Development and use of the Nobles Emigrant Trail, an important 19th century pioneer route that passed through what is now Susanville, will be the topic of a Lassen Land and Trails Trust “Discover Lassen” presentation this Wednesday, April 17th, at 7:00p.m., at the historic Susanville Railroad Depot, 601 Richmond Rd. in Susanville.
Speakers will include Ken Johnson, author of The Nobles Emigrant Trail, and Jake Martin, an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management’s Eagle Lake Field Office in Susanville.
The presentation will include a screening of a short film, The Historic Nobles Emigrant Trail, produced by the Advanced Laboratory of Visual Anthropology at California State University, Chico, in partnership with the BLM and Susanville Indian Rancheria.
Explorer William Nobles pioneered the trail in 1851 and it came into wide use a year later. It gained popularity as a shorter and more direct route to California’s Sacramento Valley. Thousands of emigrants used the route.
Remnants of the trail are still visible. Johnson will present a slide show and explain that the trail from the Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to Shasta City in California is one of the easiest and most interesting emigrant trails that can be paralleled in vehicles.
