Sonora Pass Emigrants and Tuolumne County Pioneers
The Demise of the Walker River Trail
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After the initial excitement of the Gold Rush had subsided, overland migration fell off considerably. There are no accounts of emigrants using the Walker River Trail after 1854, but most likely a few took advantage of the direct route into the Southern Mines. At the same time several new trails opened up leading into California, among them the Big Trees Trail and an improved route over today's Echo Summit (Highway 50 by Lake Tahoe).
When reports of gold discoveries along the Walker River and in other places in Mono County began to reach California later in the decade, the Walker River Trail became a convenient route for miners to access the new diggings. Pack trains made regular trips over the old Sonora Pass route, delivering much needed to goods to places as Mono Diggings. After an initial excitement it appeared that the eastern Sierra gold strikes would prove to be more excitement than actual gold, but around 1861 discoveries in places such as Aurora, Nevada, brought a stampede of interest in the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
Talk of building a road across the mountains drew support from Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Calaveras, Mariposa, and Tuolumne Counties. Early investigations soon concluded that the old Walker River Trail was not a feasible route for a road. Surveyors looked instead to the route now followed by today's Highway 108. After a lot of arguing and discussing and rearranging of routes, work finally began in the early 1860s. The new road led from Strawberry up the ridges above the Stanislaus River and through popular camping places today such as Dardanelle and Kennedy Meadows .
The Sonora and Mono Road was finally completed in the fall of 1864. Soon afterward the mining strikes in Aurora and the surrounding area played out. After that, the Sonora and Mono Toll Road was only used by a few farmers delivering their goods to the eastern Sierra and an occasional herdsman driving his flock to mountain pasture. It appeared that the road might be neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair. Then in 1878 the fabulous strikes in Bodie erupted.
Suddenly the Sonora and Mono Road was the most popular route to Nevada south of Placerville. Wagons stacked up one after another, hauling supplies to Bodie. Eventually, though, the excitement over the new strikes played out and things settled back to a more easy going pace.
Meanwhile, the old Walker River Trail was completely forgotten as travelers used the toll road. Erosion swept away most remnants of the old emigrant trail so that today in most places no traces remain. Fortunately the route is preserved in the Hoover and Emigrant Wilderness areas, and those who know where it is can walk along it, experiencing the trail much as the pioneers did.
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Complete information about the best fishing destinations in the Sierra, including the Sonora Pass region.