Skip to main content

Wards Ferry Road

By


Wards Ferry Road is an approximately sixteen mile long north/south roadway in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Tuolumne County.  Wards Ferry Road is one of the oldest road corridors in Tuolumne County having been set up as a ferry crossing by Joesph Ward during 1850.  Wards Ferry Road was once the primary connecting highway between the communities of Big Oak Flat and Sonora.  Wards Ferry Road is most well-known from it's largely one-lane wide alignment through Murderer's Gulch where it crosses the Tuolumne River via heavily graffitied 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge.  Pictured as the blog cover is the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge as it was during 1951.  The 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge was built upon the anchoring piles of the original 1879 Wards Ferry Bridge which had burned during 1891.  



Part 1; the history of Wards Ferry Road

According to Groveland Museum historian Joe Hopkins a ferry crossing across the Tuolumne River across what is now known as Murderer's Gulch was developed by Joseph Ward during 1850.  Joseph Ward was ultimately murdered by the highway robbers during 1854 at the site of his ferry at the Tuolumne River.  The murder of Joseph Ward would be the inspiration for the name for what is now known as Murderer's Gulch.  The highway between Sonora and Big Oak Flat would ultimately assume the name "Wards Ferry Road" from the site of Joseph Ward's ferry.  Below a 2019 ABC 10 interview with Joe Hopkins can be viewed:


Below Wards Ferry Road can be seen as the primary highway connecting Sonora and Big Oak Flat on the 1873 Bancroft's Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.  


During 1879 a tolled suspension bridge was constructed in Murderer's Gulch at the site of Wards Ferry.  According to Jon Hicks and Ron P. Parker the 1879 Wards Ferry Bridge was burned by bandits January 31st, 1891 to cover the murder toll taker Charles Pease and his friend Byron Lowe.  The 1879 Wards Ferry Bridge can be seen in the undated photo below (courtesy Ron P. Parker). 


According to Ron P. Parker a truss span was completed utilizing the anchoring piles of the 1879 Wards Ferry Bridge on November 12th, 1897.  Below the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge can be seen along with a wagon crossing the Tuolumne River (courtesy Ron P. Parker).  


Wards Ferry Road and the site of the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge can be seen below on the 1912 United States Geological Survey Map of the Sonora Area.  


During 1915 a new pony truss bridge was constructed along Wards Ferry Road at Deer Creek.  The 1915 Deer Creek Bridge can be seen below in a University of California Davis sourced photo from 1951. 


Wards Ferry Road was largely unaffected by the completion of the first iteration Don Pedro Dam in 1923.  The original Don Pedro Reservoir was not large enough to reach the sites of Murderer's Gulch and the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge.  The 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge can be seen during 1951 in a University of California Davis sourced photo.  


During 1971 Don Pedro Dam was heighted which led to the catchment area of Don Pedro Reservoir expanding to Murderer's Gulch and the 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge.  The 1897 Wards Ferry Bridge truss span was removed which left only the anchoring piles intact.  A new Wards Ferry Bridge was constructed downstream which has in modern times come to be known as the "Graffiti Bridge" due to the large amount of vandalism it has been subject to.  The site of the 1879 and 1897 Wards Ferry Bridges can be viewed in a photo taken on May 26th, 2022.




Part 2; a drive on Wards Ferry Road

Wards Ferry Road can be accessed from California State Route 120 in the community of Big Oak Flat.  The area around Big Oak Flat began to be developed after James Savage struck mining claims in the area during 1848.  Big Oak Flat was originally known as Savage's Diggins but traditionally has been known by it's modern name.  A large sign from California State Route 120 denotes the northbound beginning of Wards Ferry Road. 



Wards Ferry Road northbound begins initially as a two-lane roadway before dropping to one lane at Deer Flat Road.  













Notably the intersection of Wards Ferry Road and Deer Flat Road was once the site of a small community known as Deer Flat.  Deer Flat can be seen on the 1912 United States Geological Survey map.  


As Wards Ferry Road northbound approaches Thiel Road traffic is notified of 9 miles of steep one lane roadway ahead in Murderer's Gulch.  






Wards Ferry Road northbound narrows and begins run alongside Deer Creek to a small one-lane bridge.
















Wards Ferry Road northbound begins to descend towards the Tuolumne River.  Wards Ferry Road northbound passes through a narrow switchback before descending to the 1915 Deer Creek Bridge.  While descending to the 1915 Deer Creek Bridge via the switchback he lower portions of Wards Ferry Road can be observed.  According to pjammcycling.com the average gradient of Wards Ferry Road is 5.5% on average but peaks at 11.7%.



























Wards Ferry Road northbound follows the course of Deer Creek into Murderer's Gulch where the Tuolumne River can be observed.  














Wards Ferry Road northbound swings towards the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge upon entering Murderer's Gulch.  






As noted in Part 1 the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge is known by the nickname "Graffiti Bridge."  The 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge is subject to heavy amounts of vandalism due to be located in the remote Murderer's Gulch.  The 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge is a modern structure with a normal width roadway which stands out as being a strange departure from most of Wards Ferry Road.  The views below are facing north on the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge.











Views on the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge facing south.





Facing east on the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge reveals the anchoring piles of the 1879 and 1897 Wards Ferry Bridges.  



The anchor points of the 1879/1897 Wards Ferry Bridges can be accessed by way of walking behind the outhouse and climbing down the original abandoned road grade.










Facing east from one of the anchors of the 1879/1897 Wards Ferry Bridge up the Tuolumne River. 


Looking west from one of the anchors of the 1879/1897 Ward Ferry Bridge towards the 1971 Bridge. 


Several vehicles have been pushed down to the Tuolumne River from the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge.  Below derelict Ford F150 can be seen.  Aerial photos reveal what appears to be a red vehicle in the waters of the Tuolumne River beneath the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge.  






Wards Ferry Road northbound from the 1971 Wards Ferry Bridge climbs a series of switchbacks and emerges from Murderer's Gulch at Powell Ranch Road.  


























Wards Ferry Road north of Powell Ranch Road remains a single lane but has evidence of worn center line striping.  Wards Ferry Road northbound approaching Sonora passes by Morgan Chapel and Cemetery, both which were constructed during 1880.  

















Wards Ferry Road north of Morgan Chapel intersects Old Wards Ferry Road and widens to two-lanes.  Old Wards Ferry Road crosses Sullivan Creek and emerges into Sonora at former California State Route 108/Mono Way.  







Modern Wards Ferry Road continues north to a terminus at Tuolumne County Route E17/Tuolumne Road.  





Comments

J.P. said…
Back years ago, somewhere between 1997 and the early 2000’s, my wife and I vacationing in the area came across a cutoff road between Groveland and Sonoma. This turned out to be nothing short of a nightmare! It was an unpaved, extremely narrow mountain road with no place to turn around. There were endless blind curves with steep cliffs and usually the road seemed almost too narrow to proceed. We were traveling in my 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 and at one point I had to fold in my drivers mirror to keep it from scraping. Only by the grace of God after what seemed like an eternity, we ended up in someone’s pasture and passed through a gate to access a road leading in to Sonoma. We were never so thankful to see civilization in our lives. My question is, would this have been Wards Ferry Road prior to it being paved? Would appreciate anyone’s input here.
6:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

By
  There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population.  The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t
Post a Comment
Read more

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

By
The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two
1 comment
Read more

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

By
  Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third
Post a Comment
Read more