Old Stage Road San Juan Bautista (Old El Camino Real)

[Max Rockatansky]

I paid a visit to Old Stage Road Bear San Juan Bautista recently.  Given Old Stage Road is one of the few identifiable segments of the original El Camino Real I wanted to get a topic going give it's historic significance.   The Facebook post I did on Gribblenation can be seen on this link:

https://www.facebook.com/72868503020/posts/10156745686118021/?d=n

The historical content of Old Stage Road is in the content of the post:

"In Photo 1 below the Old Stage Road above the San Juan Grade (Salinas Road) of Old US Route 101/Legislative Route 2 can be seen on the outskirts of San Juan Bautista.  Old Stage Road was constructed as a spur of El Camino Real when Mission San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797.   Old Stage Road may have been where the 1775-1776 Juan Bautista de Anza Expedition crossed the Gabilan Range but it isn't completely clear.  Nonetheless Old Stage Road remained the primary road between Salinas and San Juan Bautista into the early 20th Century. 

When the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act was passed in 1910 a new State Route from San Francisco to San Diego was created.  This highway in time became Legislative Route 2.  Old Stage Road was considered such a poor roadway that proposals to build Legislative Route 2 had it possibly routed through Watsonville and Castroville as seen on the 1913 Survey Map in Photo 2. 

Eventually the San Juan Grade of Legislative Route 2 was constructed over the Gabilan Range.  This modernized facility over the San Juan Grade connected San Juan Bautista and Salinas via concrete road which still exists in San Benito County.  The route Old Stage Road was abandoned (as evidenced by the 1920 Denny Map of San Benito County in Photo 3) and the San Juan Grade became part of US 101 in 1926.  Even the San Juan Grade was replaced by the Prunedale Cut-Off Route by Summer of 1932 which carries present US 101 (Photo 4 and 5). 

The Old Stage Road remained open to traffic for years due to sparse maintenance from both San Benito County and Monterey County.  The San Benito County portion of Old Stage Road is now part of the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, although the road is open to traffic once a year to maintain it's status as an active highway.  Old Stage Road has a massive 750-800 foot ascent from the San Juan Grade which crests the Gabilan Range after approximately 3 miles.   There are few places where there is such a good analog to where the end of Stage Route era can be seen preserved alongside the early Automotive Route era."

I did a run from the San Juan Grade up time the summit of Old Stage Road (3 miles) near the Monterey County line.  I'm still trying to find out what day this year Old Stage Road will be open to traffic.  The grade is good enough still that a car probably could make it with a bit of caution. I have five historic documents ready to go for the upcoming blog but I know there is a 1912 ACSC map floating around for Old Stage Road which I can't find.  Below is a link to the photo album I took of Old Stage Road:

https://flickr.com/photos/151828809@N08/sets/72157712553216727

[Max Rockatansky]

Some pictures of interest regarding Old Stage Road.

This Anza Trail marker can be found at the split of Old US 101/San Juan Grade and Old Stage Road

IMG_9795 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Old Stage Road is gated up approximately a half mile from Old US 101/San Juan Grade and there are plenty of Anza Trail Markers.

IMG_9798 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_9799 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_9800 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Old Stage Road has a maintained grade and the cattle guards are clearly wide enough to allow vehicles through.

IMG_9804 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The first mile of Old Stage Road has a steep grade which I would speculate is 20% in places.

IMG_9817 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The view of Old US 101/San Juan Grade from a half mile up Old Stage Road.

IMG_9822 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

This photo is about one mile up Old Stage Road looking northwest towards Old US 101/San Juan Grade.

IMG_9847 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr]0[/url] by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The grade levels out substantially on Old Stage Road a mile in at the second cattle guard.

IMG_9829 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Despite the overgrowth the grade of Old Stage Road is probably good enough to support a car passing at slow speed.

IMG_9847 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

The smooth grade becomes even more apparent near the top of the pass.

IMG_9863 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The final ascent to the crest of the Gabilan Range is short but steep.

IMG_9872 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

From the top of the pass Old Stage Road overlooks Salinas Valley.  Approximately a mile to the south there is another gate where the active portion of Old Stage Road begins.

IMG_9873 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[nexus73]

Those are some fascinating photos you came up with Max!  Seeing a historical trail being kept around is always nice.  The terrain and flora are certainly attractive.  I wonder if any Spaniards felt homesick when they were in California during the time it was theirs? 

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

Those are some fascinating photos you came up with Max!  Seeing a historical trail being kept around is always nice.  The terrain and flora are certainly attractive.  I wonder if any Spaniards felt homesick when they were in California during the time it was theirs? 

Rick

There is actually a pretty extensive journal written by De Anza during the 1775-76 expedition.  It reads as though pretty much everyone involved had to commit fully to exploring uncharted Las Californias.  Suffice to say home sick probably came with the territory.  My understand is that it isn't 100% certain the De Anza expedition crossed the Gabilan Range via what is now Old Stage Road.  The roadway when the Mission was founded circa 1797, I haven't found any documentation on who graded it.  I suspect that it might have been a franchise toll road in early American California which was the norm from the late 1860s until the early 20th Century. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I started making area maps of San Juan Bautista which shows the different historical routes in the area:

Red:  1915-1932 Legislative Route 2/1926-1932 US 101 on the San Juan Grade

Blue:  Old Stage Road/El Camino Real

Green:  Former Legislative Route 22

Brown:  The route of the San Juan Pacific Railway

I have one map left to go which shows 1926-1932 US 101 reaching Main Street in Salinas.  The first four maps are ready to go:

A San Juan by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

B San Juan by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

C San Juan by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

D San Juan by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

What is readily apparent is the alignment of Old Stage Road is by the shortest route over the Gabilan Range.  The San Juan Grade is substantially shorter than the Prunedale Cut-Off (modern US 101) but it has to take a crap ton of curves to get a somewhat shallow grade. 

[TheStranger]

Thanks for the maps Max!

Fascinating to see two spots in that area where old US 101 water crossings are now gone: at San Juan Highway just north of Route 129, and a few more miles towards Gilroy at Betabel Road.

[Max Rockatansky]

Thanks for the maps Max!

Fascinating to see two spots in that area where old US 101 water crossings are now gone: at San Juan Highway just north of Route 129, and a few more miles towards Gilroy at Betabel Road.

In the case of San Juan Highway I would be highly interested in seeing what the crossing their looked like.  There was a pretty strong likelihood that a pre-Legislative Route 2 bridge was in use there given that part of the alignment was discarded so quickly a couple years after the Prunedale Cut-Off was built.  I still need to get back out to the San Juan Grade some time to hunt down some C Block photos since I know there a ton of them on the San Benito County side.    That little section of Old 101 on the San Benito County side really is a treasure with how much it says about early construction of State Highways. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Finished the last map showing the difference between the 1915 San Juan Grade of LRN 2 versus the 1932 US 101/LRN 2 Prunedale Cut-Off:

E San Juan by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

I also cut the applicable maps that I'm looking to use on the upcoming Gribblenation article.  The earliest map showing Old Stage Road I could find was the 1857 Britton & Rey Road Map of California:

Ec 1857 Britton and Rey by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

1873 California Geological Survey Map; the route of Old Stage Road can be seen as foot path:

F 1873 California Geological by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

This is a 1913 map showing the proposed alignment of LRN 2.  Apparently a route through Watsonville and Castroville was considered over a highway through San Juan Bautista:

G 1913 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

A 1920 San Benito County Map shows Old Stage Road abandoned:

H 1920 Denny San Benito County by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

A 1931 California Highway and Public Works article detailing the construction of the Prunedale Cut-Off.  San Juan Grade is described as opening 1915 as a replacement for the previous highway (Old Stage Road). 

Ha 1931 Division of Highways by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Hb 1931 Division of Highways by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The 1935 Division of Highways Maps of San Benito County and Monterey County also show Old Stage Road.  The San Juan Grade is shown as a spur of LRN 2 as it had not been relinquished yet despite US 101 moving to the Prunedale Cut-Off in summer of 1932:

I 1935 San Benito County by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

J 1935 Monterey County by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

The final product on Old Stage Road is up on Gribblenation.  Apparently the car cruise over Old Stage Road is run by a car club out of Salinas and usually takes place the weekend before Mother's Day.  Old Stage Road in San Benito County became part of the De Anza Trail in 1999:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2020/01/old-stage-road-real-el-camino-real-and.html