Lahontan Valley

The Lahontan Valley and the Carson Sink playa/slough form the central portion of the lakebed of the prehistoric Lake Lahontan of Nevada, which existed at the end of the last ice age, between 20,000 and 9,000 years ago. This valley is sometimes called the Forty Mile Desert, a name that originates from the two routes of the California Trail across the valley.

Geography

The Lahontan Valley and Carson Sink are geographically attached northwest to the Humboldt Sink and combined the two sinks and valley only represent about 5-10 percent of ancient Lake Lahontan. Pyramid Lake is the largest and deepest remnant of Lake Lahontan; the entirety of Lake Lahontan spread throughout all the valleys of western Nevada, leaving about half of the surrounded land as "islands of mountains" and some plains.

Forty Mile Desert

The name Forty Mile Desert comes from the California Gold Rush where the emigrants entered the Lahontan Valley via the Humboldt River. After passing the Humboldt Sink the trail split into two routes, named for the rivers on the other side of the valley that guide each branch up the Sierra Nevada, Carson River route and the Truckee River route.cite map
publisher = Benchmark Maps
title =Nevada Road and Recreation Atlas
url =http://www.benchmark.com
edition =
year = 2003
cartography=
scale = 1:250000
series =
page = 47
section =
accessdate =
accessmonth=
accessyear =
isbn = 0-929591-81-X
id = ] No matter which route was taken along the trail the travelers would have to endure convert|40|mi|km|0 without usable water. If they chose the Truckee route they would walk a route similar to modern Interstate 80 between Lovelock and Wadsworth, where they would reach the waters of the Truckee. If the Carson route was taken they would have to walk towards an area called Ragtown, west of modern Fallon. This was the last usable water on the Carson River, the name Ragtown comes from all the clothing left by the passing travelers while refreshing at the river.cite web
url = http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/shpo/markers/mark_19.htm
title = Ragtown - Nevada Historical Marker #19
accessdate = 2008-03-02
publisher = State of Nevada - Department of Cultural Affairs] The Carson route across the valley is approximated by U.S. Route 95 and U.S. Route 50.

Despite the notoriety of other parts of the California Trail, such as Donner Pass, the Forty Mile Desert was the deadliest and most dreaded part of the California Trail. To avoid crossing the barren desert with extreme heat, the desert was usually crossed at night. A state historical marker explaining the Forty Mile Desert stands at a rest area on the western edge of the valley near the junction of I-80 and US 95.cite web
url = http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/DOCS/shpo/markers/mark_26.htm
title = Nevada Division of Water Planning- Historical Marker 26- Forty Mile Desert
publisher = Department of Cultural Affairs - State of Nevada
accessdate = 2008-02-26] cite web
url=http://www.emigranttrailswest.org/crscenes2.htm
title = Carson Photos - Forty Mile Desert
author = Dick Brock
publisher = Trails West Inc.]

References