Humboldt River
Humboldt River Overview
Peter Skene Ogden, of the Hudson Bay Company, encountered the Humboldt River in 1828, explored hundreds of square miles, left records in his journal, and drafted the first map of the area.
The Humboldt was the only natural arterial across the Great Basin.
From 1841-1870, it funneled thousands of emigrants along its valley en route to the Pacific Coast.
Category
- Event
- Person
- Trapping
Marker Type
Blue marker
Nevada Historical Marker Number
Humboldt River is Nevada Historical Marker #22.
Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.
County
GPS Coordinates
41.016642, -117.573543
Nevada Historical Marker Transcription
Peter Skene Ogden encountered the Humboldt River on November 9, 1828 during his fifth Snake Country expedition. Entering Nevada near present-day Denio, Ogden came southward along the Quinn River and the little Humboldt River. Emerging on the Humboldt main stem near this site, Ogden explored hundreds of square miles of the Humboldt’s course, left records of his trailblazing in his journal, and drafted the first map of the area.
Ogden gave the name “Unknown River” to the Humboldt at this time, as he was unsure where it went. After the death of his trapper Joseph Paul, Ogden renamed the stream Paul’s River, then Swampy River, and finally Mary’s River, after the Native American wife of one of his trappers. In 1833, the Bonneville-Walker fur party named it Barren River.
Ogden’s or Mary’s River were commonly used names for the Humboldt prior to the 1848 publication of a map of John C. Frémont.
The Humboldt was the only natural arterial across the Great Basin. It funneled thousands of emigrants along its valley enroute to the Pacific Coast during the period 1841-1870.
HISTORICAL MARKER NO. 22
STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
NORTHEASTERN NEVADA MUSEUM COMMITTEE