During the 1830's, a number of enterprising men went from Oregon to California to buy (or steal) horses and other livestock, and to bring that livestock overland back to Oregon. The best known way between Oregon and California was over what became known as the Siskiyou Trail. The Siskiyou Trail passed right through Upper Soda Springs, and was based on Native American foot trails and hunter/trapper routes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to the Central Valley in California, using the Sacramento Canyon as a main conduit. (Today's I-5 roughly follows the path of the Siskiyou Trail).
As early as 1834, an American named Ewing Young gathered some 150 horses and mules from the Mexican settlements of California, and began the first pioneering trek with animals up into Oregon. Although the drive took nearly three months to accomplish, these animals pushed a swathe through the vegetation and widened the existing foot trails on the way to Oregon. Unfortunately for Young, many of the horses that he had gathered in California likely had been stolen from the Mexican ranchos and missions, and the Oregon authorities would not pay him for all his work.
However, now that Young had shown that the basic possibilty of getting from California to Oregon with animals, other attempts were made to supply Oregon from California. In 1837, Young made a second trip, taking a boat to San Francisco with some $3000 in cash to buy cattle. Starting out with 700 head of cattle at San Francisco Bay in late July 1837, Young began the almost unthinkable task of driving these animals over 600 miles through rough wilderness - a task that had never been undertaken. This first cattle drive faced starvation and drought for the cattle, however, Young finally managed to reach the Upper Sacramento by late August. Lost, without sufficient feed for the herd, Young continued forward among the mountains, trying to find the best path north.
One of the men accompanying Young was Philip Edwards, who kept a diary of their travails. On Sept. 3, 1837, as they were struggling up the Sacramento Canyon, Edwards wrote dejectedly in his diary, "Since the last date we have been making short marches, and camping wherever we could find small parcels of grass. Our fond expectation of getting out of these mountains each successive day has been delusive. Lofty mountains have been exchanged for deep and difficult ravines, and our labor little diminishes. I reckon yesterday the most laborious day to myself since beginning the trip, my bones aching from exertion and my lungs painful from hallooing. Since last date have lost seven cattle and two horses."
Several days later however, Edwards excitedly describes a side trip that he takes up some mountainous peaks he describes as "massive granite" and "Alps on Alps" - a likely reference to Castle Crags. The next day, Sept. 6, 1837, Edwards writes, "Moved about 8 miles - road very brushy and difficult. Camped at a spring apparently impregnated with ferruginous matter." From Castle Crags to Upper Soda Springs is about 6 1/2 miles.
This description by Edwards of their Sept. 6, 1837 campsite would appear very likely to be a description of the site of Upper Soda Springs. (For the complete Diary of Philip Edwards, click here)
During the next five years or so, other entrepreneurs also try their hand with similar cattle drives, and while detailed records do not exist of all of these drives, it appears that many if not most of these pioneering drives similarly came up the Sacramento Canyon, past Upper Soda Springs.