Gribblenation Historic Road Photos

[Max Rockatansky]

Off forum there are five states that I spend a lot of time digging up historic road photos to post onto our Facebook account.

-  California
-  Arizona
-  Nevada
-  Oregon
-  Washington

These are the last five historic photos I have posted.

7/11/26

These views are from the Mariposa County community of Coulterville along Greeley Hill Road. Greeley Hill Road is part of County Route J132 along with Smith Station Road.  County Route J132 acts as 14.72-mile continuation of California State Route 132 east of California State Route 49.

Greely Hill Road and Smith Station Road were commissioned as County Route J20 in 1965.  The County Route designation was intended to aid travelers in cutting off the Priest Grades heading eastbound towards California State Route 120.  The last photo in this post contains a vintage image which has a J20 shield in front of the Hotel Jeffery. 

Coulterville was founded in 1850 along Maxwell Creek and is named after George Coulter.  Originally the community was called Maxwell Creek but had been renamed to Coulterville by 1853.  Coulterville historically is best well-known for being the head of the Coulterville Road to Yosemite Valley.  The Coulterville Road was the first highway to reach Yosemite Valley and was completed during June 1874. 

The Coulterville Road corridor is still accessible to high clearance vehicles between Coulterville and Foresta.  East of Foresta the grade which descended into Yosemite Valley has long collapsed and has been covered by rockfall.

Mariposa County Route J20 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

This post had a lot of modern J132 photos which can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/gribblenation/posts/pfbid0n7pUesgAw4q6zVjvhPeBMBjm5UDA4AiyRcwUHXZcabjDAwQdGeaqKspkZus1bL1hl


7/10/26

This photo is the junction of Arizona State Route 73 and Arizona State Route 173 at Indian Pine of Navajo County. This photo was likely taken by the Arizona Highway Department shortly after Arizona State Route 173 was commissioned during June 1938.

Arizona State Route 173 absorbed the previous routing of Arizona State Route 77 which had been extended Oracle Junction by way of Salt River Canyon. Arizona State Route 173 was absorbed as a part of Arizona State Route 260 on August 11, 1972.

The State Highway shields featured in this photo are the original design used by the Arizona Highway Department. The most obvious clue that the shields pre-date World War II is the presence of the tribal Swastikas in the shield arrows. The "R" and "L" signage simply denoted traffic would turn left onto Arizona State Route 73 and right to turn onto Arizona State Route 173.

This photo is from the Arizona Memory Project website subcollection on Arizona Highway Department archive photographs.

AZ 73 and 173 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


6/30/26

California State Route 198 has been traditionally one of my favorite Tulare County back roads to feature over the years. Clearly the Tulare County Planning Department agreed in 1975 when they published this photo of the highway passing through Yokohl Valley.

This photo was incorporated into a draft document nominating California State Routes 198 and 190 as part of a Scenic Highway program proposed by Tulare County. The intent was to have both State Highways added to wider Scenic Highway program via codification in the Streets and Highway Code. The entirety of California State Route 198 is currently codified as a Scenic Highway by way of Streets and Highway Code 263.8.

CA 198 Yokohl Valley by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


6/28/26

This view is of one of the new bridges over City Creek along Legislative Route Number 207 in the San Bernardino Mountains. This photo was featured in the 1950 Department of Public Works Biennial.

City Creek Road was first developed in 1891 as a tolled facility and became a public highway in 1903. City Creek Road was brought into the State Highway System as Legislative Route Number 207 in 1937. The modernization of City Creek Road came after World War II as it was gradually improved via five project zones.

City Creek Road was assigned as a component of California State Route 30 during 1953. City Creek Road was reassigned as California State Route 330 during 1972 when California State Route 30 was realigned to Redlands.

LRN 207 at City Creek by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


6/25/26

Pictured is the highway north of Kayenta in the Navajo Nation approaching Agathla Peak (formerly El Captain) and Monument Valley. This photo was featured in the August 1950 volume of Arizona Highways.

The highway north Kayenta to the Utah state line was added to the state highway system in 1962 as Arizona State Route 464. Arizona State Route 464 would become a component of current iteration of US Route 163 when the highway was formally approved by AASHO during 1970. The numbering of US Route 163 is an anomaly as it violates the grid conventions of the overall US Route System.

Agathla Peak by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr


Plus, the Interstate Bridge photo I mentioned from 6/19/26:

This photo from the 1923-1924 Sixth Oregon Highway Biennial is of the "Welcome to Oregon" sign located on the Pacific Highway immediately south of the Interstate Bridge at the Columbia River. The signage indicates the distances from the bridge to major locations with the state. Amusingly the left side of the sign indicates how out of states motorists would apply for a tourist registration in nearby Portland.

The Interstate Bridge opened to traffic in February 1917 as part of the Pacific Highway. The structure would be incorporated into US Route 99 by November 1926. Since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956 the Interstate Bridge has carried Interstate 5 over the Columbia River. This vertical lift span has persisted into modern times despite being substandard for modern traffic and being far from meeting seismic standards

Interstate Bridge 1923-1924 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[Max Rockatansky]

7/12/26

This view is facing on a segment of Washington State Road 12 which had been then recently completed via convict labor. This photo was featured in the 1910 Third Biennial Report of the Washington Highway Commissioner.

As originally defined Washington State Road 12 was known as the Methow-Barron Highway. As the name implies the corridor originated at Methow and was intended to terminate at the gold mining town (now ghost town) of Barron in the North Cascades Range of Whatcom County. This corridor was renumbered as Washington State Route 16 and came to be known as the Methow Valley Highway. Washington State Route 16 did end up reaching Barron by way of Twisp, Winthrop and Mazama.

Much of Washington State Route 16 west of Winthrop was later repurposed as part of the North Cascades Highway (now Washington State Route 20). In 1964 as part of the wider State Highway Renumbering the Methow Valley Highway was reassigned as Washington State Route 153. Washington State Route 153 is currently 30.78 miles in length spanning from US Route 97 in Pateros to Washington State Route 20 near Twisp.

Methow-Barron Highway 1912 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[gonealookin]

Plus, the Interstate Bridge photo I mentioned from 6/19/26:

This photo from the 1923-1924 Sixth Oregon Highway Biennial is of the "Welcome to Oregon" sign located on the Pacific Highway immediately south of the Interstate Bridge at the Columbia River. The signage indicates the distances from the bridge to major locations with the state. Amusingly the left side of the sign indicates how out of states motorists would apply for a tourist registration in nearby Portland.

The Interstate Bridge opened to traffic in February 1917 as part of the Pacific Highway. The structure would be incorporated into US Route 99 by November 1926. Since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956 the Interstate Bridge has carried Interstate 5 over the Columbia River. This vertical lift span has persisted into modern times despite being substandard for modern traffic and being far from meeting seismic standards

A few things about that sign:

1.  A statewide maximum speed limit of 30 mph?  LOL.  No wonder it took so goddamned long to raise the speed limit on the Interstates above 55 mph.  They started far behind and had a lot of catching up to do.

2.  I had to look up "Marshfield, OR".  Turns out the name of the town was changed to "Coos Bay" during WWII.

3.  They are missing the "DO NOT TRY TO PUMP YOUR OWN GAS" rule.

[Max Rockatansky]

The out of state registration is pretty amusing.  What are you supposed to do if the courthouse in Portland and auto club office are closed?

[Max Rockatansky]

7/14/26

This view along Wallowa Lake Highway #10 at the then new Grande Ronde River near Rhinehart. This photo was featured in the 6th Oregon State Highway Commission Biennial for the 1923-1924 time period.

Wallowa Lake Highway was designated as Oregon Route 82 in 1932. Presently the highway spans from US Route 30 in La Grande east to 70.74 miles to Joseph. The bridge pictured here still exists and can be found east of modern Oregon Route 82 at the following coordinates:

45°30'51.2"N 117°55'42.8"W

Rhinehart Bridge 1923-1924 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[gonealookin]

Looking at it on the satellite imagery, clearly the road on either side of the river is not used any more.  That's a fairly large bridge to leave unmaintained, just to wait for it to eventually crumble into the river, and onto the adjacent railroad track which looks like it's still being used as I see a lumber mill and some railroad cars upstream in Elgin.  It's a nice old bridge but without maintenance I'd get in there and dismantle it.

[Max Rockatansky]

I haven't quite tracked down when the modern alignment was constructed.  It seemingly was long enough ago to still be in the era when the older bridges wouldn't be demolished as part of realignment projects.  From what I'm seeing on USGS maps modern OR 82 first appears on 1964 era edition.