Cooperstown Road is a nine-mile rural and mostly unsurfaced highway located in eastern Stanislaus County. Originally a component of the La Grange-Knights Ferry Stage Road the highway is named after the ghost town of Cooperstown. Cooperstown was one of the original sidings of the Sierra Railway constructed in 1897. Cooperstown Road despite being mostly unsurfaced is well maintained and easy to access for low clearance vehicles. The corridor features numerous bridges of varying vintages and numerous artifacts of the Sierra Railway (now Sierra Railroad).
Part 1; the history of Cooperstown Road
What is now Cooperstown Road was part of a larger stage road which once connected La Grange directly to the Knights Ferry Covered Bridge at the Stanislaus River. The La Grange-Knights Ferry Road is shown heading directly northwest of La Grange directly to Knights Ferry on the 1882 Bancroft's Map of California. West of Knights Ferry the road is shown continuing to a terminus at Farmington. This corridor has taken the modern names of Cooperstown Road, Willms Road and Sonora Road.
Cooperstown is one of many sidings which were established by the Sierra Railway after the company incorporated during February 1897. The line was opened between Oakdale and a temporary terminus at Cooperstown by June 1897. The siding facility at Cooperstown included a wye which trains could use to turn around.
The Sierra Railway completed tracks east of Cooperstown to Chinese Camp by November 1897. The company would plot Occidential, Paulsell, Warnerville, Copperstown and Chinese siding during the initial run of line construction. The line would later be extended further east of Jamestown to the community of Tuolumne by 1900. The Sierra Railway from the outset has been a freight corridor which has mostly been focused on the hauling of lumber.
What is now Cooperstown Road would be repurposed by the Sierra Railway as an access highway to Cooperstown east of Warnerville. The highway was initially aligned south of the siding at Cooperstown and connected with La Grange at the Tuolumne River.
Cooperstown Road as originally configured can be seen on the 1906 Stanislaus Land & Abstract Company map. The highway is shown to originate at Warnerville Road at Township 2 South, Range 13 East and terminating at La Grange Road in Township 3 South, Range 14 East.
Cooperstown can be seen below when the siding and wye were in frequent usage. These photos are from the Martin Hansen collection.
Cooperstown Road is shown to be realigned onto the north of the Sierra Railway to more directly link with the siding facility in Cooperstown on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County. This is the present the alignment the highway still utilizes.
The Sierra Railway was sold at public auction in 1937 and was rebranded as the Sierra Railroad. The railroad switched from steam powered locomotives to diesel in 1955. Some of the steam locomotives were retained for usage as movie props with the most famous example being Sierra Railway locomotive #3. The switch from steam to diesel saw usage of the siding facility in Cooperstown drop considerably.
Cooperstown likely never subdivided as no private residences are currently located at the siding. The siding can be seen in this late 1960s era photo (click the hyperlink to access the copyrighted image) with just a handful of buildings remaining along the Sierra Railroad. This photo appears to have been taken from near where Cooperstown Road crosses the Sierra Railroad.
The Sierra Railroad would open the Railtown 1897 historic park in Jamestown in 197l. The park featured numerous remaining steam locomotives and repurposed the vintage shops for display purposes. Railtown 1897 would be sold to the State of California in 1982 and has become a State Historic Park.
Part 2; a drive on Copperstown Road
Westbound Cooperstown Road begins at La Grange Road (County Route J59) north of the Tuolumne River near La Grange.
As asphalt gives way to dirt on westbound Cooperstown Road traffic is advised of a weight limit and eight miles of curves.
Cooperstown Road crosses an undated concrete bridge at Johnson Creek. Structures such as this were frequently built in eastern Stanislaus County during the 1920s and 1930s.
Cooperstown Road crosses another concrete bridge at Salt Springs Creek.
Cooperstown Road continues west through the terrain and approaches a Pratt truss bridge at Gallup Creek. This Pratt truss span was installed during 1965 as a replacement for an older concrete structure.
Cooperstown Road continues west and crosses an orange-colored concrete bridge at Rydberg Creek.
Westbound Cooperstown Road approaches a sharp ninety degree turn at a gate (the last photo below). This gate is where the original alignment would have continued south of Cooperstown siding towards Dry Creek.
Cooperstown Road descends down a hill and crosses the Sierra Railroad at the former site of Cooperstown.
Facing west down the Sierra Railroad reveals numerous abandoned pullouts which once were used for train cars to pull into the siding facility at Cooperstown. The pullout on the left accesses a wye which has been present at the site since it was constructed in 1897.
This view faces west at the site of Cooperstown. There are no remaining buildings where the small community and siding once stood.
West of Cooperstown the alignment of Cooperstown Road crosses a concrete bridge at Cooperstown Creek. The then highway crosses the Sierra Railroad and runs south along the tracks. While on the south side of the railroad the roadway crosses the modern Dry Creek Bridge which features an out of place modern road width and lane striping.
Cooperstown Road crosses back over to the north side of the Sierra Railroad. The roadway continues west where the pavement resumes approaching the corridor terminus at the Willms Road and Warnerville Road junction.
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