In 1845, Caleb Greenwood and his three sons developed a new route that by-passed the rough and rugged trail up the Truckee River Canyon by leaving the river near the present town of Verdi, Nevada and following a ravine northwest over a 6200 feet pass across the Carson Range (followed today by the Henness Pass Road) and down to Dog Valley and from there southwest down through the present Stampede and Prosser Creek Reservoirs before rejoining the Truckee trail near today's Truckee, California.