An autumn sunset near Sardine Pass

Wellsville Mountains in late winter

The Wellsville Mountains are situated on the west side of Utah's beautiful Cache Valley. The Wellsvilles comprise the north end of the Wasatch Mountains, and are among the steepest of U.S. mountain ranges, although they rise to an altitude of only about 8500 feet.

The community seen to the left in the picture is Wellsville, Utah.

Before Cache Valley was settled in the 1850s, it had been a center of the fur-trapping trade for half a century. The name "Cache" came from the practice of the French trappers of hiding or "cacheing" their furs during the fall and winter, and then bringing them out to sell at the spring and summer rendezvous held in the Valley.

Twin Sisters

Looking north at the Twin Sisters, which are situated on a ridge above and south of the City of Rocks.

The point where the dirt road goes out of sight is Pinnacle Pass, over which many wagon trains and travelers from the East passed on their way to California during the Gold Rush, and for two decades afterward.

Even after the railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, about 35 miles south of here, stage coaches continued to pass through the area, carrying passengers and mail to and from Idaho. The stage coaches connected with the railroad at Kelton, Utah, now a ghost town, at best.

The Old Indian Head is the rock at the far right of the picture.

Old Indian Head

The Old Indian Head at Pinnacle Pass in the City of Rocks on the Idaho/Utah border.





If you can't see the old fellow clearly, move on. My pictures and stories won't do you any good.

He's looking up at the Twin Sisters, a landmark on the California Trail as it passes north of the Raft River Mountains in Box Elder County.