Skip to main content

Old Sonoma Road

By

 


Old Sonoma Road is an approximately five-mile highway located in the Mayacamas Mountains of western Napa County.  The roadway is part of the original stage road which connected Napa Valley west to Mission San Francisco Solano as part of El Camino Real.  Much of Old Sonoma Road was bypassed by the start of the twentieth century by way of Sonoma Highway.  A portion of Old Sonoma Road over the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge (pictured as the blog cover) was adopted as part of Legislative Route Number 8 upon voter approval of the 1909 First State Highway Bond Act.  The 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge served as a segment of California State Route 37 and California State Route 12 from 1934 through 1954. 




Part 1; the history of Old Sonoma Road

Old Sonoma Road has origins tied to the formation of Mission San Francisco Solano and the Spanish iteration of El Camino Real.  Mission San Francisco Solano was founded as the last and most northern Spanish Mission of Alta California on July 4, 1823.  The new Mission was plotted amid the Mexican War of Independence and would solidly be under control of the then new country by the 1830s.  The city of Sonoma would be founded at the site of Mission San Francisco Solano during 1835.  The city of Napa would be plotted in Napa Valley during 1847 during the Mexican-American War.  

Mission San Francisco Solano and Sonoma were connected to Napa Valley by a stage road over the Mayacamas Mountains which was part of El Camino Real north of San Francisco Bay.  During the period of early American statehood in California the major stage roads used the highways inherited from Mexican Alta California.  Sonoma and Napa were both assigned as the initial seats of their namesake counties in 1850.  Sonoma County and Napa County were both original counties in the state of California. 

Sonoma Road between Napa and Sonoma can be seen on the 1857 Britton & Rey's Map of California.  


Sonoma Road can be seen in greater detail connecting Napa west to Sonoma on the 1882 Bancroft's Map of California.  Sonoma Road originated near downtown Napa jogging west of Jefferson Street through the Mayacamas Mountains towards Carneros Creek. 


The 1902 United States Geological Survey Map of Napa reveals Napa County had constructed Sonoma Highway which bypassed the southern hills of the Mayacamas Mountains.  Sonoma Highway is shown to originate from what is now Old Sonoma Road near downtown Napa departing south through Entre Napa.  Sonoma Highway is shown turning west through Rincon De Los Carneros and consolidating with Sonoma Road near the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge.


The 1909 First State Highway Bond Act would be approved by state voters in 1910.  The bond measure formed the basis for a large percentage of the modern State Highway System.  Legislative Route Number 8 would be defined as "Ignacio to Cordelia via Napa."  The new state highway would incorporate the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge and Sonoma Highway into Napa.  This alignment can be seen (red line) on the 1917 California State Automobile Association Map.  



Sonoma Highway would be announced as part of California State Route 37 and California State Route 12 in the August 1934 volume of California Highways & Public Works. 




California State Route 37/California State Route 12 can be seen using Sonoma Highway to bypass Old Sonoma Road towards the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge on the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Napa County.  


The November/December 1954 California Highways & Public Works announced a contract to replace the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge had been awarded the previous August.  The new Carneros Creek Bridge project included a realignment of California State Route 37 bypassing the older structure and part of Sonoma Highway.  


As part of the 1964 State Highway Renumbering California State Route 37 was shifted south to Sonoma Road on San Pablo Bay.  The multiplex of California State Route 12 west of Napa to the Sonoma County line was joined with the then newly designated California State Route 121.  California State Route 12 and California State Route 121 still utilize the Carneros Creek Bridge constructed in 1954.  



Part 2; a drive on Old Sonoma Road

Pictured is a series of photos from the western city limit of Napa through Mayacamas Mountains to Old Sonoma Highway.  As noted in part one Old Sonoma Highway west over the 1896 Carneros Creek Bridge was part of the State Highway System through 1910-1954.  











The Carneros Creek Bridge features a placard which denotes it was constructed in 1896.  


Old Sonoma Road has a western terminus at modern California State Route 12 and California State Route 121.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morgan Territory Road

By
Morgan Territory Road is an approximately 14.7-mile-long roadway mostly located in the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County, California.  The roadway is named after settler Jerimah Morgan who established a ranch in the Diablo Range in 1857.  Morgan Territory Road was one of several facilities constructed during the Gold Rush era to serve the ranch holdings.   The East Bay Regional Park District would acquire 930 acres of Morgan Territory in 1975 in an effort to establish a preserve east of Mount Diablo. The preserve has since been expanded to 5,324 acres. The preserve functionally stunts the development along roadway allowing it to remain surprisingly primitive in a major urban area. Part 1; the history of Morgan Territory Road During the period of early period of American Statehood much of the Diablo Range of Contra Costa County was sparsely developed.   Jerimah Morgan acquired 2,000 acres of land east of Mount Diablo in 1856 and established a ranch in 1857. Morgan Territory Road is
2 comments
Read more

The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge (Madera County)

By
The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge is an early era arch concrete structure found alongside modern Madera County Road 200.  The structure was modeled as a smaller scale of the 1905 Pollasky Bridge (still in ruins at the San Joaquin River) and was one of many early twentieth century improvements to what was then known as the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The 1915-era bridge was replaced with a modernized concrete span during 1947 but was never demolished.  The original concrete structure can be still found sitting in the brush north of the 2023 Fine Gold Creek Bridge.     Part 1; the history of the 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge The 1915 Fine Gold Creek Bridge lies near the site of the former mining community of Fine Gold.   Mining claims were staked at Fine Gold during the Mariposa War during 1850. The community was never very large but became a stopping point on the stage road between the original Fresno County seat at Millerton and Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst). The stage road eventually bypas
Post a Comment
Read more

San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel

By
The Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco is a structure at Russian Hill which connects the neighborhood Chinatown to North Beach. The tunnel was included in the 1948 San Francisco Trafficways Plan as a connector between the Central Freeway and Embarcadero Freeway. The structure was completed in December 1952 and spans 1,616 feet through Russian Hill. The Broadway Tunnel was designated as the Robert C. Levy Tunnel in 1986. Part 1; the history of the Broadway Tunnel Following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 San Francisco would see a major population boom.  The city would expand from the shores of San Francisco Bay inland towards the many steep hills.  The hills of San Francisco would prove to be a major hinderance towards the expansion of city.  Roads were generally plotted over the tops of hillsides and had steep grades.  Russian Hill in particular was one of the steepest and contained numerous streets with grades in excess of twenty percent.  Broadway can be seen cros
Post a Comment
Read more