In the late summer of 1850, William H. Nobles (1816-1876) arrived in California to locate a direct route to that state’s Northern sector. Once travelers left south of the City of Rocks, Idaho and arrived at Lassen’s Meadows (now Rye Patch Reservoir, Nevada) the choice of routes to Central and Northern California were limited. They had the option of crossing the 40 Mile Desert, then being confronted with Carson or Donner Passes. The other option was to take the Applegate and Lassen Trail. The Lassen Trail had its drawbacks too, one being that it was 250 miles longer than the 40 Mile Desert route. In the spring of 1851, Peter Lassen guided Nobles to the Honey Lake Valley via Indian Valley. At that point, Nobles and Lassen parted company and Nobles made a thorough evaluation of the country. Nobles found a direct route from Lassen’s Meadows, that went in a westerly direction across the Black Rock and Smoke Creek Deserts, to the Honey Lake Valley. From there, the course went in a northwestern direction to Pine Creek Valley and turned due west along the northern base of Mount Lassen and into the Sacramento Valley, near Redding. In February 1852, Nobles led a party that included Peter Lassen over the route that he had explored the previous year. Nobles had hoped they would join him in forming some type of partnership to develop the new route, but they were not interested. In April 1852, Nobles addressed the citizens of Shasta, informing them that he had indeed discovered a direct route across the mountains. This trail 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, Nobles would decline his fee. On May 3, 1852, Nobles, and a group of nine men, left Shasta to travel over the route. When they reached the Humboldt River at Lassen’s Meadows, the Shasta delegation declared the new route had more than met their expectations. Nobles was paid his commission and, at the Humboldt, he parted their company to join another outfit that was returning to the Eastern U.S.
