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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Carson Pass | |
|---|---|
 The Carson Pass (foreground) overlooks Red Lake to the east. | |
  Carson Pass Location within California | |
| Elevation | 8,574 ft (2,613 m) |
| Traversed by |  SR 88 |
| Location | |
| Location | Sierra Crest, Eldorado National Forest, Alpine County, California, United States |
| Range | Sierra Nevada |
| Coordinates | 38°41′38″N 119°59′15″W / 38.69389°N 119.98750°W |
Official name | Kit Carson Marker |
| Reference no. | 315 |
Carson Pass is a mountain pass on the crest of the central Sierra Nevada, in the Eldorado National Forest and Alpine County, eastern California.
The pass is traversed by California State Route 88. It lies on the Great Basin Divide, with the West Fork Carson River on the east and the South Fork American River on the west.
The historic pass was a point on the Carson Trail during the California Gold Rush and was used for American Civil War shipping to California until the completion of the First transcontinental railroad. The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the Carson Pass summit, which has California Historical Landmark #315 at CA 88 postmile 6.09 where Kit Carson carved his name into a tree.[1]
The 1844 Frémont Expedition turned south from northern Nevada. When encamped at Nevada's Carson Valley on January 31, 1844, Frémont decided to detour west during the winter conditions to Sutter's Fort in California for supplies. Local Washoe Indians told them of a route through the mountains, but warned them not to proceed through the snow. Frémont ignored the advice and directed the group westward. The Washoe were right in that they were not able to find food or game, and they ended up resorting to eating dogs, horses, and mules just to survive. On February 14, Frémont and his cartographer Charles Preuss made it up Red Lake Peak and became the first recorded white men to see Lake Tahoe in the distance. On February 21, the expedition made it through the now-named Carson pass west of Red Lake and arrived at Sutter's Fort on March 6 with no fatalities.[2]
In the summer of 1848, Mormons leaving California for Utah built what would become known as the Carson Trail across the Sierra from Sly Park, California, to the Carson Valley via Carson Pass. The Carson Trail became one of the primary routes across the Sierra used by overland immigrants to California in the Gold Rush era. Brigham Young evacuated Mormon settlers around Carson Pass in July 1857, shortly after the breakout of the Utah War.
| Maiden's Grave | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Maiden's Grave | |
| 38°37′54″N 120°10′16″W / 38.6318°N 120.171233°W | |
| Location | State Highway 88, Kirkwood, California |
| Reference no. | 28 |
In 1850, the young Rachel Melton was buried west of Carson's Pass. Her family was traveling from Iowa when she became ill. The family camped out with a goal to improve Rachel's health, but she died. The site is a California Historical Landmark.[3]
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Carson Pass has a dry-summer subarctic climate, abbreviated "Dsc" on climate maps.
| Climate data for Carson Pass, California, 2006–2020 normals, extremes 2004–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 61 (16) |
60 (16) |
64 (18) |
68 (20) |
71 (22) |
79 (26) |
81 (27) |
82 (28) |
82 (28) |
72 (22) |
65 (18) |
60 (16) |
82 (28) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 52.1 (11.2) |
52.9 (11.6) |
56.0 (13.3) |
61.5 (16.4) |
66.0 (18.9) |
73.4 (23.0) |
77.0 (25.0) |
76.3 (24.6) |
74.0 (23.3) |
66.6 (19.2) |
59.5 (15.3) |
51.4 (10.8) |
78.1 (25.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 38.7 (3.7) |
39.0 (3.9) |
41.8 (5.4) |
46.9 (8.3) |
52.7 (11.5) |
62.1 (16.7) |
69.8 (21.0) |
69.0 (20.6) |
64.7 (18.2) |
53.5 (11.9) |
44.4 (6.9) |
36.9 (2.7) |
51.6 (10.9) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 30.3 (−0.9) |
29.8 (−1.2) |
32.2 (0.1) |
36.7 (2.6) |
42.7 (5.9) |
51.2 (10.7) |
58.6 (14.8) |
58.1 (14.5) |
53.1 (11.7) |
43.8 (6.6) |
35.8 (2.1) |
28.8 (−1.8) |
41.8 (5.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 22.0 (−5.6) |
20.6 (−6.3) |
22.6 (−5.2) |
26.4 (−3.1) |
32.8 (0.4) |
40.3 (4.6) |
47.4 (8.6) |
47.0 (8.3) |
42.5 (5.8) |
34.1 (1.2) |
27.2 (−2.7) |
20.8 (−6.2) |
32.0 (0.0) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 5.5 (−14.7) |
3.5 (−15.8) |
8.2 (−13.2) |
12.0 (−11.1) |
22.2 (−5.4) |
29.1 (−1.6) |
40.3 (4.6) |
38.3 (3.5) |
30.7 (−0.7) |
21.3 (−5.9) |
11.5 (−11.4) |
3.7 (−15.7) |
−1.4 (−18.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −5 (−21) |
−4 (−20) |
−3 (−19) |
2 (−17) |
10 (−12) |
19 (−7) |
34 (1) |
30 (−1) |
23 (−5) |
13 (−11) |
−2 (−19) |
−4 (−20) |
−5 (−21) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 6.41 (163) |
6.64 (169) |
6.91 (176) |
3.55 (90) |
2.13 (54) |
0.59 (15) |
0.39 (9.9) |
0.47 (12) |
0.67 (17) |
3.07 (78) |
4.13 (105) |
5.57 (141) |
40.53 (1,029.9) |
| Average extreme snow depth inches (cm) | 62.1 (158) |
81.1 (206) |
97.0 (246) |
81.8 (208) |
53.1 (135) |
18.1 (46) |
0.9 (2.3) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.5 (1.3) |
3.1 (7.9) |
19.0 (48) |
40.2 (102) |
102.4 (260) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 9.7 | 8.8 | 11.2 | 8.3 | 6.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 8.1 | 10.1 | 76.2 |
| Source: XMACIS2[4] | |||||||||||||
The original inscription was cut from the tree in 1888 and is now in Sutter's Fort
Fremont and Jacob Dodson leave Long Camp on the 16th as an advance scouting party to determine their route over the pass then along the descent of the western slope. On the night of the 17th the two men return to Long Camp and are quite surprised to be greeted by Fitzpatrick and his party from Grover's. Fremont noted… "Here we had the pleasure to find all the remaining animals, 57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy hill near the camp." Two days later the entire second expedition had reached Long Camp. On February 21st the expedition passed over the summit of today's Carson Pass at a location just south of present day Highway 88. They began their descent and two days later Fremont wrote from their camp at present day Strawberry… "Here among the pines, the hill side produces but little grass---barley sufficient to keep life in the animals. We had the pleasure to be rained upon this afternoon; and grass was now are greatest solicitude. Many of the men looked badly, and some this evening were giving out." Although they still had some distance to cover the descent was much easier, the worst was behind them. On March 6, 1844 they reached Sutter's Fort without losing a single man.: 2 (italic text from expedition reports)
Media related to Carson Pass at Wikimedia Commons| Mountains |
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Carson Pass is a mountain pass on the crest of the central Sierra Nevada, in the Eldorado National Forest and Alpine County, eastern California. The pass is traversed by California State Route 88. It lies on the Great Basin Divide, with the West Fork Carson River on the east and the South Fork American River on the west. The historic pass was a point on the Carson Trail during the California Gold Rush and was used for American Civil War shipping to California until the completion of the First transcontinental railroad. The Pacific Crest Trail traverses the Carson Pass summit, which has California Historical Landmark #315 at CA 88 postmile 6.09 where Kit Carson carved his name into a tree.
The Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Carson Pass and stretches north to the Truckee River near Verdi, Nevada.
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is 131 miles (211 km) long although the addition of the East Fork makes the total length 205 miles (330 km), traversing five counties: Alpine County in California and Douglas, Storey, Lyon, and Churchill Counties in Nevada, as well as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, Nevada. The river is named for Kit Carson, who guided John C. Frémont's expedition westward up the Carson Valley and across Carson Pass in winter, 1844. The river made the National Priorities List (NPL) on October 30, 1990, as the Carson River Mercury Superfund site (CRMS) due to investigations that showed trace amounts of mercury in the wildlife and watershed sediments.
The West Fork Carson River is a major tributary of the Carson River, about 35 miles (56 km) long, in Alpine County, California, and Douglas County, Nevada, in the United States. It rises in the Sierra Nevada of California, at Lost Lakes near Carson Pass in the Mokelumne Wilderness of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. It flows north into Hope Valley where it is joined by SR 88 (Carson Pass Highway), which closely follows the river as it travels toward Nevada. At the northern end of the valley it turns east, flowing through a gorge, before emerging from the mountains near Woodfords. From there it flows north, into the Carson Valley of Nevada, where it joins with the East Fork Carson River at Genoa to form the Carson River.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
