Skip to main content

Aptos Creek Road to the Loma Prieta ghost town site

By

Aptos Creek Road is a roadway in Santa Cruz County, California which connects the community of Aptos north to The Forest of Nisene Marks State Parks.  Aptos Creek Road north of Aptos is largely unpaved and is where the town site of Loma Prieta can be located.  Loma Prieta was a sawmill community which operated from 1883-1923 and reached a peak population of approximately three hundred.  Loma Prieta included a railroad which is now occupied by Aptos Creek Road along with a spur to Bridge Creek which now the Loma Prieta Grade Trail.  The site of the Loma Prieta Mill and company town burned in 1942.  


Part 1; the history of Aptos Creek Road and the Loma Prieta town site

Modern Aptos traces its origin to Mexican Rancho Aptos.  Rancho Aptos was granted by the Mexican Government in 1833 Rafael Castro.  Rancho Aptos took its name from Aptos Creek which coursed through from the Santa Cruz Mountains to Monterey Bay.  Castro initially used Rancho Aptos to raise cattle for their hides.  Following California becoming an American State in 1850 the property ownership at Rancho Aptos was recognized and Castro began to lease his lands.  Soon a small town emerged on Rancho Aptos which included a wharf, general store and lumber mill.

During 1872 sugar magnate Charles Spreckels began purchasing large tracts of Castro's land holdings to make way for a Southern Pacific Railroad line.  Aptos came to further prominence when Loma Prieta Lumber Company opened operations and a company town of the same name directly north of Aptos in 1883.  The town site of Loma Prieta along with the spur line north of Aptos via Aptos Creek can be seen on the 1896 George Blum Map.


Loma Prieta can be seen in greater detail on the 1914 Weber's Map of Santa Cruz County.  

The Loma Prieta Lumber Company would actively log the Santa Cruz Mountains north of Aptos until 1923.  During 1924 much of the Loma Prieta Mill was dismantled.  At the height of Loma Prieta, the town site included a railroad depot, post office, saloon, company store and hotel.  The remains of Loma Prieta burned in 1942 in what is suspected to be an unsolved case of arson. 


Following the closure of Loma Prieta much of the former holdings were purchased by Nisene Marks out of Salinas who hoped to locate an oil well.  After no oil was found the Marks family donated their 9,700-acre holdings to the Nature Conservancy during 1963.  The California State Parks along with the Save the Redwoods League also obtained additional parcels of land which were used to create The Forest of the Nisene Marks State Park.  The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is largely known for containing numerous mountain bike trails along with new growth Coastal Redwoods which were planted during the declining years of the Loma Prieta Mill.  


Part 2; visiting the site of Loma Prieta via Aptos Creek Road

Aptos Creek Road begins in Aptos at Soquel Drive (former California State Route 1).


Aptos Creek Road crosses north over the railroad tracks in Aptos and The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.  





Aptos Creek Road continues north past some private residences as a paved road.  The pavement on Aptos Creek Road ends approaching the entry station to The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.








Aptos Creek Road continues north from the State Park entrance station and crosses Aptos Creek at the Steel Bridge.  The Steel Bridge is a 73.2-foot-long Bailey Truss span which was installed during 1955.  













Upon crossing the Steel Bridge, the railroad style grade of Aptos Creek Road is obvious to observe.  The railroad bed now used by Aptos Creek Road was cut by Chinese mining crews from 1880 to 1883.  


Aptos Creek Road continues northwards to a parking lot which serves as the trailhead for the Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail.  The site of Loma Prieta is listed on the trailhead guide sign as being located 0.5 miles to the north on the Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail.  










Continuing northward the Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail quickly intersects the Loma Prieta Grade Trail.  As noted above the Loma Prieta Grade Trail is part of the spur Southern Pacific Railroad spur from the Loma Prieta Line to Bridge Creek  








The Loma Prieta Grade Trail can be used to access the Bridge Creek Historic Site.  Numerous railroad ties and evidence of the Bridge Creek spur can be found on the Loma Prieta Grade Trail.  





Continuing north the Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail crosses Aptos Creek via Margaret's Bridge.  The year Margaret's Bridge was constructed is unclear.  






The Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail continues north to the site of Loma Prieta.  Upon inspection of the overgrowth burned ruins of the Loma Prieta Mill can be observed.  Loma Prieta is the namesake for the October 17, 1989, earthquake which struck the San Francisco Bay area.  The Loma Prieta Earthquake epicenter was located at The Nisene of the Marks State Park at Five Finger Falls.  









North of the site of Loma Prieta the Mill Pond Trail can be used to reconnect with the Loma Prieta Grade Trail.  The Mill Pond Trail descends what the Loma Prieta logging pond site and passes by site of John Porter's home.  John Porter would go on to become Lieutenant Governor of California in 1907.  















The John Porter home site in Loma Prieta hikers can access Bridge Creek Historic Site via the Loma Prieta Grade Trail or Bridge Creek Trail.  Bridge Creek was a lumber camp which operated out of nearby Loma Prieta and was the terminus of the Bridge Creek spur line.  




















Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tulare Lake returns

By
During the winter of 2023 California experienced one of the wettest seasons in recent decades.  Enough snow and water were deposited into the Sierra Nevada Mountains that the runoff was enough to partially reform Tulare Lake within San Joaquin Valley.  Tulare Lake was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River by surface area.  Tulare Lake has been largely dried for the past century due to irrigation divisions and upstream impoundments.  This blog will examine the history of Tulare Lake and its recent return.  Pictured as the blog cover is Tulare Lake from 19th Avenue in Kings County during early May 2023.  Tulare Lake can be seen near its maximum extent below on the 1876 P.Y. Baker Map of Tulare County .   Part 1; the history of Tulare Lake Tulare Lake is the largest remnant of Lake Corcoran.  Lake Corcoran once covered much of the entire Central Valley due to being it being located at a in natural low point from where mountain run-off would accumulate.  Lake Corcoran is thou
1 comment
Read more

Former US Route 101 through Sargent

By
  Sargent is a ghost town and siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad located in southern Santa Clara County.  The original alignment of US Route 101 was aligned through Sargent via what is now known as Old Monterey Road.  Sargent was bypassed gradually due to shifts of the alignment of US Route 101 which occurred during 1941 and 1950.  Pictured as the blog cover is a view on Old Monterey Road which is now no longer accessible to the general public.  Below is a scan of the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County which depicts the original alignment US Route 101 through Sargent.   Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Sargent Sargent lies on land which was once part of Rancho Juristac.  During 1856 James P. Sargent purchased Rancho Juristac and plotted what was known as Sargent Ranch.  By 1869 the Southern Pacific Railroad coast line reached the relocated town site of Gilroy.  The Southern Pacific Railroad coast line would be constructed through Chittenden Pass by 1871 whic
Post a Comment
Read more

California State Route 60/Former US Route 60/70 through the Moreno Valley Badlands west to Riverside

By
This past month I drove California State Route 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands westward towards the City of Riverside.  CA 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands was once part of the corridors of US Route 60 and US Route 70. The present route of CA 60 is a 70 mile (76 counting multiplex) slice of former US 60 between downtown Los Angeles east to I-10 near Beaumont.  The vast majority of CA 60 aside from a small section in the Moreno Valley Badlands is presently a freeway grade. For me CA 60 holds some personal history as it was the route I used most frequently accessing work sites in the Inland Empire circa 2011-2013.  Despite what many others probably would say I always really enjoyed the Moreno Valley Badlands portion of CA 60.  Considering I frequently worked on US 60 through Arizona and New Mexico the route holds even more appeal.  I even have a CA 60 shield hanging up in my garage. Part 1; History of Roadways in the Moreno Valley Badlands CA 60 between B
Post a Comment
Read more