HASTINGS CUTOFF - BIG SPRINGS
"Traveled 15 m and encamped by a point of the mountain at a very
large spring of brackish water and but little grass".
...
James Mathers, Aug 10, 1846
2000 Utah Crossroads Chapter - OCTA HU-10
Most of the emigrants mentioned these springs and felt the water
was too brackish.
This marker was placed by the
Utah Crossroads
Chapter.
The
Hastings
Cutoff was an alternate route for emigrants to travel to
California, as proposed by
Lansford Hastings.
In 1845, Hastings published a guide entitled The Emigrant's
Guide to Oregon and California. A sentence in the book briefly
describes the cutoff:
The most direct route, for the California emigrants, would be to
leave the Oregon route, about two hundred miles east from Fort
Hall; thence bearing West Southwest, to the Salt Lake; and thence
continuing down to the bay of St. Francisco, by the route just
described.
The cutoff left the
California Trail at
Fort Bridger in Wyoming, passed through
the Wasatch Mountains, across the
Great Salt Lake Desert, looped
around the Ruby Mountains, and rejoined the
California Trail about seven miles west of modern
Elko, Nevada.
Hastings led a small party overland late in 1845 and spent the
winter in California. Significantly, his stay at
Sutter's Fort coincided with a visit by
John C. Fremont, who had just explored
the desert around the
Great Salt Lake and whose letter
describing a new route to California would be widely published in
Eastern newspapers. In April, Hastings set out with a few
companions to meet the emigration of 1846. He stayed in the
vicinity of the
Sweetwater River while an eastbound
traveler carried his open letter inviting emigrants on the
California Trail to meet him at Fort Bridger. Between 60 and 75
wagons did so and traveled with Hastings on his cutoff. They
endured a difficult descent down
Weber Canyon, a waterless drive of 80
miles across the Great Salt Lake Desert, and a lengthy detour
around the Ruby Mountains. Despite the usual trials of overland
travel, they arrived safely in California. The
Donner Party, following in their wake, did
not. They had arrived a few days too late to travel with Hastings,
and on his suggestion pioneered an alternate route to avoid Weber
Canyon. The roadbuilding through the Wasatch Mountains and the
grueling dry drive delayed them. They arrived at the pass into
California just as an early winter storm closed it. After becoming
snowbound in the
Sierra Nevada, many died and some
of the emigrants resorted to
cannibalism.
However, the following year in July 1847,
Mormon leader
Brigham Young lead a vanguard company of
emigrants from
Winter Quarters (Omaha),
Nebraska to the future site of
Salt Lake City, Utah. This company
also used the Hastings Cutoff passing though modern-day
Emigration Canyon. Young's group made
remarkable improvements to some parts of the cutoff on their
journey so subsequent Mormon companies could more easily make it
through to the Salt Lake valley. William Clayton, the company's
scribe, stated in his journals that the company tried to follow the
route of the Donner Party left the previous year, yet only
occasionally could their tracks be seen. A few years later, this
route was abandoned for a new route which today is Parley's Canyon,
passing through
Park City, Utah.
The California gold rush created an
enormous increase in westward traffic and several parties of 1849
and 1850 used Hastings Cutoff. The year 1850 saw the development of
a new route around the northern end of the Great Salt Lake
(Hensley's Salt Lake Cutoff) that avoided the waterless drive
across the desert south of the lake, and the Hastings route was
abandoned, except east of
Salt Lake City, where it remained as
the end of the Mormon Trail.
If you are interested in checking out more of the trail, here is
some information I found
The trail had to go right on the east side of these springs as
did the Lincoln Highway. Look ahead to the south and you can see a
straight one lane gravel road, this is the LH. Mark your odometer
then drive down this road and if you look to your right in the tall
sage brush you can make out the trail. There is a white carsonite
marker in the trail almost hidden by the tall brush. Continuing on
down this road and you will note the trail moving farther away from
you. Travel 2.8 miles and turn right off of the L.H. road and then
cross the trail which is plain to see. Continue on to the the paved
road which is now U-196, and which goes from I-80 to the Dugway
Proving Grounds. Turn left on U-196 and travel south marking
your odometer reading. Look to your right and you will see Lone
Rock which was noted by some of the emigrants. Lone Rock has many
different colored lichens growing on the north side and is the type
local for lichens in Utah.
Proceed south for 2.0 miles to the crossing of the trail from
the left side to the right side of the road. Continue on to a
gravel lane on the right, follow it 0.4 mile and you will note a
low meadow on your right. This is the Burnt Springs area. Some of
the emigrant diaries indicate that these springs were used by the
early emigrants. The springs have since been dried up by the
Magnesium Corporation pumping of the ground water in the foothills
to the southeast. Continue south on U-196 , you will note some
power poles and small concrete block pump sheds, these are the
wells of Mag Corp. The water is used at their Rowley Magnesium
Plant some 15 or so miles to the northwest.