Maxon Road is an approximately five-mile rural highway located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Fresno County. The corridor begins at Watts Valley Road and extends eastward to Trimmer Springs Road at the Pine Flat Reservoir. Maxon Road is named after the Maxon's Hotel which used be located on the Kings River near the Trimmer Springs Resort. The highway corridor begins appearing on maps in the 1920s and was modernized during 1947-1954 amid construction of Pine Flat Dam.
Part 1; the history of Maxon Road
The corridor of Maxon Road is named after Maxon's Hotel was located on Trimmer Springs Road next to the site of the Trimmer Springs Resort. The history of Maxon's Hotel is not clearly documented compared to the Trimmer Springs Resort.
In 1889 Morris Trimmer would develop a resort along the Sanger Log Flume Road (now Trimmer Springs Road). The Trimmer Springs resort would obtain Post Office Service originally the same year it opened. By 1890 the postal service shuttered but it would reopen for a second time in 1892 and not close again until 1919. The Sanger Log Flume Road east of Centerville would eventually come to be known as "Trimmer Springs Road" whereas the segment west to Sanger became known as "Rainbow Avenue."
Trimmer Springs Resort and Maxon's Hotel can both be seen along the Kings River on the 1914 Weber & Company map of Fresno County. Maxon's Hotel is shown to be connected to nearby Watts Valley by way of Sycamore Creek.
What is now modern Maxon Road first appears on 1920s era United States Geological Survey maps connecting Watts Valley to the Trimmer Springs Resort. The corridor can be seen on the 1924 Dinuba edition following mostly the course of Watts Creek eastward.
The Maxon Road corridor was improved between 1947-1954 when Pine Flat Dam was being constructed. The then upcoming reservoir required the relocation of much of Trimmer Springs Road which made Maxon Road ideal to facilitate movement to the area on an interim basis.
Maxon Road can be seen as it is presently configured on the 1965 United States Geological Survey map. The corridor is shown to cross a 1,655-foot elevation ridge near the Trimmer Ranger Station. The site of Maxon's Hotel and the Trimmer Springs Resort now lie under the waters of the Pine Flat Reservoir.
Part 2; a drive on Maxon Road
Eastbound Maxon Road begins at Watts Valley Road in the namesake valley.
Maxon Road departs Watts Valley beings to pick up the course of Watts Creek.
Maxon Road briefly follows Watts Creek and splits away towards an unnamed ridge.
The corridor of Maxon Road continues east and crests the unnamed 1,655-foot-high ridge.
Maxon Road continues east through a series of switchbacks and passes the Sierra National Forest Trimmer Work Center. The corridor terminates at Trimmer Springs Road within sight of the Pine Flat Reservoir.
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