1857 Map of California showing the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

[Max Rockatansky]

Definitely a huge throwback to a very early highway era in California... 

I was browsing David Rumsey tonight looking for a map of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road and found one produced by Britton & Rey's in 1857.  The map actually shows the entirety of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road running through the Sierra Foothills and eastern San Joaquin Valley communities to avoid the Tule Marshes southward to Tejon Pass.  For those who aren't aware the Stockton-Los Angeles Road was the primary means of transportation south from Stockton during the early 1850s after the Kern River Gold Rush began to the 1870s when Central Pacific was built up in San Joaquin Valley.  I might work up a blog series eventually tracking down the approximate alignments of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road eventually given the way points are well known.  There are various other wagon roads shown on the 1857 map such as the El Camino Real.

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~188~10036:Britton-&-Rey-s-Map-Of-The-State-Of?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:california%201860;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=30&trs=286

[sparker]

Very interesting how the wagon road surmounted Tejon Pass; it seemingly used two routes, the western (and lower) of which approximates I-5 and the western end of CA 138, while the second -- shorter but about 1000' higher, cuts off through the valley extending due east of today's Lebec, with them coming together at the north end of where the present San Francisquito Canyon Road goes over the top of the San Gabriels and comes out in the western part of what is today Palmdale.  They obviously had a much different survey crew than the CP some 15 years later -- and seemingly a strong desire to travel out in the Mojave Desert as little as possible -- unlike the later railroad (completed in 1876) that just wanted to keep gradients as benign as possible -- hence the Tehachapi Pass route to the northeast of the wagon's Tejon routing.  Seeing as how the western wagon road option over today's Tejon Summit eventually did head into the high desert, it was likely the narrow Piru Gorge, directly south of the summit, was deemed too hazardous for a wagon route -- hence the San Francisquito canyon, the next readily traversable route to the east.

Humorous aside -- the community (it may have been just a wagon stop) of "San Francisco" out in the Santa Clarita Valley; obviously renamed at some point.  And not so humorous -- by 1857, it was probably realized that without some sort of "flood control" applied to the rivers coming down from the Sierras, any N-S route through the valley had to be well upstream of the San Joaquin and Tulare floodplains.  Obviously expediting the agricultural potential of the Valley wasn't a goal so much as completing a route to L.A., so locating the wagon route on the flatlands to secure railheads -- like the railroad did years later -- wasn't even a priority. 

It's understandable that securing a usable path from Northern California to L.A. would have been vital in 1857, with the pre-Civil War "rumblings" occurring at that time; keeping CA as a single Union entity -- and minimizing the potential for the southern part of the state breaking off and forming an alliance with the Confederate cause was a major part of the equation.  So a wagon path, convoluted as it may have been, would have been considered a necessity; waiting for Huntington, Stanford et. al. to push their rail line southward wouldn't have been an option.       

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

Apparently the "San Francisco" near Newhall Pass was a Rancho.  I found it interesting to see the split in the route from Fort Tejon, that definitely was somewhat unexpected...if I'm not correct isn't the eastern route Old Tejon Pass?  Piru Gorge is interesting considering it was the route the Ridge Route was ultimately realigned through.  Most of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road in San Joaquin Valley had a revival somewhat in California State Route 65...especially if it had been built to full scale.

In regards to the river crossings they definitely were more accessible in the Foothills where the rivers would bottleneck.  In the case of the San Joaquin River the location of Millerton was at a very narrow point of the river in a canyon.  Firebaugh's Ferry apparently subject to way more closures due to the width the San Joaquin would spread to in wet seasons in the Valley.

But I digress...I just finished up my blog post breaking down the 1857 map of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road that I posted yesterday.  I split up the map into sections and put a description of the major crossings that the road crossed.  I added some of my back logged photos from the 1866 Fresno County Courthouse which was located on the Stockton-Los Angeles Road in Millerton. 

http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/09/ghost-town-tuesday-millerton-california.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Put together some image snips from the 1857 map showing only the Stockton-Los Angeles Road heading southward from Stockton to Los Angeles:

X1 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X2 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X3 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X4 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X4 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X6 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X7 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X8 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

X8 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[red the grey]

Hi,I just joined after I saw the both of you discussing the LA to Stockton rd back in sept. I have been interested in this rd and have been looking for info on the subject for the past 20 yrs in particular the Millerton to Stockton segament ... I live in Madera,  so you know I am close to the location... I have found a couple of maps showing the route from private folks and museums and internet too...
I would like to have a discussion with you as it seems you also have an interest in this... On one of the maps it shows where  the road crosses the Fresno River  but it shows a split where there is a more south road and a northern road... I cant seem to pinpoint which one is the earlier and which is the later...
I belong to a historical org. called E. Clampus Vitus, we have been around since the goldrush day of the 1849'ers and are  dedicated to preserving history and I might say also having a damn fine time doing so...
I have hopes that either one of you will see this post and reply...
My name is Dennis Holschlag ,my phone # is 559-674-4764 personal e. mail is hold26@hotmail.com if you wish to contact me...

[Max Rockatansky]

Hi,I just joined after I saw the both of you discussing the LA to Stockton rd back in sept. I have been interested in this rd and have been looking for info on the subject for the past 20 yrs in particular the Millerton to Stockton segament ... I live in Madera,  so you know I am close to the location... I have found a couple of maps showing the route from private folks and museums and internet too...
I would like to have a discussion with you as it seems you also have an interest in this... On one of the maps it shows where  the road crosses the Fresno River  but it shows a split where there is a more south road and a northern road... I cant seem to pinpoint which one is the earlier and which is the later...
I belong to a historical org. called E. Clampus Vitus, we have been around since the goldrush day of the 1849'ers and are  dedicated to preserving history and I might say also having a damn fine time doing so...
I have hopes that either one of you will see this post and reply...
My name is Dennis Holschlag ,my phone # is 559-674-4764 personal e. mail is hold26@hotmail.com if you wish to contact me...

Are you referring to the split south of the Kings River?...I don't see a split anywhere near the Fresno River.  It looks like there was just simply a road branch that went to Visalia to the west and Woodville to the east at the Kaweah River.  I would assume the Visalia route was probably older given the community started to pop up circa 1852/1853.  I'm honestly surprised that Whitmore's Ferry/Kingston doesn't pop up further west given it was around by 1854.

[red the grey]

This is where the road crosses the Fresno river, today it is just below the Hidden Dam at lake Hensley... I have a map that shows the 2 roads... There is an upper rd and lower rd but farther up they come together again , my guess is that one road was more passable than the other but both do cross the Fresno R ...I will try to find that map and post it...

[The Ghostbuster]

I wonder what it would have been like to drive on the road back then if we had cars. I would probably have to put my DeLorean time machine on hover mode.

[Max Rockatansky]

I wonder what it would have been like to drive on the road back then if we had cars. I would probably have to put my DeLorean time machine on hover mode.

I assume at best it was maybe close to a decently graded hiking trail.  That must have been awful bouncing around a wagon for days on end.