Chorpenning, George, 1820-1894

George W. Chorpenning Jr. was a pioneer in the transportation of mail, freight, and passengers through the arid and undeveloped western regions of the United States. His efforts in the 1850s were vital to the integration of the then-new state of California with the established government and economy east of the Mississippi River. He had learned from Howard Egan about a more direct route from Salt Lake City, around the south end of the Great Salt Lake Desert, and through the mountains of central Nevada to the new towns of Carson City and Genoa. In 1859 Chorpenning used the eastern half of this route, connecting with the original Humboldt River route at Gravelly Ford, near present-day Beowawe and built a series of provisioned way stations along the route to allow rapid exchange of mule teams.

From the description of George W. Chorpenning letter : Salt Lake City, Utah, to Daniel M. Taft, 1859 Jan. 1. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 747257962