Bob: Perhaps Reuben Cole climbed a nearby 10,000 foot peak for the view of the Sacramento Valley that he describes and this was not the height of the pass. I'm not sure that you can see the valley from Carson pass. Perhaps some one closer can comment. Ralph Anderson Boulder, CO [email protected] ---------- > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [CA-GOLDRUSH-L] Carson Pass and Webber town - 1849 > Date: Friday, October 09, 1998 11:01 AM > > Howdy, > Just received the liberry loan of another 49er book: "Across the Plains in > '49" by Reuben Cole SHAW,.ed.Milo Milton QAUIFE, NY: The Citadel Press 1966. > If the book pans out:-)), I will post some of the early overland trail > background. Just glancing through, I picked up this near trail's end > narrative: > "About noon on September 3rd[1849], after a climb of over six hours, we > arrived at the summit of the pass[Carson] over the highest range of the Sierra > Nevada Mountains. On reaching the summit of that vast pile, and being > surrounded by the solitude and silence peculiar to high altitudes, we stood > gazing down into the beautiful Sacramento Valley, where we hoped to end our > journey and our sufferings.... "This pass, which is ten thousand and five hundred feet[WHO shrunk the > pass?:-) another diarist and an historian each show Carson Pass at 8,573' - my > road map says 8,650'].above sea level, is the highest point ever reached by > any wagon road in our country, and, though scaling the mountain with wagons > was a difficult task, yet a limited number of them were taken across and, in a > worn and battered condition, sent down into the mines, where they were looked > by Cape Horners as relics of civilization."