Pioneer Trail (Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway and early US Route 50 at South Lake Tahoe)

Pioneer Trail was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road along the south shore of Lake Tahoe and was part of the first California State Highway adopted in 1895. This corridor would eventually come to be known as Legislative Route Number 11 and would carry the Pioneer Route of the Lincoln Highway by 1913. This corridor would become part of early US Route 50 in 1926 but would be bypassed by the alignment the highway presently takes by late-year 1929.

Part 1; the history of Pioneer Trail

Much of the history of what become the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is discussed in the September 1950 California Highways & Public Works during its Centennial Edition.  The origin of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is stated to begin with the opening of Johnson's Pass in 1852.  Johnson's Pass was opened as an emigrant trail by Colonel J.B. Johnson between Carson Valley westward via a cutoff following the south shore of Lake Tahoe (then Lake Bigler) and South Fork American River to Placerville.  Prior to the opening of Johnson's Pass most emigrant travel traversed the Sierra Nevada range to the south via Carson Pass.  

In 1853 Congress ordered survey to locate a possible route for a railroad line over the Sierra Nevada range.  The conclusion of the 1853 Congressional survey suggested any route over the Sierra Nevada was unfeasibly due to deep snows which occurred every winter.   The State of California ordered its own survey by April 1855 to investigate the feasibility of constructing a wagon road from Sacramento Valley east to Carson Valley.   By June 1855 enough money had been raised so that Sherman Day could scout potential wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada.  The Day Survey concluded that the only viable options for a wagon road over the Sierra Nevada would be at Johnson's Pass or Carson Pass.  Johnson's Pass was considerable favorable to Carson Pass due to the lower elevation potentially permitting all-year travel.  

The Goddard Survey later corroborated the findings of the Day Survey in that Johnson's Pass would be the desirable route of a Trans-Sierra Wagon Road.  

The surveyed routes of Sherman Day over Johnson's Pass and Carson Pass.   

During 1857 the counties of; Yolo, Sacramento and El Dorado contributed $50,000 dollars towards construction of a wagon road over Johnson's Pass.  County officials hired noted stagecoach driver J.B. Crandall of the Crandall & Sunderland Company to drive surveyors over Day's route east through the Sierra Nevada range to Carson Valley via Johnson's Pass.  The Crandall & Sunderland Company at the time operated as a stage line from the terminus of the Sacramento Valley Railroad in Folsom eastward to Placerville.  The stage trip from Folsom originated on June 11, 1857, and proved that a wagon road over Johnson's Pass was indeed feasible.   

The below map details when specific segments of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road were completed between 1858- 65 east of Placerville to Genoa, Nevada.

The usage of the name "Lake Tahoe Wagon Road" is noted to have come sometime after its completion in 1865.  

The Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as depicted in 1865 via wood cut drawing.

The completed Lake Tahoe Wagon Road can be seen on the 1873 Bancroft's Map of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona east of Placerville to the State Line.  

The Lake Tahoe Wagon Road east of Placerville had become a El Dorado County public highway during 1886.  On March 26th, 1895 the California State Legislature approved the creation of the Lake Tahoe State Highway.  The original definition of them Lake Tahoe State Highway had it originate near Smith's Flat at the intersection of the Placerville Road (Lake Tahoe Wagon Road) and Newtown Road.  The Lake Tahoe State Highway was to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains easterly to the Nevada State Line via Johnson's Pass following the existing Lake Tahoe Wagon Road.   The Lake Tahoe State Highway became effective upon being signed into law on February 28, 1896, and was the first California State Highway.    

According to CAhighways.org the Lake Tahoe State Highway was extended westward from Smith's Flat as part of 1897 Legislative Chapter 176 with the following definition:

"A public highway or wagon road shall be built from a point on the E limits of the city of Sacramento to Folsom in Sacramento Cty as near practicable along the route of the present most direct line of county roads between these two points..."

The 1897 extension of the Lake Tahoe State Highway left a gap in State Maintenance from Folsom eastward to Placerville.  The first work conducted on the Lake Tahoe State Highway was a new 80-foot stone arch bridge over the South Fork American River at Riverton which was completed during 1901.  

Scenes of the early Lake Tahoe State Highway as depicted in the September 1950 California Highways & Public Works.  

The Folsom-Placerville gap in the Lake State Tahoe State Highway would not be resolved until the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act (approved by voters in 1910).  The majority of the highways approved as part of the First State Highway Bond Act were largely well-established routes of travel.  The 1909 First State Highway Bond Act according to CAhighways.org provided funding for a highway from Sacramento east to Placerville which closed the gap in the Lake Tahoe State Highway.  In time the Lake Tahoe State Highway would come to be assigned as Legislative Route Number 11 ("LRN 11").  

During 1912 Indiana Businessman Carl G. Fisher conceptualized the Lincoln Highway as a major transcontinental Auto Trail.  The Lincoln Highway was formally dedicated on October 31, 1913, and would cross the Sierra Nevada range via North/South branches.  The South Lincoln Highway (alternatively the Pioneer Branch) entered the State of California from Stateline, Nevada and followed LRN 11 west towards Sacramento.

The South Lincoln Highway used the existing route over what is now Pioneer Trail from the Nevada state line westward towards Meyers.  This alignment is displayed in clear detail on the Lincoln Highway Association map.  

The Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway can be seen south of Lake Tahoe on the 1917 California State Automobile Association map.  

The initial draft of the US Route System was approved by the Secretary of Agriculture during November of 1925.  The US Route System within California was approved by California Highway Commission with no changes recommended by January 1926.  Originally US Route 50 was not slated to replace the South Lincoln Highway in California.   

US Route 50 is shown to have a planned terminus at US Route 40 near Wadsworth, Nevada on the 1925 Rand McNally Junior Map of California.  

US Route 50 can be seen terminating US Route 40 in Wadsworth, Nevada on an October 1925 report to by the Bureau of Public Roads which lists the recommended US Routes.  

The US Route System was finalized by November 1926 and included US Route 50 being extended to a new terminus at US Route 99 in Sacramento via the South Lincoln Highway/LRN 11 over Johnson's Pass.  Early US Route 50/LRN 11 over the Sierra Nevada can be seen on the 1927 National Map Company Highway Map of California.

The May/June 1929 California Highways & Public Works announced the new 5.1-mile grade of US Route 50 at the south shore of Lake Tahoe was in the process of construction.  The project corridor is stated to be begin at Mays Station and extend to the Nevada state line.  

The then new alignment of US Route 50 bypassing Pioneer Trail was announced as a completed project in the November/December 1929 California Highways Public Works.  The new corridor included an already constructed portion of what was LRN 38 between Meyers and Mays Station.  The 1929 alignment is what carries US Route 50 through the modern city of South Lake Tahoe. 

The 1929 era alignment of US Route 50 through the communities now comprising South Lake Tahoe can be seen in detail on the 1935 Division of Highways map of El Dorado County.  South Lake Tahoe would incorporate in November 1965.

Part 2; a drive on Pioneer Trail

Westbound Pioneer Trail begins in South Lake Tahoe at US Route 50 near the Nevada state line.  

Pioneer Trail continues southwest and departs the South Lake Tahoe city limit near Al Tahoe Boulevard.

Pioneer Trail loops back to and terminates at US Route 50 near Meyers.