Old Control Road (Tulare County Mountain Road 52) mystery

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm hoping someone might have obscure source that expounds on Old Control Road in the California Hot Springs area of Tulare County.  Essentially this is the original road to California Hot Springs but has a murky history.  This is what I posted on the Tulare County History Facebook group:

"This view is down Old County Road (Mountain Road 52) near California Hot Springs this morning.  This has been an item of interest for me given I can't seem to find a general history about this road.  I'm assuming it was it was the original road to California Hot Springs which opened in 1882?  Problematically the resort and Old Control Road don't appear on the 1892 Thompson Atlas of Tulare County (T23S, R28E looking eastward from Fountain Springs):

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~24869~970021:Tulare-County%2C-California-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&mi=55&trs=347&qvq=q:tulare%20county;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1

A control road would seem to indicate to me that there was once one-way timed traffic ascending/descending from California Hot Springs?  I'm assuming Old Control Road was replaced by Hot Springs Road sometime after the hotel complex broke ground in 1902.  Any insight about this highway corridor would be appreciated.

Also, does anyone have any insight as to why Old Control Road is closed?  I've seen a couple cyclist videos showing the central portion to have been washed out and filled with debris.  Does the county intend to reopen Old Control Road at any point or perhaps pave it?"

Here the photos that apply to the above:

IMG_1368 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

IMG_1369 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

FWIW, one of the respondents on the Tulare County History group said that the modern alignment of Hot Springs Road (Mountain Road 56) was likely complete in 1915.  That seems to line up given that I found Hot Springs Road in a 1917 era CSAA map.  It seems that there might have been interest in running a railroad line up Old Control Road at some point and there is a "Railroad Canyon" which links California Hot Springs to the White River. 

It seems Old Control Road is closed due to recent washouts.  The Tulare County Roads Department page shows the corridor closed but does not give an explanation nor expected timeframe for repair. 

I've been reading historical texts all afternoon on Tulare County, and they do talk extensively about California Hot Springs.  Frustratingly none of those texts say anything about how people got there aside from stages departing Ducor and Porterville.  Strangely I did have a lot of success finding 1909-1910 era road photos.