a problem; turnouts were few. A traffic congestion solution was sought, and it was suggested that freight wagons travel by day and passenger stagecoaches by night. Meals were available en route at stage stops or way houses: Riley Lone’s House, Mooney Flat, Anthony House, Bridgeport, French Corral, North San Juan, Freeman’s Crossing, Our House, Clerkin’s Ranch, Plum Valley, Fred’s Ranch, Cornish Ranch, Middlewaters, English Dam, Jackson Meadows and Webber Lake. The stops were placed approximately 10 miles apart.

In next week's edition readers will learn about the more about how the road was improved during the 1860s, the time when it was the route used to deliver silver from Virginia City to the markets around the world.