The Sierra Packers

Jedediah Smith made the first reported crossing of California’s unpredictable and treacherous Sierra Nevada Mountains. Deep snows had forced him and his pack train to turn back in April 1827. In May, he tried again and during that eight-day journey, he lost two horses and a mule, but he made it across. Seven years later, small communities developed in the remote Sierras, with the settlers depending on hard working packers to bring them supplies. After the 1848 gold strike in California