Hi Marilyn, I'm happy to do some research for you about the Nobles Trail. Others on the Lists most likely have more information to add. The first citations are from: "These Happy Grounds; A History of the Lassen Region" by Douglas Hillman Strong, Professor of History, California State University, San Diego; published by the Loomis Museum Association, 1977. "The Nobles Trail, prominent among the new routes to California, ran directly through the present Park. (Lassen Volcanic National Park) The idea for this trail originated with William H. Nobles, a skilled artisan from Minnesota who joined a party of some 80 men on a prospecting trip in the mountains of northern California in 1851. Nobles crossed into northwestern Nevada, and on his return trip, via the northern slope of Lassen Peak, he realized that he had discovered a far more direct route to California than any previously followed, and far superior to the ill-fated Lassen Trail. He proposed that this route be developed as a trail and stressed the commercial advantages it would have. In the town of Shasta he promoted the idea so persuasively that the local businessmen raised $2,000 by subscription and hired Nobles to divert traffic to the new route. The first party of emigrants to use the new trail left the Humboldt [River] in late summer, 1852, and followed the Applegate-Lassen Trail to Black Rock. They then headed west to Honey Lake Valley, went on past Cinder Cone, across Hat Creek, down Lost Creek, over Nobles Pass, near Manzanita Lake, and down Shingletown Ridge to Shasta City. At one point east of Lassen Peak, the trail followed the Lassen Trail in reverse: a man heading south to California on Lassen's Trail could meet a man heading north to California on Nobles Trail. Although understandably skeptical to begin with, the first party found the new trail both direct and easy, and many emigrants followed it thereafter. John Dreibelbis, who knew the trail well, praised its virtues. "We have crossed the Sierra Nevadas in seven different places, and unhesistantly affirm that this is the only good natural pass we have seen." And in December 1853 Dr. Oliver Wozencraft, believing Nobles Pass to be superior to any other route through the mountains of California, went with a small party from San Francisco to determine its suitability for a projected railroad. By the following year, 1854, the migration through Honey Lake Valley exceded 3,200 people and 33,000 head of livestock. In spite of all this patronage, however, the new trail never attracted the great bulk of travellers who still preferrd to follow the long established and better publicized routes farther south. Nobles himself went to Minnesota in 1853 to promote the use of his trail, but he failed to gain the fame and fortune he sought. If the Nobles Trail rather than the Lassen Trail had been opened up in 1848, both Nobles' fortune might have been greater and the growth of northern California might have been faster. As it was, after being used extensively in the 1850's and 1860's, the trail fell increasingly into disuse, particularily after the completion of the transcotinental railroad over Donner Pass. The portion of the trail through the soft cinders near Cinder Cone had already been abandoned by the late 1850's in favor of a route to the north via Old Station and Lost Camp. And the section from Hat Creek to Lost Creek disappeared forever under the great mud flow of 1915 when Lassen Peak erupted. Nevertheless, remnants still remain of the 18 miles of Nobles Trail that run through the area later incorporated into the Park. The present Lassen Park Road intersects Nobles' route two or three miles east of the Loomis Museum at Manzanita Lake, and the Badger Flat fire protection road, completed in the 1930's, follows Nobles' route for several miles. But with each passing year, trees and brush further obliterate the tracks left by those early emigrants to California who used the Nobles Trail." Nobles Trail is ranked by George Stewart in "The California Trail", University of Nebraska Press, 1962. He wrote: "No fewer than six competing roads were opened in'52--all of them passable and none of them good." They were the Placer County Emigrant Road, Johnson's Cutoff, the Sonora Road, Lassen's Trail and Nobles' Trail. [only five roads cited by author] "Nobles's Road, often recorded as Noble's Road, was developed for the benefit of Shasta City, after extensive and bold explorations by William H. Nobles in '51. He accomplished the task at which Wiggins, Lassen and McGee had failed---the establishment of a short cut from the big bend of the Humboldt into California." Comments: The Oregon Trails Association sponsored a trip along the Nobles Trail this summmer. Perhaps someone on the Lists was on the trip and has information about the current status of the trail. Lister Tim Purdy, recently returned from vacation, is an expert on the region---hopefully, he will add to our discussion of the Nobles Trail. Please let me know if you need other research, Nancy Howard _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com