City of Rocks Historic Resources Study

The first emigrants loudly protested their vulnerability to Indians and to the disingenuous misinformation of opportunistic trail guides. They lamented the rough and unimproved nature of the road and the lack of mail and supply posts, of hospitals, and of blacksmith shops. In 1857, Congress funded survey and construction of the Fort Kearny, South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road, along which the City of Rocks served as one of three primary diversion points (see Figure 7). Between 1858 and 1860, federal crews, under the supervision of William M.F. Magraw (east of South Pass) and of Frederick Lander (west of South Pass) felled trees, constructed bridges, and developed reservoirs along a crude but graded highway known to emigrants as the "Lander Road." From Soda Springs to Fort Hall, this route ran north of the old emigrant road along a more direct route, through country reportedly blessed with ample water, grass, and timber. West of Fort Hall, minor improvements provided slightly better access to the City of Rocks. Beyond the city, road improvements ultimately included an improved western descent over Granite Pass and construction of reservoirs at Rabbit Hole and Antelope Springs northwest of the Humboldt River, lessening the danger of Humboldt Desert passage. [69] Completed in time for the 1859 travel season, Lander's Road served as many as 13,000 wagons in its inaugural year.

Construction of the Simpson Road from Salt Lake City due west to the Carson Valley (roughly paralleling the abandoned Hasting's Cutoff [see Figure 6] ) also impacted emigrant travel through the City of Rocks. The road, surveyed in 1859 by Captain James H. Simpson of the U.S. Army's Topographic Engineers, saved approximately 288 miles over the northern City of Rocks route — or approximately two weeks of emigrant travel. By 1860, the road had diverted winter postal and express carriers from the City of Rocks route (an inevitable change as Granite Pass had already proved impassable in winter) and served as the primary Pony Express route to California. In a promotional battle over the two roads — a battle reminiscent of the promises made by an earlier generation of trail guides and traders — high-ranking government officials preached the virtues of the Simpson route. By 1860 the traffic from Salt Lake had increased to the point that troops were deployed to protect the emigrant trains. Simpson himself admitted, however, to the "possibility" that those "desiring to travel through to California without passing through Great Salt Lake City . . . for purposes of replenishing supplies, . . . would be best to take the Lander cut-off at the South Pass and keep the old road along the Humboldt River." [70] Thousands of emigrants agreed, bypassing Fort Bridger and Salt Lake City and keeping to the Lander Road. Briefly, however, from 1860 until 1862, construction of the Simpson Road did halt most California-bound traffic on the Salt Lake Alternate to the City of Rocks. This traffic resumed in 1862, when gold was discovered in the Boise Basin. [71]

By 1860, emigrants faced a remarkably different journey than that undertaken by their predecessors: they traveled along surveyed and graded roads, crossed the most deadly rivers by bridge or ford, and watered their stock at constructed reservoirs. Blacksmith shops and trading posts had been established and mail could be sent and received enroute. [72]