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Media Life: Silent movie from 1931 Auburn-Tahoe trek resurrected in new film
Western States Trail’s “They Crossed the Mountains” includes rarely seen footage

By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

The Western States Trail saga was a story just begging to be told on the movie screen. And part of it was – in 1931.

Now it’s been enshrined in film form again and will get its first public showing on Sunday at the Old State Theater in Auburn.

And it turns out, the story is very well told. Luckily the early 1930s film has survived and plays a starring role in the new production.

Colorado Springs producer-director Ginger Kathrens, a veteran film-maker with a Grammy in her trophy case, has helmed a 53-minute history of the storied trail that brings some well-known Auburn faces, privately held and publicly owned photos, and riveting film footage together to provide perspective to a larger-than-life subject.

Called “They Crossed the Mountains,” the film starts off with birds-eye views from a helicopter of some of the most scenic stretches of the 100-mile trail between Auburn and Squaw Valley.

Then it digs deep into a history of a trail, starting with the days when the Washoe Tribe of Nevada used it as a major pathway. The Gold Rush migration saw the trail used as a direct link from the east over the mountains to the California gold fields.

One of the early “They Crossed the Mountains” vignettes deals with brothers E.A. And H.B. Grosh and their discovery of what would be the Comstock Lode. Suffice to say, it isn’t named the Grosh Lode – and the story behind that often overlooked piece of Nevada silver mining history gets its due.

Auburn’s Hal Hall, a Tevis Cup Ride winner and executive producer with Kate Riordan on “They Crossed the Mountains,” takes viewers to the ghost town of Last Chance, where the grave marker of one of the brothers is located.

Other story tellers during the first part of the film include 100-mile run pioneer Gordy Ainsleigh, Tevis rider Jack Veal, state parks ranger and local bridge expert Mike Lynch, Tahoe-are author and historian Mark McLaughlin and April Moore of the Maidu-Miwok tribe.

Footage from a 1931 trek to identify the trail by the Auburn Native Sons of the Golden West highlights early efforts to preserve what has now become a world-renowned pathway for equestrians and runners. With Auburn lumber baron and political kingmaker Wendell Robie playing a lead role and Tahoe pioneer Bob Watson showing the way, the group rode the 90 miles to Lake Tahoe in early fall.

GOLDEN GRAIN

The grainy, silent film footage provides a glimpse or two at Auburn back in that decade, as well as Foresthill, the Foresthill Road and the American River.

One of the stars of the film is Keith Lukens, who sits astride a horse as a child in one shot outside his father’s Downtown Auburn hardware store. Now 83 years old, he provides narration and reminiscences that only someone who was there at the time could.

Wendell Robie also gets his due for starting the Tevis Cup ride. His granddaughter, Marion Robie Arnold, provides her own look at a colorful kingpin from last century, as does Richard Barsaleau, a fixture as veterinarian at decades of Tevis Cup rides.

Thirteen storytellers in all move the story forward, through the early days of the ride to Ainsleigh’s momentous 1974 run through today, with multiple Western States 100 winner Tim Tweitmeyer putting things into perspective by noting that the Western States Trail’s Tevis Cup and 100-mile run are the greatest events on earth of their type.

A limited number of seats are available for Sunday's noon showing at the State Theater, 985 Lincoln Way. Reservations may be made by contacting the Western States Trail Foundation office at (530) 823-7282.

Copies of the film will go on sale after the weekend premiere. They can be obtained by going to teviscup.org or phoning the Western States Trail Foundation number during office hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays.

The budget for the production, which ran close to $60,000, was underwritten by the Western States Trail Foundation, Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation, Western States Endurance Run Foundation, Placer County Historical Foundation and the Josephine Stedem Scripps Foundation.

Sunday’s showing is free of charge and there will be complimentary popcorn and beverages.

Gus Thomson of the Auburn Journal and Media Life can be reached at gust@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Posted By  Ridecamp  to  Endurance Tracks  at  6/06/2008 12:05:00 PM