The Humboldt Wagon Road

This book offers readers an opportunity to ride the historic Humboldt Wagon Road from Chico to Susanville through images that have been collected since the 1860s. Many never-before-published photographs and oral histories tell a story of people who established what has been called this "small corner of the West." In the 1850s, John Bidwell, a California pioneer, agriculturist, businessman, and politician, envisioned a freight and passenger route that would connect San Francisco, the Sacramento River, and his newly established community of Chico. He wanted it to cross the mountains to the gold and silver mines in Idaho and Nevada. Bidwell financed, constructed, and opened the road for horses, wagons, stagecoaches, and eventually trucks and automobiles. From the Civil War era until the present, the road has carried everything from lumber to tourists.

Before the completion of the transcontinental railroad, there was the Chico and Humboldt Wagon Road, meant to connect California with the burgeoning mining industries of Nevada and Idaho. The ambitious plan to make Chico a major Northern California transportation hub was spearheaded by John Bidwell and began in earnest in 1864. The road opened new areas to mining and logging and provided opportunities for less scrupulous characters. Stagecoach robberies, murders and shootouts were just some of the misfortunes that occurred on the road, along with the dangers nature provided--snowstorms, perilous terrain and grizzly bears. Author Andy Mark offers a glimpse of what it was like for nineteenth-century travelers and settlers on the route of the Humboldt Wagon Road.

This book offers readers an opportunity to ride the historic Humboldt Wagon Road from Chico to Susanville through images that have been collected since the 1860s. Many never-before-published photographs and oral histories tell a story of people who established what has been called this "small corner of the West." In the 1850s, John Bidwell, a California pioneer, agriculturist, businessman, and politician, envisioned a freight and passenger route that would connect San Francisco, the Sacramento River, and his newly established community of Chico. He wanted it to cross the mountains to the gold and silver mines in Idaho and Nevada. Bidwell financed, constructed, and opened the road for horses, wagons, stagecoaches, and eventually trucks and automobiles. From the Civil War era until the present, the road has carried everything from lumber to tourists.

Before the completion of the transcontinental railroad, there was the Chico and Humboldt Wagon Road, meant to connect California with the burgeoning mining industries of Nevada and Idaho. The ambitious plan to make Chico a major Northern California transportation hub was spearheaded by John Bidwell and began in earnest in 1864. The road opened new areas to mining and logging and provided opportunities for less scrupulous characters. Stagecoach robberies, murders and shootouts were just some of the misfortunes that occurred on the road, along with the dangers nature provided--snowstorms, perilous terrain and grizzly bears. Author Andy Mark offers a glimpse of what it was like for nineteenth-century travelers and settlers on the route of the Humboldt Wagon Road.

In what has emerged as one of the most desirable places to live at the turn of this new century, the journey of Chico since its inception is one of growth as well as remembrance. A rich cultural heritage is as responsible for development of this diverse community as its fertile soils were in creating an economic stronghold. From the traditions and teachings of the Mechoopda Indians to its present day reputation as an educational bastion, Chico serves as a backbone of the budding Central Valley.