In prehistoric and early historic times, the Truckee Valley near Verdi was occupied by the Washoe Indians, whose camps stood on the flats near the river, where many fish blinds supported this important subsistence activity, while an even earlier population left petroglyphs on boulders in the area. The Truckee River runs from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake and was first discovered by Captain John C. Fremont in January 1844. In 1844 the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend Party also followed the Truckee River into the Sierra and crossed the mountains by way of Donner Pass. The Donner Party rested on the Truckee Meadows at present Reno, but tarried too long and was caught by Sierra snows. Despite that tragedy, many emigrant trains to California, particularly from 1849 until 1852, traveled the Truckee route. In 1868 the Central Pacific Railroad followed the river's course. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the surrounding meadows echoed with the heavy exhausts of giant Southern Pacific cab-ahead articulated steam locomotives. During the same period, the primitive emigrant trail and early tollroads were developed into the Lincoln and Victory Highways, and then into U.S. 40 and I-80, today's freeway.