By Mark Henderson and Rachel Preston Prinz
Summary
The Emigrant
Pass Old Spanish Trail segment is a well-established “choke” or pinch point in
a high mountain gap in the Nopah range, nearly equidistant between Stump
(formerly Escarbado) Springs to the east and Resting (formerly Archilette or Hernandez) Springs to the west -
two well established water sources and “camp sites” (or “parajes”) in the
Mojave Desert on the main route of the Old Spanish Trail, a pack trail and
livestock driveway between New Mexico and California. John C. Frémont wrote
a clear historical account of travel over Emigrant Pass during the 1829-1848 period of significance in the papers
from his “Second Expedition” in 1844 (Jackson and Spence 1970:684-685, Johnson
2009). The pass between the two desert
springs is topographically notable because it affords dramatic views of the
expansive desert landscape east and west of the craggy mountain pass. The location is archeologically interesting
because the landscape constriction allows for the possibility of physical
evidence that may survive from the period of use, nearly two centuries after it
served as part of what later became known as the Old Spanish Trail. Also, because of an incident of Paiute attack
on an advance group of Frémont ’s 1844 return caravan at Resting Springs, this 22 mile long corridor with approximately 2 mile long intact retracement
provides a particularly prescient opportunity for modern visitors to appreciate
the historical difficulties of living and working on the Mexican frontier.
The Emigrant Pass route segment of the Old Spanish National
Historical Trail is located in the Basin and Range physiographic province
(Thornbury 1965) as well as the Mojave Basin and Range Ecoregion (US EPA
2011). Emigrant Pass marks a mountain
pass six miles from the southern terminus and twenty miles from the northern
terminus of the rugged Nopah Range. The modern “Old Spanish Trail Highway”
through the historic pass is the only motor vehicle passage through the range
and separates the designated South Nopah Wilderness (17,000 acres) from the
Nopah Wilderness (106,000 acres).
The steep and rough Nopah Range is composed primarily of
Cambrian age sedimentary dolomite rocks of the Bonanza King formation
(Armstrong and others 1987: Plate 1) which give the mountain mass a medium to
dark gray hue contrasting to the brown hue of the Nopah Formation shale
surrounding it . Emigrant Pass at sits
at 2900 feet above sea level, 300 feet above the expansive California Valley
floor below, which defines the eastern boundary of this key observation
segment. The valley (“bajada”) gently slopes to the south toward the piedmont
toe of the Kingston Range, with its alternating fingers of brown and light grey
ridges and drainages. To the west, the steep walls of the canyon constrict the
field of view into the Chicago Valley in the direction of the small community
of Shoshone on the far side of the Resting Springs Range in the Amargosa
Valley. The rocky peaks of the steep
Nopah Range pass to the north and south rise toover 1000 feet above Emigrant
Pass. Nopah Peak, the highest point in
the range at over 6300 feet, is 8 miles away to the north, and out of view.
Emigrant Pass is in the creosote bush-burrobrush plant
association of the Mojave Desert scrub.
Native vegetation covers less than 40% of the cobble strewn surface of
the bajada’s margins but the preeminent creosote (Larrea tridentata which
Frémont named Zygophyllum californicum)
and White bursage (Ambrosia dumosa) nevertheless gives the valleys an olive
green cast (Rhode 2002:4-6) except in spring when these shrubs along with
herbaceous plants (particularly Acton encelia and to a lesser extent Desert
Trumpet [Erioginum inflatum]) give the landscape a bright yellowish cast. Introduction and expansion of the non-native
red brome (Bromus rubens) grass in the last century has altered the color and
texture of the bajadas by infilling between native plants. The spring wildflower bloom which impressed
Frémont in 1844 (Frémont 1848:262) and draws visitors to the region
today is only somewhat muted by the presence of the brome.
Foreground Landforms. In the foreground from the top of
Emigrant Pass are gravelly and boulder strewn slopes of the dolomite country
rock with the desert shrub of bright green creosote, lighter green white
bursage, Acton Encelia and an occaisional Mojave yucca, covering less than 25%
of the surface. Though low growing, and
not obscuring the rocky surface, red brome gives the intershrub spaces a
“fuzzy” brown cast softening the angular gray gravel and boulder-strewn slopes.
From the eastern approach to the Pass, a wagon road trace
follows a ridge spur rising from 2740 feet to 2940 feet in less than 0.20 miles
for a slope of 16%. The unimproved western approach is gentler, at 9.5%. In contrast, through contouring and
switchbacks, the current highway grade achieves the eastern summit with a grade
just under 4% and 7.5% on the western slope.
.
Distant Landforms.
Northwestern Field of View (west 260° to northwest 320°)from
Emigrant Pass. Too the west northwest at
a bearing centered at 290° is a series
of valleys and ranges in succession: Chicago Valley (5 miles), Resting Springs
Range (6 miles), Amargosa River Valley (11 miles), Dublin Hills (14 miles, just
west of the community of Shoshone), Ibex Hills (Ibex Peak, 4300 feet elevation,
20 miles at 270°), Funeral Peak (6100 feet high, 295° and35 miles) at the
southern end of the Black Mountains and Smith Mountain (5700 feet at summit,
285°, 35 miles) and on the horizon, the
Panamint Range dominated by snow capped (in winter and spring) Telescope Peak
(11,049 feet elevation,60 miles distant at a bearing of 290°), below which and
out of view in Death Valley is Badwater at 282 feet below mean sea level (the
lowest point in the US) and the sink of the Amargosa River.
Western and Southern Field of View (northeast 40° to west
southwest 190°) from Emigrant Pass. The
field of view from Emigrant Pass to the east is much more expansive than to the
northwest, and yet far less complex. In
close proximity is the broad south-westerly draining California Valley with a
floor at 2750 feet in the north and 2250 feet where it leaves the field of
view. Separating California Valley from
Pahrump Valley is a low series of unnamed hills overlooking the desert
community of Calvada Springs (hidden by the hills). It is through these hills 5 miles northeast
of Emigrant Pass,that Steiner
(1999:162-163) places the “Formidable Hill” that Orville Pratt described
in December 1848, which was eleven miles west of Stump Springs and an
incredible obstacle for wagontravel due to a rocky road bed and steep
ascent. These hills at the head of
California Valley are high enough that they obscure from view the broad Pahrump
Valley floor (elevation 2500 feet) to the north and upper reaches of the
Mesquite Valley floor to the west Obscured from view is the modern settlement
of Sandy Valley.
Barely unobstructed by the toe of the Nopah Range is Mount
Charleston (11,916 feet), the highest point in the Spring Mountain Range some
33 miles away. To the south of Charleston, at 75° and 33 miles away, is
Mountain Springs pass - a noted campsite on the Old Spanish Trail - beyond
which lies the Las Vegas Valley. South
of Mountain Springs at 80° and 32 miles distant is distinctive Mount Potosi
(8440 feet in elevation). The terminus of the Spring Mountains are obscured by
the north slope of the Kingston Range at about the location of Columbia Pass
(100° and 28 miles distant) the inferred route of Armijo in 1829 (Warren
1974:71).
The Kingston Range dominates the horizon from 100° southeast
and 14 miles distant to 170° and 8 miles away, with the jagged mountain mass at
Kingston Peak (7400 feet elevation bearing 145° and 13 miles distant) rising
5000 ft above the California Valley floor.
In sum from the vantage point of Emigrant Pass one can see a
span of ranges over 90 miles from Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range
(northwest, 60 miles away) to Mount Charleston in the Spring Mountains
(northeast, over 30 miles away).
Locations of suitable water and forage in the Mojave Desert
is rare, and therefore locating supplies of adequate abundance and quality has
historically been of great interest to
travellers and settlers. Mendenhall
(1909) mapped and described water supplies in the first decade of the Twentieth
Century. His research provides a basis
for locating trail routes and associated camping places, including Resting
Spring and Stump Spring which form the endpoints of the historic Emigrant Pass route segment.
Nature and Period of
Use
By the time Frémont named and travelled “The Spanish Trail”
in 1844, Emigrant Pass (though not yet so-named) was established as the major
pack trail and later wagon road between Resting Springs and Stump Springs,
which were distanced as per the tradition of
22 (Hafen and Hafen 1998:322) to 24 (Frémont 1848:265) trail miles between camps. Because of Emigrant Pass’s constricted
topography and its position between two known springs and pasturages in the
otherwise waterless Mojave Desert, perhaps no other route segment on the Old
Spanish National Historical Trail is as useful as a reference to seek
archeological evidence of use of the trail for westward pack mule freight and
eastward mule and horse drives between 1829 and 1848.
The “pinch point” to
which Comandante Antonio Armijo referred on January 12, 1830 as “Al Puerto sin
agua [to the Pass without water]” on the 66th day after leaving Abiquiu (Armijo
1830) in the opening of the California trade in woolen goods and draft animals,
is far from established at Emigrant Pass (Johnson 2009:16; Steiner 1999:40-49).
In fact when the alignment across the Mojave intersecting the Amargosa
including the section between Stump
Springs (Frémont ’s “Escobada” Spring)
and Resting Spring (Frémont ’s
“Archilette” Spring, which he renamed “Hernandez” Spring) may not be
ascertained without the discovery of additional historical sources on the
Mexican period that refer to the Mojave crossing. William Wolfskill and George Yount in 1831
traveled to California via the Mojave Villages (Hafen and Hafen 1993:151) and
the routes of other merchant trips to California are never specified (Merlan
and others 2011:20-28) and can only be inferred prior to Frémont ’s 1844 account in which he names, maps and
describes the “Spanish Trail” trade.
There may have been a complete hiatus of caravan travel to California
between 1834 and 1836 (Merlan and others 2011:23) and it may be after this that
a route via the Amargosa drainage was re-established for the California
trade.
In May of 1847, George Brewerton accompanied Kit Carson in
carrying military dispatches from California to New Mexico. From his account,
they followed the route that Frémont
mapped between Resting Springs and Stump Springs (Brewerton
1993:53-99). While giving no specific
reference or name to “Emigrant Pass,” Brewerton provides the only known
description of a New Mexican bound caravan which was driving mules and horses
eastward. Brewerton recounts an
infamous story of the 1844 massacre of New Mexicans at “Archilette” [Resting]
Spring and the subsequent retaliation by Kit Carson and Alexis Godey (two of
Frémont’s guides or “voyageur’s”) against the alleged Paiute perpetrators. This incident was repeated often by those who
wrote about Resting Spring and the crossing of the Mojave Desert on the
“Spanish Trail.”
Orville Pratt’s itinerary and diary (Hafen and Hafen
1993:356) states the distance between “Escarbado to the Archaletta [Resting]
Sp.” at thirty miles, repeating Choteau’s standard “marching distance”
itinerary which Pratt used to measure his progress from New Mexico to
California (Hafen and Hafen 1993:365-369). Pratt also states that the party
crossed over “[O]ne formidable hill, & much of the way sandy and
rocky.” This seems to be referring to
what later would be called “Emigrant Pass.”
As is typical of the entirety of the Old Spanish National
Historical Trail network, the “trail” is better known from mapping and
descriptions following the actual period of significane of1829-1848. For the portions of the Old Spanish Trail
that later became the “Salt Lake City to Los Angeles Wagon Road,” descriptions
of the trail with the “improvements” made for the first emigrant wagon roads
are particularly useful in evaluating the extent of alterations required to
convert the pack trail for wagon use (Hafen and Hafen 1998; Steiner 1999; Lyman
and Reese 2001, Lyman 2004).
Identity of People
who Created and Used the Trail
The only description of the general composition and
appearance of the Mexican trading caravans by an American observer is that of
Brewerton (1993:56-62) in 1847, who described
an eastbound livestock drive (not a westbound frieght mule caravan) as
“grotesque in the extreme”. This
description is consistent with the general composition (200 horse-mounted
Mexicans and 60 ‘Amercanos’ with additional freight mules) and scheduling of
the caravans (leaving New Mexico in October with woven goods arriving at Los Angeles
two and a half months later, and returning from California with upwards of
2,000 head of horses departing in April) reported in 1841 (Hafen and Hafen
1993:187). More than 250 mounted men and
double the number of pack mules is bound to produce at least a temporary strain
on water, forage,and even with low-impact camping practices will leave some
footprint at the locations of overnight camps.
The compaction produced by the loaded pack animals, with 100-250 pound
loads on the outgoing pack trail, and more than twice the number of animals
(albeit faster moving with fewer loaded) in the return livestock herd, would
have lasted only a day per year, and may not have produced any long-term scars.
Over a period of years, there may have been loss of vegetation and soil with
repeated use as seen at other OST nominated sites, but little evidence of any
kind exists at the California site, or most sites for that matter.
The historical accounts of the “jornadas” in the Amargosa
River basin regularly report encountering aboriginal encampments. Though Armijo may not have passed through
Emigrant Pass, he does unambiguosly identify finding a “rancheria”
or aboriginal settlement, where his caravan camped on the “rio de los
Payuches” or “the river of the Paiutes,”
today’s Amargosa River. The aboriginal
pattern is somewhat more complete in Frémont
’s description of the Archilette Spring incident of 1844 and Brewerton’s
retelling based on conversations with Kit Carson in 1844. In all these cases, it is inferred that the
Paiute aboriginals who attacked the Hernandez, Giacombe and Fuentes group may
have been displaced from their regular campsite in the vicinity of Resting
Springs, and that the Mexican “advance team” of 30 horses and riders camping
over a period of days resulted in the attack, which might have been the
culmination of long term resource damage by caravans passing through the Paiute
Amargosa territory. As Frémont and Brewerton tell it, the Indians were not
mounted and when Carson and Godey caught up with them, the Indians were
ravenously gorging on horsemeat being cooked in earthen pots – which implies
that they had something to do with the attack.
Also noted was the presence of over 70 pair of freshly made mocassins
inferred to be used as trade items with other Indian neighbors. In any event,
the oft-mentioned Paiute rancherias on the Amargosa River in later accounts
reinforce that the resident aboriginal population was adapting to changes the
livestock and passing travelers created.
Description and Dating
of the Site
The Old Spanish Trail route segment between Stump Springs
(in Clark County, Nevada) on the east and Resting Spring (in Inyo County,
California) on the west, including the Emigrant Pass key observation segment,
is approximately thirty miles in length and generally follows the alignment of
the modern paved road called the “Old Spanish Trail Highway.” Approximately 0.25 miles of this distance on
Emigrant Pass has been inventoried with the conclusion that it contains
alignments which appear to be remnants of pack trails and livestock driveways,
which may have been used during the OST
period of significance of 1829-1848 for long distance commercial purposes
between northern New Mexico and California (Padon and McIntosh 2009). Research and fieldwork for preparation of
this National Register nomination have led to the conclusion that the evidence
supporting the intact remnant of a period pack trail structure at Emigrant Pass
is doubtful, but that evidence of pack trail and livestock driveway uses within
the Emigrant Pass landscape based on historic documents is compelling.
There are five linear structures in the Emigrant Pass route
segment site (See Map 2). Contributing
resources include the site of what was formerly an original segment of the Old
Spanish Trail as described in 2. below, and non-contributing resources
represented as one site and four structures.
1. A noncontributing footpath (with
treadway 18” to 24” wide) alignment on the north end of the Emigrant Pass
saddle (inferred to be a pack trail structure by Padon and McIntosh [2009]), is
likely the remains of a cadastral survey alignment, highway survey control,
mining claim corner or removed telegraph/ telephone line alignment. The Nevada Centennial Marker Number 31 was
placed on this alignment in 1964 at the north side of the Emigrant Pass
saddle. The Marker has now become a
destination for foot traffic on the crest of the saddle from the gravel
viewpoint access road about 1600 feet south of the marker. From the marker, the treadway for the foot
path continues about 1200 feet north northeast contouring along the rocky slope
out of the Emigrant Pass saddle. The
footpath terminates at a milled lumber post wrapped with copper zinc
telecommunications wire. Headed west from the concrete marker, the foot path
alignment descends about 200 feet on a rocky sideslope to the floor of the wash
about 1600 feet away where it can no longer be followed in the active alluvial
deposits. This alignment would not be
selected for pack trail use because of its rocky uneven nature and because it
traverses the steep slope. While no
historical evidence has been found specifically for the inferred telephone or
telegraph line, such communications cables were being installed by the military
throughout the west during and subsequent to the Civil War (Coe 1993:62), and
many are mapped in the Wheeler Survey Atlas (though none is shown on Wheeler
Survey Atlas Sheet 66 through Emigrant Pass which dates to 1872).
This footpath structure does not
date to the period of significance of the Old Spanish Trail and doe not
contribute to the National Register property.
The alignment does however form a good pathway for visitors to Emigrant
Pass to view the historic alignments.
The wooden post wrapped with wire and rocks piled at the base of the
post are likewise objects that do not contribute to the Emigrant Pass Old
Spanish Trail property.
2. A non-contributing wagon road
alignment (from 10 feet to 30 feet wide) gains 200 feet on the crest of a spur
ridge in 1250 feet (16%) from California
Valley on the east and after a right angle turn to follow the crest of the
saddle for 250 feet, drops 140 feet in a distance of 830 feet (17%) into the
gentler slope of the drainage into Chicago Valley on the west. This alignment forms a direct approach to
the Emigrant Pass saddle on noses, or “ballena” crests (Peterson 1981: 50)
perpendicular to the slope. This
contributing site is propably the actual alignment of the pack trail,
substantially altered from its pack trail appearance by wagon use along the
Salt Lake to Los Angeles Wagon Road in 1849 (Hafenand Hafen 1998) which
probably continued to be fairly intense until the Kingston Cutoff became the
favored wagon route starting in 1854 (Steiner 1999:213-222). The east side of the route is more defined
than the west side being set on a cobble covered slope with rocky treadway and
cobble borders formed by removal of large loose rocks from the tread. The west side treadway is on loose silty soil
marked by cobbles that have been overturned exhibiting a white calcium
carbonate surface indicating that they have been displaced. There is a 75 foot segment on the lower
portion where erosion has gullied the treadway and a “by-pass” to avoid the
gully that has been formed, widening the treadway to 30 feet or more.
This wagon road structure is
believed to be placed on top of the pack trail alignment. The initial use of the pack trail by a large
wagon train in late November of 1849 (Hafen and Hafen 1998:94) have
dramatically and permanently altered the
pack trail structure that Frémont would have followed in late April 1844. While this alignment is inferred to be the
alignment of the pack trail, the structure is that of the later wagon road. The structure does not contribute to the Old
Spanish Trail National Register property, but the alignment is the site of the
pack trail in use during the Old Spanish Trail period and therefore does
contribute to the National Register property for this theme. The wagon road structure may contribute to
National Register character for other themes and periods of significance.
In addition, the intact setting of the pack trail
alignment contributes to the feeling and association of the National Register district for Old
Spanish Trail alignment.
3. A modern access road (20 feet wide)
to the summit of Emigrant Pass which
extends south and westward to the highway for 600 feet following the slope
contours at a grade of about 4%. Steiner (1999:165-166)reports that this cut
and filled grade was constructed by the “California Highway Department” as a
“scenic viewpoint” from the Old Spanish Trail Highway. The recently constructed viewpoint access is
placed on top of an historic alignment conatined within the contributing site that extends 400 feet south on the crest of the
saddle from the pack trail/wagon road descent into Chicago Valley, which has
been destroyed by the viewpoint access road (550 feet) and overlain by the
modern paved route for 330 feet, before this older grade diverts to the active
wash bottom for 600 feet then disappears.
This constructed grade partially underling the later viewpoint road and
modern highway thus has a length of about 1500 feet in descent from the crest
to the wash floor of 160 feet, or a slope of about 11% (significantly less than
the 17% on the unimproved pack trail-wagon route, but more than the 8% of the
modern paved graded alignment).
4. The grade of the modern paved “Old
Spanish Trail Highway” (about 40 feet wide) which has a constructed grade of
about 6% following the countours on the side of the ravine on the east
(California Valley) side of the Pass, and descends about 100 feet elevation on
the west (Chicago Valley) side at a grade of about 8%.
5. A modern foot path from the
viewpoint road to the concrete Centennial Marker (1600 feet) along the crest of
the Emigrant Pass saddle. This footpath
is essentially level. It follows the
historic road on the crest for the first 660 feet with foot worn disturbance in
each of the parallel ruts, passing the head of the pack trail-wagon road descent
into Chicago Valley about midway. From where the wagon roaddescends into
California Valley to the east the footpath proceeds on the crest of the saddle
for 960 feet to the concrete commemorative marker. The footpath tread is only 18”-24” wide and is
slightly sinuous as it wends its way between boulders and shrubs. This footpath is believed to be related to
the establishment of the Centennial marker, but may have been established prior
to this to access the alignment which is suspected of being a former
telephone/telegraph cable route (not a pack trail). This alignment does not a contributing
element to the Emigrant Pass Old Spanish Trail National Register District and
is subsequent to the period of use of the Old Spanish Trail.
The steep grades are preserved in all the alignments on
Emigrant Pass because of the rocky nature of the slopes and the shallow depth
of sediments to bedrock. This is unlike
the situation where less durable substrate on steep slopes is highly eroded and
rutted (for instance at Wells Gulch in Colorado and the Apodaca Trail in New
Mexico).
No portable artifacts dating to the period of significance
have been documented in the Emigrant Pass boundaries. Three non-linear structures which are
non-contributing to the Old Spanish Trail segment are located in the Emigrant Pass boundaries:
1. Wooden Post with telegraph wire and stone support at
base. A very weathered milled lumber post
approximately 3” x 4 “ in cross section and extending upright 4 feet
above the ground surface was located at the northern extent of the footpath
proceeding northeast from the concrete commemorative marker. This post has a slight bend about 2/3 of the
way from the base and has a length of smooth light gray wire about 1/8th inch
in diameter wrapped loosely around the top half of the post. A pile of about 15 cobbles 10-15 inches in
diameter are tightly packed at the base of the wooden post.
2. Concrete Commemorative Marker. Old Spanish Trail Commemorative Markers were
placed along the Old Spanish Trail as a part of the Nevada Statehood Centennial
in 1964 (Steiner 1999:84-85). Thirty-three of these concrete markers of a
standard size and shape (six feet tall, 6” x 6” at base, wieghing 200 pounds
each) marked “The Old Spanish Trail 1829-1855)were placed at key points on the
inferred alignment of the trail in the Mojave Desert of Nevada (and Marker 31
placed at Emigrant Pass in California [Steiner 1999:166]). The alignment from
this marker for about 1,000 feet north northeast to the wooden post and 1600 south
southwest to the drainage floor would be consistent with the rolling out of
telegraph wire from spools mounted on pack mules.
3. Rock Cairn. This
cairn composed of large native rocks is at a commanding point on a southeast
extension from the Emigrant Pass saddle.
It is constucted of about thirty bolders, at the base up to 24 inches in
dimension (probably weighing 50-75 pounds each) and after seven or eight
courses capped by a 12 inch diameter boulder, probably 15 to twenty
pounds. It is suspected that this cairn
may be a survey monument associated with early government surveys, such as
Wheeler conducted.
Appearance of Site
during Period of Significance
The approach and passage of a pack trail and livestock
driveway through the Emigrant Pass “puerto”, or “gateway,” is a result of ad
hoc transportation criteria needed to support mule pack freighting and
livestock driveway modes of transportation.
Any purposeful construction of a trail passageway was not by design, but
reflects creation on a regional scale by selecting routes that can be travelled
in a day’s journey (“jornada”) with predictable adequate water and forage
available for beasts of burden at the end of each day. Emigrant Pass was the most direct route between
predictable water and forage between Stump Spring and Resting Spring through
this otherwise waterless, hot desert scrubland. The route of the historic trail
alignments in the corridor reflects the daily requirements of water, forage and
rest spots for the livestock as well as food, fuel and hazard reduction
(extreme heat and attack) of the “voyageurs.” It is extremely likely that
evidence of the ephemeral pack trails or livestock driveways has been altered
or obliterated by natural erosion or revegetation and later use of the corridor
for wagon and motor vehicle traffic on top of trail alignments.
The landforms of the Emigrant Pass site appear much as they
did during the period of significance (1829-1848), with the major exception of
the lightly used paved highway which uses the same topographic corridor as the
pack trail and driveway would have used.
This contrast between subtle packtrail alignments and the modern highway
engineering is a striking example of the change in transportation and commerce
modalities in the last 175 years. Nevertheless
the modern highway does not dominate this setting composed of even more massive
landmarks, such as the Nopah Range, California Valley, Kingston Range and the
distant Spring mountains to the east and Panamint Range on the horizon to the
northwest. The setting of the Emigrant
Pass route segment appears much as it would have when mules loaded with 250
pound packs carrying items destined for trade with the Californios or herds of
horses and mules driven from California, destined for Santa Fe and Missouri
travelled through this pass nearly two centuries ago.
Unlike where the trail passed through soft erodible soils
where the animals sank in the dust up to their fetlocks, over Emigrant Pass the
animals most likely suffered from damage
to their hoofs and legs from a hard rocky base with loose cobbles that
necessitated careful negotiation of each step.
The vegetation of the landscape is much the same as in the
second quarter of the 19th Century. The
native species that were present then, are present today, although perhaps in
different proportions as a result of livestock grazing and introduction of exotic
invasive species. The invasion of red
brome (Bromus rubens) is not as easy to detect for the casual observer as the
highway. But the change created in the
landscape is perhaps more subtle for the brief period in the spring when the
brome “greens up” because the famous Mojave desert wildflowers still dominate
the scene. Brome does not directly
compete with native species, but fills the interstices between the native
plants. The change in color and texture
of the vegetation thereby is altered during the growing season and the dry
grass stems create a brownish cast throughout the year when it “cures
out.” The real risk that brome poses to
irretrievably change the appearance of the landscape is through alteration of
the fire cycle. Red brome expands its
range through fire (though not to the same extent of its cousin Cheatgrass
[Bromus tectorum] in more mesic desert environments), but more so by directly
competing for moisture where it establishes itself in the shade and base of the
native shrubs and competes with annual herbaceous natives and ultimately may
“choke out” the natives.
In line, form and color, the Emigrant Pass landscape is
still evocative of the 1829-1848 period of use.
Impacts and
Alteration of the Trail
The strongest protection for the Emigrant Pass landscape
which has and will keep it much as it
was two centuries ago is the designation of the Nopah Range and South Nopah
Wildernesses on either side of the 300’ wide modern highway corridor. These designations have protected the landscape
to some degree, and can continue to do so, though it must be noted here that
while the law prohibits off-highway use in the wilderness,it is apparent that
uses which endanger the landscape have occurred in recent times.
Most disturbance
which may have disguised or destroyed physical evidence of a Mexican Period
packtrail/livestock driveway is within the 300’ wide corridor seperating the
two Wildernesses. Foremost is the
construction of two constructed travelways (“grades”) for wheeled vehicles across
Emigrant Pass: an early unpaved grade and a later paved grade. Associated with the later paved highway grade
is an unpaved constructed grade to a “scenic viewpoint” on the Pass (Steiner 1999:165-166). As observed during the visit undertaken for
this project in late April 2011, this nearly invisible unsigned and undeveloped
view point is still well used. Most
visitors appear to be unaware of the historic significance of the Pass, so an
interpretive site as BLM in Nevada has developed at Stump Springs could provide
both protective and recreational
opportunities at Emigrant Pass.
There is some evidence of foot traffic from the scenic
viewpoint to the Old Spanish Trail “Centennial Marker No. 31” which contrary to
past assessments (Steiner 1999:167; Padon and McIntosh 2009) is not thought to
be a packtrail alignment from the Mexican Period. The movement of boulders out of the packtrail
(Padon and McIntosh 2009:Figures 8,9 and 11) is not consistent with the ad hoc
non-constructed nature of mule and horse
packtrails in the period, and associated artifacts are of late 19th or early
20th Century manufacture. In brief,
after reviewing many segments of known trail, this segment of trail just does
not cofmorm to the standard responses to its environment. It skirts challenging
boulder-alignments that are easily avoided, it does not have re-positioned
rocks kicked from center to the sides of the trail by mule feet, and there is a
very easy grade more centrally located on the pass which it just would not make
sense to avoid. Foot traffic of visitors
to the Marker, the presence of milled lumber on the point on the northeast end
of the inventoried alignment where the trace disappears and foot traffic both
directions from the marker all indicate that the alignment may be related to
land surveying, communications wiring, or engineering for highway construction.
There is some threat to the integrity of the site by
catastrophic wildfire due to the presence of Red Brome, but because of the
rocky exposed substrate and space between shrubs, there is probably not as much
risk as there is in the deeper alluvial soils and closer crown distances in the
valley floor.
Current BLM and non-governmental agency environmental
education programs such as Tread Lightly help assure that inadvertant damage
does not occur with Off-Highway vehicles outside of designated areas.
Livestock grazing is no longer permitted in the Emigrant
Pass area (USDI BLM 2002:Figure 2,3-24).
The site could be further damaged by the construction of
wind or solar renewable resources, mining activities, or ATV/road use
expansionon the actual site or within the viewshed,
Previous
Investigations
The Emigrant Pass route segment as defined here can be
placed as a segment of the “Main Route”
or “Northern Branch” route of the Old Spanish Trail (Hill 1921, Hafen &
Hafen 1993, Auerbach 1941, Steiner 1999, Lyman 2002). Previous formal archeological investigations
to identify physical evidence are limited to the work of Padon and McIntosh
(2002) who recorded an alignment they believe is an intact pack trail segment
(Site #14-10064) dating from the Mexican Period. Informal reconnaissance has been conducted to
locate the “Old Spanish Trail” in the Emigrant Pass area since at least 1964
with the Nevada Centennial Project led by Scoop Garside(Steiner
1999:83-90). As transportation networks
have improved interest in locating trail traces has not waned, most notably
with the work of Steiner (1999) and Lyman and Reese (2002) and Lyman
(2004). The establishment of the Tecopa
Chapter of the Old Spanish Trail Association in 2005 not only reflects
continuing avocational interest in locating evidence of the trail, but has
created ongoing alliances with professional historians and archeologists to
promote documentation and protection of trail sites, including landscapes.
There is no evidence of imported materials dating to the
period of significance for this segment of
the trail. Apparently, not even
the muleshoes and horseshoes regularly connected to later-period draught animal
and wheeled vehicle travelways were being used during the Old Spanish Trail
period of1829-1848. No imported objects
have yet been located on route segments of the Old Spanish Trail that can be
associated to that use of the corridor and the 19-year long period of
significance, though attribution to the “Mexican” or “Spanish” Periods can be
ascertained. The materials that the “arrieros” (muleteers) and “yegueros” (mule
and horse drovers) used and worked were those materials occurring naturally
within the environment and which could be easily manipulated.
Integrity of the
Emigrant Pass Route Segment Site
The 1.75 mile long, quarter mile wide, Emigrant Pass site
contains no identifiable segments that can be convincingly argued to reflect
pack trail traces contributing to the 1829-1848 period of significance. The
existing alignments on the Emigrant Pass site were likely to have been the
result of uses subsequent to the original pack trail and livestock driveway
alignments in use from 1829-1848. The
trace of the unimproved wagon route may been laid over the earlier pack trail
alignment, but has been substantially altered by and subsequent use to the
current day. It is unlikely that a pack
trail used once a year for 500-1000 animals in a pack caravan, or 1500 to 5000
head of mules and horses would be detectible on these resistent natural
surfaces after 160 years if it were not for subsequent use. Taken as a whole,
the site constitutes a contributing key observation segment (site/point) within
an intact Old Spanish Trail historic landscape which contributes to the
National Register of Historic Places.
Due to its relatively remote location and rocky geography,
the historical pass landscape has been conserved. The major intrusion in the landscape is the
Old Spanish Trail Highway. From the
Visitor’s viewpoint constructed in 1964 at the Emigrant Pass summit, there is
little evidence of modern roadways, buildings, industry or altered
landscapes. The viewpoint itself is in a
300’ wide right-of-way between two wilderness units. The historic Emigrant Pass Route Segment Site
retains the aspects of integrity of location, setting, feeling and atmosphere
as described in period historical accounts (Frémont 1848 and Brewerton 1849, any would provide
visitors with a “vicariously experience” reminiscent of the travelers during
the period of significance.
Location. Emigrant
Pass is an intact Old Spanish Trail landmark that historical evidence indicates
was used as a commercial pack trail and livestock driveway between New Mexico
and California during portions of the designated period of significance between
1829 and 1848, and which continues as the singular transportation corridor
passing through the Nopah range to the present day.
Setting. Landform,
color and texture are largely unaltered from what would have been observed from
the back of a mule or horse in 1829-1848, or earlier. Vegetation has been qualitatively altered by
the expansion of non-native red brome (Bromus rubens) grasses. The brome invasion has altered the background
vegetation color to a reddish-green for about two weeks in spring which fades
to straw colored when it cures out. Brome alters the texture of the land
surface by covering the bare ground interstices between native shrubs and
herbaceous plants with a “fuzzy” appearing brownish growth that softens the
otherwise “sharp” appearance of the bare ground surface. Brome also alters the
fire cycle and is a major factor in extirpation of native vegetation through
wildfire.
The paved but lightly used “Old Spanish Trail Highway” is an
obvious intrusion in the setting, but illustrates the importance of this link
between the east and east sides of the Nopah range.
Feeling. Even though
the Emigrant Pass route segment is almost entirely within view and earshot of a
lightly used county highway, the overall landscape retains the general
character of the historic landscape through which the mule freighters and livestock driveway merchants passed with
extraordinary vistas without substantial modern intrusions (even the paved
county “Highway”). The location and setting accommodate the experience of
leaving the “modern world” behind and envisioning the conditions that would
have existed for those using the trail during the period of significance.
Association. Emigrant
Pass is integrally associated with the use of the commercial pack trail from
New Mexico to California in fall and the return to New Mexico in spring with
herds of horses, as was established in 1844 when Frémont mapped and documented the use of the route.