Skip to main content

The Colony Mill Road to the Giant Forest/Tulare County Mountain Road 357

By
Back in August of 2016 I drove a segment of what once the Colony Mill Road from California State Route 198 to the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park.


While researching Mineral King Road I stumbled onto a 1919 Tulare County Road Atlas showing the Colony Mill Road to the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park.

1919 Tulare County Road Atlas

The Colony Mill Road was the original roadway that led to the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park before the Generals Highway was built.  The history of the Colony Mill Road is as follows:

-  Either in 1895 or 1896 there was a Danish socialist commune that was set up along the North Fork Kaweah River.  Apparently there was at least two town sites in what was known as the Kaweah Cooperative Colony; Arcady (now known as Kaweah) and Advance. 
-  Starting in 1896 the first 18 miles of the Colony Mill Road was constructed and sawmill operations were opened up.  The Colony Mill Road followed the North Fork Kaweah River and had an 8% grade which was meant for eventual rail service which never came to be.
-  In 1890 Sequoia National Park was opened which annexed all forest land being worked by the Kaweah Colony towns along with any possible redwood groves into protected government lands.  Basically this meant that any prospects the Kaweah Colony had of surviving were hosed and they shut down operations in 1892.
-  An eight mile extension of the Colony Mill Road was built by the U.S. Army in 1903 to facilitate wagon traffic to the Giant Forest at about 6,000 feet above sea level.  Apparently at this point car traffic was not a thing yet up to the Giant Forest and I'm really not exactly sure on the true date.
-  In 1905 the Park Service gave some hydroelectric rights out to Mount Whitney Power Company in exchange that they would improve the Colony Mill Road and build better roads to the Giant Forest; the yield of this was apparently the Middle Fork Road which later became part of the Generals Highway.
-  By 1913 there was automotive road access to Wolverton which is a small valley just north of the General Sherman Tree.
-  From 1921 to 1926 Tulare County improved the Colony Mill Road and Middle Fork Road for better automotive travel.  Traffic would take Colony Mill Road up one-way into the Giant Forest and apparently come back down the Middle Fork Road.
-  From 1926 to 1935 the Middle Fork Road was improved, paved and extended to General Grant National Park (now Kings Canyon National Park) which was re-dedicated in June of 35.
-  At some point a large portion of Colony Mill Road was abandoned; namely the extension created by the Army and is now maintained as the Colony Mill Trail.

The following two articles were used as sources while researching the Colony Mill Road:

When two parks meet: The History of the Generals Highway

Sierra Nevada Geotourism; Kaweah

Much of what was once the Colony Mill road exists north of Three Rivers today.  The Crystal Cave Road is in Sequoia National Park is a former alignment of the Colony Mill Road and is where it would have met what was once known as the Middle Fork Road.


18 miles of the Colony Mill Road is still can still be driven and is now called North Fork Drive or Mountain Road 357.  I only went about 8 miles up the road due to the weather turning to rain.  Regardless here is where North Fork Drive goes from paved to completely dirt:





According to my map data a community known as Advance was roughly where the transition from asphalt to dirt takes place.  I did find a concrete ruin in the brush next to the roadway. 


I got some amusement out of the "no parking x number of miles" signs littered all over North Fork Road.  Clearly the road isn't patrolled all that much as it has become the dumping ground for automotive carcasses like this.


The paved section of North Fork Road is in terrible shape and is only 8-10 feet in places.  Encountering another vehicle coming the opposite way would require someone backing up.  It is no wonder traffic eventually routed one-way uphill the Colony Mill Road and down on the Middle Fork Road.  


Just like much of the rural paved roadways in Tulare County the Mountain Road 357 Postmile paddles are well posted.


At the bottom of the downhill grade North Fork Road widens back out to a generous approximate 20 feet. 


Surprisingly enough the post office from Kaweah is still around and dates back to 1890.  My understanding is that Advance also had a Post Office, but it shut down right after Sequoia National Park was formed.   For some reason I guess the Kaweah part of Kaweah Colony stuck and that's what the area is now is generally known to be part of Three Rivers.



As stated above the Colony Mill Road and presently North Fork Road end at CA 198.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park

By
  Grand Loop Road is a 140 mile loop highway which traverses the interior of Yellowstone National Park.  Grand Loop Road connects all of the major attractions and geological features of Yellowstone National Park along with the entrance roads.  Grand Loop Road is a seasonal highway and despite some conjecture never has been part of the US Route System.   Part 1; the history of Grand Loop Road The majority of history pertaining to Grand Loop Road was taken from the below National Park Service article: Historic Roads - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Yellowstone was declared the first National Park of the United States on March 1st, 1872.  The first real highway to access Yellowstone National Park came in 1873 when a tolled facility was constructed from Bozeman, Montana via Yankee Jim Canyon to Mammoth Hot Springs.  Numerous attempts were made to fund construction of roadway infrastructure during the early years of Yellows...
Post a Comment
Read more

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

By
Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign.  These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare.  This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade.  We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others?  Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers.  The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California.  Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...
Post a Comment
Read more

California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway

By
From 2017 through to early 2019 I drove the majority of the California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway from CA 89 southwest to CA 99. CA 70 is an approximately 178.5 mile state highway which starts at US 395 near the Nevada State Line and travels west through the Feather River Canyon to CA 99.  CA 70 is often referred to as the Feather River Highway" given it's close association with the river.  Historically CA 70 was previously signed as US 40A and CA 24.  The Legislative Routes prior to the 1964 California Highway Renumbering that made up the current route of CA 70 are as follows: -  Legislative Route Number 21 from US 395 westward to Oroville. -  LRN 87 from Oroville south to Marysville. -  LRN 232 from Marysville to the current junction with CA 99.  CA 70 was even dual signed with CA 99 into Sacramento on what was LRN 232 for a time. The change from US 40A/LRN 21/LRN 87/LRN 232 can be seen by comparing the 1963 State Highway Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more