FORTY-MILE DESERT

FORTY-MILE DESERT, a large desert area between the sink of the Humboldt River and the Carson or Truckee River routes. It was the most difficult and dangerous stretch of the entire journey for the goldseekers and westward-bound immigrants who traveled through Nevada to California. In its entire forty-mile distance, neither water nor grass was to be found, and the loss of life, both human and livestock, was excessively high among those trying to cross it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Koenig, George. Beyond This Place There Be Dragons. Glendale, Calif.: Clark, 1984.

Carl L. Cannon/C. W.

See also Deserts; Westward Migration.