Madera County Road 406 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

Madera County Road 406 is a nine mile largely unsurfaced highway which connects California State Route 41 west to Madera County Road 400. The corridor west of the site of Bates Station at Madera County Road 209 is part of the historic corridor of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The Stockton-Los Angeles Road was plotted in 1853 during the Kern River Gold Rush to facilitate overland travel to the new mining claims in the southern Sierra Nevada range. What is now Madera County Road 406 specifically was part of the highway which connected the original Fresno County seat of Millerton at the San Joaquin River northwest to the Fresno River.

Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 406 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

What is now Madera County Road 406 west of Road 209 was a component of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road. The Stockton-Los Angeles Road came into use after the 1853 Kern River Gold Rush began. The Stockton-Los Angeles Road was a replacement of the earlier El Camino Viejo. Unlike El Camino Viejo the Stockton-Los Angeles Road avoided the dense Tule Marches in San Joaquin Valley. The Stockton-Los Angles Road stayed close to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to avoid flood prone terrain.

The Stockton-Los Angeles Road crossed the San Joaquin River at the original Fresno County seat of Millerton. The road followed a general course through the terrain roughly overlaying modern Madera County Roads 208, 209 and 406 towards the Fresno River.

At the Fresno River the Stockton-Los Angeles Road utilized Fresno Crossing to pass the watershed. Fresno Crossing had once been part of Jim Savage's Fresno River Trading Post during the era of the Mariposa War. The Fresno River can be seen as part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road between Millerton and Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River on the 1857 Britton & Reys Map of California.

The popularity of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road began to decline rapidly as the Central Pacific Railroad was constructed through San Joaquin Valley during the 1870s. Farm diversions for irrigation in San Joaquin Valley and the presence of various rail sidings along the Central Pacific Railroad spurred infrastructure development which made development through previous wetlands easier. Eventually this development led to Legislative Route Number 4 being routed next to the rails in 1909 which became part of US Route 99.

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 from Bates Station owner/operator George Bates. Bates Station was located at the intersection of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road (now Road 406 west of Road 209) and old Coarsegold Road (also known as the Fresno-Yosemite Road and now Road 207). During 1893 Madera County would be split from what was Fresno County north of the San Joaquin River.

Bates Station can be seen at the junction of Stockton-Los Angeles Road (now Road 406) and Fresno-Yosemite Road (now Road 207) on the 1914 Madera County Surveyor Map in Township 10S, Range 19E and Township 10S, Range 20E.

When Legislative Route Number 125 was commissioned in Madera County during 1933 it followed Road 209 and Road 207 past Bates Station. This portion of State Highway was incorporated into early California State Route 41 when the Sign State Route program was commissioned during August 1934.

The alignment of California State Route 41 around Bates Station was featured in the December 1939 California Highways & Public Works. The corridor described in the article began at Kelshaw Corners along Coarsegold Creek and extended ten miles southwest. The previous alignment is displayed as being routed past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Roads 209, 406 and 207. The new alignment saved three miles and was noted to be complete during late October 1939.

It is unclear what name modern 406 would have had prior to Madera County adopting a road numbering system during the middle twentieth century. When the numbering conventions were established Road 406 spanned east from Road 400 (formerly River Road) east to California State Route 41. The segment of Road 406 east of Road 207 once was a connector road to the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road at O'Neals. The segment from Road 207 to California State Route 41 can be seen as part of Road 406 on the 1962 United States Geological Survey Map of Little Table Mountain. The roadway east of California State Route 41 is now part of the San Joaquin Experimental Range and not accessible as a through road to O'Neals.

Part 2; a drive on Madera County Road 406

Southbound California State Route 41 intersects the westbound beginning of Madera County Road 406 between Coarsegold and California State Route 145.

The asphalt quickly gives way on westbound Road 406.

Road 406 continues west through a series of hills and intersects Red Top Mountain Road (formerly Road 207).

Road 406 from Red Top Mountain Road west to the site of Bates Station at Road 209 is aligned over the grade of pre-1939 California State Route 41. Road 406 westbound makes a right-hand turn at Road 209 and becomes paved.