Skip to main content

Siskiyou County Route A12; 99-97 Cutoff

By

Siskiyou County is home to one of the more interestingly named Sign County Routes in California; County Route A12 the 99-97 Cutoff.  

County Route A12 ("A12") is a 17.90 mile Sign County Route completely contained with Siskiyou County.  A12 is aligned between former US Route 99 ("US 99") near Grenada and US 97 to the east near the foot of Mount Shasta.  A12's designation of 99-97 Cutoff denotes that it was meant to serve a connector route between US 99 and US 97.  Despite US 99 no longer existing as a State Highway the routing of A12 still begins at it rather than Interstate 5 ("I-5").  The below image from cahighways.org displays the route of A12. 


Part 1; the history of Siskiyou County Route A12

What is now A12 consists of what was the road east of former US 99 connecting Grenada to the community of Mayten.  A road east of Mayten to US 97 existed before 99-97 Cutoff but was primitive compared to the modern A12.  This older highway can be seen on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Siskiyou County.  

The opening of 99-97 Cutoff is discussed in detail in the March/April 1955 California Highways & Public Works.  The construction of 99-97 Cutoff was a Federal Aid Secondary ("FAS") project which helped Siskiyou County fund construction of a modern highway.  

The history of 99-97 Cutoff is discussed in great detail in the March/April 1955 California Highways & Public Works.  The corridor of 99-97 Cutoff is described as being explored by Hudson Bay Company trappers in 1833.  By 1852 surveyors were attempting to plot a path through what was the future corridor of 99-97 Cutoff but were killed by local Tribes.  By 1855 the future corridor of 99-97 Cutoff was first used by a wagon train as en route to Yreka.    The corridor of future 99-97 Cutoff was popular with settlers due to the presence of the easy to identify Sheep Rock.  In 1856 the future corridor of 99-97 Cutoff began to be traveled by Stage Lines and appears to have been an early example of a Franchise Toll Road.  By 1857 the future corridor of 99-97 Cutoff came to be known as the "Pit River Road" but in time would be more commonly known as the "Shasta Valley Route."  In the mid-1880s Grenada had been established as a siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad on the Shasta Valley Route.  The siding of Grenada renewed interested in the Shasta Valley Route which became a Siskiyou County public highway in the late 1880s.  The Shasta Valley Route remained an unsurfaced highway until Siskiyou County undertook efforts to pave it in the 1940s.  A realignment effort of the Shasta Valley Route began in 1947 and eventually became the FAS project known as 99-97 Cutoff. 




Sheep Rock can be seen as a major way point east of Yreka on the 1857 Britton & Rey's Road Map of California.   

According to cahighways.org 99-97 Cutoff was added to the Sign County Route program in 1959 when it was given the designation of "A12."  As noted above despite US 99 functionally ceasing exist the western terminus of A12 was never truncated to I-5.  As of November 2011 A12/99-97 Cutoff was designated the "Veterans Memorial Highway" by the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors to honor Siskiyou County Veterans. 


Part 2; a drive on Siskiyou County Route A12

From I-5 northbound one can access A12/99-97 Cutoff via Exit 766 in Grenada.  As noted above the origin point of A12 is actually slightly west of I-5 at Old Highway 99.  

A12/99-97 Cutoff eastbound passes through Grenada.  A12 crosses the Union Pacific Railroad and intersects A28 at Montague-Grenada Road.  Big Springs is signed as 7 miles away on A12/99-97 Cutoff eastbound. 


Approaching Salvador Road A12/99-97 Cutoff skirts the southern banks of Salt Lake.  Salt Lake is part of a group of small lakes known as the Lava Lakes.  

A12/99-97 Cutoff eastbound passes through the community of Big Springs and intersects A29 at Big Springs Road.  Big Springs Road is where the former Shasta Valley Route would have diverged from modern 99-97 Cutoff.  US 97 is signed as 12 miles away on A12/99-97 Cutoff from Big Springs Road. 


From Big Springs A12/99-97 Cutoff turns southeast towards Sheep Rock and US 97.  Approximately a half mile east of Harry Cash Road one can find the turn off for Pluto's Cave on A12/99-97 Cutoff.  Pluto's Cave is a partially collapsed lava tube which was discovered in 1863.  

A12/99-97 Cutoff eastbound terminates at US 97 at the foot of Mount Shasta.

An overlook Mount Shasta can be found about a half mile north of the terminus of A12/99-97 Cutoff on US 97.  Mount Shasta is a stratovolcano and dominates much of the view on a clear day throughout Siskiyou County.  Mount Shasta lies at an elevation of 14,179 feet above sea level and is the second highest peak in the entire Cascade Mountain Range only to Mount Rainier.




For perspective on the scale of Mount Shasta it can be seen dominating the terrain around Shasta Valley from the air.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former US Route 50 and the Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway on Johnson's Pass Road

By
Johnson's Pass Road is one of the oldest highway corridors in California.  Johnson's Pass was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as it was completed during 1856 over the Sierra Nevada.  The pass would later be incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913 and US Route 50 in 1926.  Johnson's Pass Road would be bypassed by a new alignment of US Route 50 over Echo Summit in 1938.  A replacement of the Meyers Grade east of Johnson's Pass would be opened to traffic in 1947.   Johnson's Pass Road remains accessible to traffic and is still signed by the Lincoln Highway Association.  Pictured as the blog cover is the view from the top of Johnson's Pass Road overlooking modern US Route 50 and Lake Tahoe.   Part 1; the history of Johnson's Pass 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 or...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former US Route 50 and the South Lincoln Highway from Folsom east to Placerville

By
The corridor of Folsom of Sacramento County east to Placerville of El Dorado County has been a long established corridor of overland travel dating back to the California Gold Rush.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor was once part of the path of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road which became the first California State Highway and later the South Lincoln Highway.  In time the South Lincoln Highway's surface alignment was inherited by US Route 50.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor also includes the communities of; Clarksville, Shingle Springs and El Dorado. Part 1; the history of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, South Lincoln Highway and US Route 50 through Folsom-Placerville Folsom is located on the American River/Lake Natoma of eastern Sacramento County.  That lands now occupied by the City of Folsom were part of Rancho Rio de los Americanos prior to the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill during 1848.  During the California Gold Rush the lands of Rancho Rio de los Americanos were p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

By
At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...
1 comment
Read more