The Placer County Emigrant Road, known today as the Western States Trail, extended from Yankee Jim's on the Foresthill Divide to the Washoe Valley in Nevada. Built in 1852, the road served emigrants before providing a link to the Comstock boom towns such as Gold Hill, Silver City and Virginia City in Nevada. In September, 1931, pioneer horseman Robert Montgomery Watson, along with the Native Sons of the Golden West, completed marking the portion of the trail from Lake Tahoe to Auburn.