James Beckwourth discovered Beckwourth Pass in 1850. In 1851, he improved the path into
Sierra Valley to create his
Beckwourth Trail. The trail ran from
Truckee Meadows (what is now known as
Sparks, Nevada) through the pass into California and on to
Marysville. In late summer of 1851, James Beckwourth led the first wagon train of settlers along the Beckwourth Trail into Marysville. One of the settlers in Beckwourth's first wagon train was ten-year-old Josephine Donna Smith. Later, she took the name
Ina Coolbrith, "Ina" is a diminutive name for Josephine and "Coolbrith" was her mother's maiden name. In 1915, Coolbrith would become California's first Poet Laureate. Between 1851 and 1854, 1,200 emigrants traveled the Beckwourth Trail, leading 12,000 head of cattle, 700 sheep, and 500 horses. However, in 1854, use dropped sharply when the Beckwourth Trail became a toll road. The toll cost to move a ton of freight from Bidwell Bar to Quincy was about $18. This made using the Beckwourth Road an expensive enterprise and the use of the Beckwourth Trail declined. Between 1895 and 1916, the pass was used by the
Sierra Valley & Mohawk Railway narrow gauge. The abandoned right-of-way is still visible on the south and eastern slope of the pass. In 1906, the Chilcoot Tunnel, with a length of , was constructed beneath Beckwourth Pass by the
Western Pacific Railroad as part of its
Feather River Route. On August 8, 1939, Beckwourth Pass was designated as
California Historical Landmark Number 336. In 1982, the Western Pacific was acquired by the
Union Pacific Corporation and it was merged into the
Union Pacific Railroad. The former Western Pacific Railroad's Feather River Route is owned and operated by the
Union Pacific Railroad. ==See also==