Emigrant Trail Terminus

Sonora was the destination of many emigrants traveling overland and sea routes. In 1852, the Clark-Skidmore Party of emigrants from Elizabethtown, Ohio, and Lawrenceburg, Indiana, struggled to force a wagon train up the Walker River and over the 10,000-foot pass east of Sonora. In 1853, more than 2,000 emigrants with 20,000 cattle followed, creating a new emigrant road to Sonora. Because the Walker River and Sonora wagon route was difficult for wagon travel, it was soon abandoned. The high-country Emigrant Wilderness was named to honor these pioneers. After major changes, the trail became an important passenger and supply route between the Bodie gold regions and Sonora.

Sonora, California · United States