Career
According to a previous arrangement a Company of 8 persons started May 1, 1848, Sergeant David Brewett being elected Captain, to pioneer, if possible, a wagon road of the Sierra, Nevada mountains eastward. At that time the Truckee route was still impassable.
This company consisted of David Brewett, Captain Ira J. Willis, Sly, Israel Evens, Jacob G. Truman, Esra Allen, J. R. Allred, Henderson Cox and Robert Pixton.
Three days travel brought the group to Iron Hill where the deep snow made further travel impossible. The group climbed to the top of the mountain, where they could see only snow-capped mountains ahead.
They decided to postpone the enterprise until later in the season. So far as they could judge a wagon road would at least be possible and perhaps a success.
One day"s travel took them back from snow to a warm spring atmosphere where flowers bloomed and vegetation was far advanced.
The group departed for the Great Basin on July 2, 1848. The historical record states: ‘By July 2 the company was again on the march. Two days’ travel from Pleasant Valley, that is about fifty miles east of Sutter’s Fort, brought them to Sly’s Park, a small valley or mountain dell, thus named for Captain JAMES C. SLY, who first discovered it….
Four days’ travel over rough and rugged mountains took them across the summit, and they found themselves safely landed at the head of Carson Valley, Nevada.’ Sly married Susannah Gustin on March 25, 1849 in Great Salt Lake City.
He was wounded outside Fort Levan early in the Utah Black Hawk War. He died in 1864 in Chicken Creek, Juab, Utah.
He was buried in Chicken Creek, Juab County, Utah. Recreation Area History The Pollock Pines Epic.
