excerpts from presentation by Hal Hall on the Western States Trail 100 mile One Day Ride
No emigrant road led through Placer County, as El Dorado County, to the south, was receiving the greater portion of travelers. . .
. . .The official beginnings of diverting the growing overland emigrant travel through the county with a route from Nevada’s Comstock Lode to the rich mining towns and camps and beyond to the fertile Sacramento Valley, originated in 1852. The original Placer County Emigrant Road was constructed from Yankee Jim’s, near Foresthill, to the Washoe Valley at a cost of about $13,000. It was not a an inviting road to use. The easier Donner, Johnson, and Carson passes dried up any traffic on the Placer County road over the next three years. Placer County again vied for the Placer County Emigrant Road. However, on July 8, 1857, the project was dropped due to lack of funding. The construction of the Central Pacific Railroad across the Sierra at Donner Pass to the north ended all possibilities of the road improvements ever to be realized.
. . in 1929 earlier in the day Scotty Allan, Fay Delzene and Wendell Robie were competing in the 96 Mile Lake Tahoe-Truckee Dog Sled Derby. . .they met in Scotty’s cabin that evening and were joined by Bob Watson, Placer Co. Sheriff Elmer Gum, Carl Bechdolt, Earl Kimball and several others. . .
They began to talk about the emigrant route that lead down the middle fork of the American River. . Scotty objected to letting the location and memory of the old road drift
into oblivion and suggested they organize a party to ride over the trail and mark it during the coming summer. Scotty did his part in the summer of 1929, but when September came the others were scattered and nothing was done. Sheriff Gum had interested the Auburn Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West to sponsor the project and again during the Dog Derby of 1930, plans for action were again urged by Scotty. There were no more dog derbies and the plans were not carried out until late in September 1931 and with Dr. Conrad Briner, former Mayor of Auburn, the riders left Auburn the same day that an eight inch snowfall covered the Sierra trail.
. . .they pushed on and were met at Robinson Flat, 30 miles from the Sierra crest by Bob Watson The snow melted rapidly and the trail was passable. The rendezvous of riders included Doc Briner, Bill Patrick, Jack Shields, Earl Lukens, Bob Watson and Wendell. Missing was Scotty Allan who had passed away before the ride could take place.
. . .They effectively signed and marked the trail all the way to the summit of the divide where Watson had previously gathered and packed enough bright colored rock and quartz from Squaw Valley and materials to build a monument to dedicate their accomplishments to the memory of emigrant travelers.
. . . It wasn’t until the mid 1950's that Wendell Robie would find a use for this old trail route. Some 25 years after his journey with Bob Watson and the Native Sons, did he create what would become the first and foremost equestrian riding event of its kind in the world. Wendell had knowledge of the use of horses dating back to the early 1920's when he had reason to ride horseback from his Arizona home near the town of Benson to Tucson some 40 miles away to obtain much needed medicine for a sick child. Flash floods had caused roadways to become washed-out making the trip by horseback necessary. . .Wendell rode all day to reach Tucson by sundown, then turned around to make the return trip by sun-up in less than 24 hours. He knew then that riding 100 miles in one day was a cinch.
It wasn’t until one spring afternoon along the middle fork of the American River when he was riding with members of the Sacramento County Horsemen’s Association that Wendell was confronted with a challenge. At bet was made by Wendell that horses today were as tough and durable as those during the days of the Pony Express. A venture of 100 miles over the old emigrant trail route was proposed for completion in 24 hours with one horse for the entire distance. Wendell was the victor. This resulted in a successful ride with four other horsemen in attendance on August 8, 1955 when 5 men left Tahoe City at 5 am, and arrived the next morning at 4:18 am with evidence of their venture by having the mail that they were officially sworn to deliver post marked by the Auburn Post Master. So, began the sport of modern day endurance riding which now numbers over 500 similar type of events in the world today
In 1959, brothers William Gordon, and Lloyd Tevis became interested in the ride and offered to donate a trophy for future winners to be named in honor of their grandfather, Lloyd Tevis, who had been president of Wells Fargo Bank in the late 1800's. They felt he epitomized the spirit of that era.
Squaw Valley, Granite Chief, Little American Valley, Foresthill Divide, Robinson Flat, Cavanaugh Ridge, Last Chance, Deadwood, Michigan Bluff, Birds Valley, Bath, Foresthill, Todd’s Valley, Rucky Chucky, Main Bar, Murderers Bar, and Auburn are familiar locations along the historic Western States Trail.
For further information on the ride, you can go to http://www.foothill.net/tevis.