Beginning in 1846, emigrant parties passed this spot on their way to California. One of those parties was the Donner-Reed party, who passed this spot on August 25th, 1846. Unfortunately, the Donner-Reed party was behind schedule and ended up stuck in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846-47 where many of them perished.
A woman named Sarah Davis passed by this spot on August 23rd, 1850 and wrote, ". . . they was building a mill a saw mill we then went about a mile to the good springs caled bentons mill springs one was salt...we then camped being very tired".
This cache has been placed by members of the Oregon-California Trails Association. The mission of this organization is "to protect the Historic Emigrant Trails legacy by promoting research, education, preservation activities and public awareness of the trails, and to work with others to promote these causes." For more information on the Oregon-California Trails Association, please visit our website at http://www.octa-trails.org