Applegate - Lassen Emigrant Trail Cutoff

Jesse and Lindsay Applegate headed south from Williamette Valley, Oregon, on June 29, 1846, seeking a less hazardous route to that region from the east. On July 21, they reached a large meadow on the Humboldt River at what is now the nearby Rye Patch Reservoir, establishing the Applegate Trail. During the rest of 1846 and the next two years, Oregon emigrants successfully traveled this trail. In 1848, Peter Lassen, hoping to bring emigrants to his ranch, guided a party of 10 to 12 wagons bound for California. From here he followed a route to Goose Lake and then turned southward over terrain that was barely passable, and the emigrants suffered great hardships, with many lives and livestock lost, giving it the name "Death Route."

Imlay, Nevada · United States