Pozo Road (Old CA 178) and the Rinconada Mine

[Max Rockatansky]

Both these topics were items I found interesting enough to rush through my writing schedule.  The blogs on our page won't publish until April next year but these are the summaries I wrote:

Pozo Road/Old CA 178:

Pozo Road is an approximately 34.7-mile rural highway located in San Luis Obispo County.  Pozo Road begins at California State Route 58 near Santa Margarita and loops back to it near the ghost town site of La Panza.  The corridor of Pozo Road passes through remote terrain of the Santa Lucia Mountains, San Jose Valley, the ranching town of Pozo and La Panza Mountains.  The 12 miles of Pozo Road located in the La Panza Mountains of Los Padres National Forest are comprised of a poorly graded dirt surface.

The corridor that is now Pozo Road was constructed during the 1850s east from El Rancho San Jose (renamed Pozo in 1881).  This stage road was one of the fastest ways from the population coastal segments of San Luis Obispo County to reach San Joaquin Valley.  For a time, the corridor would be known as the "Bakersfield Road" but eventually came to be far more associated with Pozo.

Most of Pozo Road would enter the State Highway System as an extension of Legislative Route Number 58 west of Bakersfield in 1933.  In August 1934 the corridor would be assigned as a component of California State Route 178.  From the former gold mining community of La Panza the corridor of California State Route 178 followed Pozo Road over the La Panza Range and through Pozo itself.  The initial State Highway alignment west of Pozo followed what is now River Road and a grade through what is now Santa Margarita Lake. 

In 1942 California State Route 178 would be realigned west of Pozo onto a more direct routing to Santa Margarita.  This realignment was necessary due to the United Army Corps of Engineers having constructed Salinas Dam.  The realigned State Highway passed by the Rinconada Mine which was still then a prominent Mercury mine. 

In 1955 the Division of Highways would swap maintenance of Pozo Road with San Luis Obispo County for Calf Canyon Road.  California State Route 178 was realigned onto the more favorable grades of Calf Canyon Road which largely bypassed the La Panza Mountains.  California State Route 58 would inherit the Calf Canyon routing when it was created in 1964.

Since being relinquished from the State Highway System in 1955 the corridor of Pozo Roads has seen incremental improvements.  This corridor is one of the longest intact bypassed State Highway routings in California.


The Rinconada Mine (and old mining road):

Quicksilver mining historically has been prolific through much of the Coast Ranges of California.  The site of abandoned Rinconada Mine in the southeastern Santa Lucia Mountains near Pozo is no exception.  This abandoned mine can be found just off of Pozo Road (former California State Route 178) along the Rinconada Trail of Los Padres National Forest.

The Rinconada Mine was staked in 1872 off of a consolidation of seven Quicksilver Claims.  The initial mining operations ran through a small furnace which was worked circa 1876 through 1883.

The Rinconada Mine would reopen to larger scale shaft mining operations in 1897.  These operations would continually expand through the 1920s and 1930s.  In 1942 California State Route 178 was realigned west of Pippen Corner past the Rinconada Mine along Pozo Road.  This realignment was necessary due to the Army Corps of Engineers constructing a dam on the Salinas River which impounded Santa Margarita Lake. 

In World War II the Rinconada Mine would remain open due to Mercury being declared an essential material.  The mine shafts at the site would reach a maximum extent of 7,000 feet into the mountains amid the war. 

In 1955 the Division of Highways would swap Pozo Road with San Luis Obispo County for Calf Canyon Road.  California State Route 178 was subsequently realigned onto the Calf Canyon corridor approximately ten miles north of the Rinconada Mine.  In 1964 this segment of highway through Calf Canyon became part of California State Route 58. 

The Rinconada Mine was shuttered in 1961.  Much of the mining facility was damaged by the Las Pilitas Fire in 1985.  Despite the fire a considerable portion of the mill and mining access road remained intact. 

In modern times the Rinconada Mine was cleaned up as Super Fund site and incorporated into the Rinconada Trail.  Unlike other Mercury mines in the Coast Ranges the Rinconada site has remained accessible to the public.  The ruins are heavily tagged in graffiti but are otherwise largely intact.  Some of the reduction drive gears still turns despite having been sitting for over half a century.


Previously I had explored the Pozo Road corridor from the eastern end near the ghost of La Panza back in 2017.  The album from back then can be viewed here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskNRAoeX

This is the album I took of western Pozo Road and the Rinconada Mine on Monday:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD2zNV

The mining ruins are pretty awesome and accessible if anyone is ever in the area:

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The warnings for the dirt segment of Pozo Road are interesting all.  I tried the dirt part for about a half mile, but the grade is non-existent.  I'll need to return in the Forester when I have the opportunity:

IMG_6871 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_6874 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_6875 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Interesting to note, I'm to understand the Pozo Saloon is still in the original building that was constructed in 1858. 

IMG_6878 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr