Skip to main content

Del Puerto Canyon Road

By


Del Puerto Canyon Road is a twenty-four-mile highway which connects Patterson in Stanislaus County west to San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County.  From Patterson sixteen miles west to Frank Raines Park the grade of Del Puerto Canyon Road was built atop the grade of the Patterson & Western Railroad.  Said line had been completed in 1916 during World War I to the magnesite mine of Jones and was abandoned by 1920.  Stanislaus County and Santa Clara County later facilitated repurposing the railroad grade into a public highway to San Antonio Valley.  The completed Del Puerto Canyon Road would open to traffic during 1942.  




Part 1; the history of Del Puerto Canyon Road

What is now Del Puerto Canyon Road from Patterson west to Frank Raines Park was originally constructed as the grade of the Patterson & Western Railroad.  Said line was constructed as narrow gauge in 1916 from the Southern Pacific Railroad West Side Line in downtown Patterson to the magnesite mine known as Jones.  

The Patterson & Western Railroad began operations on September 20, 1916.  The western terminus of the line connecting to a 3,000-foot-long tramway to the site of the Jones mine.  Magnesite was considered an essential metal during World War I which spurred the development of the Jones mine.  Quicksilver and manganese chrome was also mined at Jones.  

The Patterson & Western Railroad can be seen on the 1919 United States Geological Survey map of Orestimba.  


The Patterson & Western Railroad shuttered operations on August 14, 1920.  The right-of-way occupied by the line was subsequently abandoned to Stanislaus County.  Stanislaus County along with Santa Clara County commissioned a Depression relief program which would repurpose the railroad grade as part of a highway to San Antonio Valley.  The first vehicles to travel from Patterson to San Jose via the completed Del Puerto Canyon Road crossed the Diablo Range in 1942.  

Below an E. Clampus Vitus historic plaque regarding the history of the Patterson & Western Railroad can be seen (courtesy hmdb.org and Andrew Ruppenstein).


Del Puerto Canyon Road can be seen on the 1947 United States Geological Survey map of San Jose. 


Currently California State Route 130 has an eastern terminus at Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County.  The highway has an unconstructed and unadopted legislative extension which terminates in Patterson.  For unclear reasons Santa Clara County signs California State Route 130 east from the official terminus at Mount Hamilton to the Stanislaus County line via San Antonio Valley Road and Del Puerto Canyon Road.  




Part 2; a drive on Del Puerto Canyon Road

The westbound beginning of Del Puerto Canyon Road can be found a short distance west of Interstate 5 in Patterson via Diablo Grande Parkway.  Traffic is advised that Frank Raines Parkway is sixteen miles away as westbound Del Puerto Canyon Road begins. 






Del Puerto Canyon Road west to Frank Raines Park is mostly aligned atop the grade of the Patterson & Western Railroad.  The roadway is extremely curvy but offers numerous scenic views the slopes of Del Puerto Canyon.  The ruins of a railroad bridge over Del Puerto Creek can be found in the overgrowth a short distance east of Frank Raines Park.  



























































Del Puerto Canyon Road west from Frank Raines Park ascends further into the Diablo Range and enters Santa Clara County.  























Westbound Del Puerto Canyon Roads terminates at fork which serves as the beginning of San Antonio Valley Road and Mines Road.  Traffic wishing to follow California State Route 130 is directed to follow San Antonio Valley Road.  








Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

By
Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...
Post a Comment
Read more

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

By
For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...
2 comments
Read more