The Nobles Trail gained attention as part of the possible route of the nation’s first transcontinental road to California. (This not is confused with the transcontinental railroad; think of it as an early day highway.) Shasta County was eager to promote the Nobles route. In fact, in December 1853, Major P.B. Reading was willing to take a group of surveyors in the middle of the winter to survey the road. In 1855, R.T. Sprague of Shasta estimated that it would cost $10,000 to develop the Nobles Trail into a first-class wagon road. Appropriations for this and other roads were submitted to the California Legislature, but languished due to that body’s inaction.

During the late 1850s, various roads were established in Northern California and traffic diminished on the western segment of the trail between Susanville and Manzanita Lake. For reasons unknown, in the fall of 1859 the trail had an unusual spike in usage. In a two-week period, 375 individuals, in sixty-seven wagons, along with about 100,000 head of livestock had crossed the plains and used the Nobles route into Shasta County. The eastern segment from Susanville through Nevada faired much better with heavy use during the late 1850s and most of the 1860s due to the mining activity of southern Idaho and northern Nevada. This traffic ceased in 1869 with the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad and many segments of the Nobles Trail were abandoned. In 1975 the Nobles Trail was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Those who made the overland journey for the California gold rush were faced with many obstacles. One of which was that there were no direct route to the gold fields of Northern California. There was the short-lived Lassen Trail, which had many drawbacks and was quickly abandoned.            

In the summer of 1850 William H. Nobles arrived on the scene with the quest to locate a route to California’s northern sector. In the spring of 1851, Peter Lassen guided Nobles to the Honey Lake Valley. Nobles and Lassen parted company, Nobles then made a thorough evaluation of the country. He found a direct route from Lassen’s Meadows (known today as Rye Patch Reservoir, Nevada) that went in a westerly direction across the Black Rock and Smoke Creek deserts to Honey Lake Valley. From there the course went in a northwestern direction to Pine Creek Valley, making a turn to the west to Butte Lake. Leaving Butte Lake, the trail went along the base of Cinder Cone toward the northern base of Lassen Peak and Manzanita Lake. From that point it continued its westward journey into the Sacramento Valley, to its final destination, the mining town of Shasta. It is interesting to note that Highway 44 parallels the western portion of the Nobles Trail.

In February 1852, Nobles led a party that included Lassen over the route. Nobles hoped they would join him in forming a partnership to develop the new route, but they were not interested. On April 21, 1852, Nobles addressed the citizens of Shasta, informing them that he had indeed discovered a direct route across the mountains. This, he said, would be a great benefit to Shasta and the northern mining communities. Nobles requested a $2,000 guide fee. If the Shasta business community found the route unacceptable, he would decline his commission. On May 3, 1852, Nobles and a group of nine men left Shasta to travel the route. When they reached the Humboldt River at Lassen’s Meadows, the Shasta delegation declared that the new route had more than met their expectations. Nobles received his fee and parted their company.

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This being the day after Christmas, I am checking to see if I have anyone’s attention. One of the questions I am asked from time to time, is where I received my education after graduating high school. After all, that is a turning point in a young persons life, with a variety of options—community college, university, trade school or the school of hard knocks. I accidentally stumbled on an entirely unique venue for a very different kind of education and enrolled at the exclusive Menopause Manor housed in the second floor of the Lassen County Courthouse. In my initial quest to research the local history all paths led to the courthouse to examine the original documents. One of the main repositories is that of the County Clerk’s Office. Little did they know that on fateful first visit, that I would return daily like the proverbial bad penny. After awhile they finally took me under their wings, while for several years they put up with my relentless questions. What I learned from these wonderful women, how the court system functioned, county government and a myriad of things in between one cannot obtain through the traditional educational system. My thanks to Jackie Fuller, June Nelson, Betty Hibbs, Sue Farstad, June Moller, and, of course, the Manor, had to have male token, my old side-kick Bruce Dyer.

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