Beginning as a pack trail in 1851, this route was used by Greathouse & Co. to mule passengers by 1854. James E. Carr, under contract to the California Stage Co., finished the last six miles of road from the Trinity River to this point on Sept. 14, 1860. Two days later, the first daily mail and passenger stage, driven by Williamson Lyncoya Smith, crossed here. A stage stop and 100 mule barn stood here to provide lodging, meals, and relief teams. In winter, the road was kept open by oxen that broke trail and by sleighs that carried passengers and express. Known as the Western Branch of the California – Oregon Trail, it was considered safer from Indian raids than trails to the east, and this old toll road fell into disuse after the railroad through the Sacramento River Canyon was completed in 1887.