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 The End of the Hastings Cutoff Posted by:  Volcanoguy
N 40° 46.026 W 115° 55.357
11T E 590928 N 4513461
One of a group of signs at the entrance to The California Trail Interpretive Center.
Waymark Code: WMTKQJ
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 12/05/2016
Views: 4
Historical sign located at the entrance to The California Trail Interpretive Center between Carlin and Elko, Nevada along I-80.
Marker Title (required): The End of the Hastings Cutoff
Marker Text (required):
Across the valley you can see the canyon of the South Fork River, a major tributary to the Humboldt River. This portal is also the western end of the infamous Hastings Cutoff, which rejoined the main California Trail not far from the California Trail Center.
Lansford W. Hastings was an early entrepreneur who thought he had found a shorter route to California, claiming that his “cutoff” would save emigrants 400 miles and several days of travel. He promoted his route with an Emigrant Guide. Although he had not actually traveled the route, he persuaded a number of 1846 emigrants to travel with him, leaving the established California Trail at Fort Bridger, Wyoming.
Hastings and his initial group ran into difficulties almost from the start. First they had to find their way west through the punishing geographical maze of the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and then endure 80 miles without water across the desert and salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. This was followed by the high desert of eastern Nevada and a long detour around the Ruby Mountains. After these hardships, they had to travel through South Fork Canyon, making 14 crossings of the river before they could rejoin the California Trail.
The Donner-Reed party of 1846 had also been persuaded to follow Hastings. After much travail and loss of livestock, furniture, and wagons on the Salt Flats, they found upon rejoining the California Trail that they had actually added 125 miles to their journey. They had also spent three additional weeks of travel time. Just a few days short of reaching the Sierra Nevada pass that would eventually be named for their group, the Donner-Reed party was trapped by an early snowstorm and suffered tragic consequences through the winter of 1846-47. Their tragedy largely put an end to travel on the Hastings Cutoff.
County (required): Elko
Marker Type (required): Other (describe below)
Other Marker Type (optional): Fiberglass sign
Is Marker Damaged? (required): No
Other Damage Type (optional): NA
Marker Number (If official State Marker from NV SHPO website above, otherwise leave blank): Not Listed
URL - Website (optional): Not listed
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