California State Route 88 and Carson Pass Highway crest the Sierra Nevada range at the namesake Carson Pass located at 8,574 feet above sea level. The Carson Pass Highway is an all-year pass and occasionally gets pressed into service as US Route 50 Alternate.
What is now Carson Pass was an established crossing of the Sierra Nevada known by the Washoe tribe. During an 1844 expedition led by United States Army Officer John C. Fremont he learned of the pass from the Washoe. Fremont's expedition was encamped at Carson Valley on January 31, 1844, and looking for a way to cross the mountains to return to Sutter's Fort. The Washoe warned Fremont not to attempt to cross the snow-filled pass, but the expedition proceeded regardless. Frontiersman
Kit Carson served as the expedition guide on the journey into the Sierra Nevada.
Fremont's expedition westward to Carson Pass soon ran low on supplies and soldiers soon resorted to consuming their pack animals. On February 14, 1844, Fremont and cartographer Charles Preuss climbed Red Lake Peak where they became the first people of European descent to observe Lake Tahoe. The expedition cleared the snow west of the pass on February 21, 1844, and arrived at Sutter's Fort on March 6th. Despite the harsh wintery conditions, the expedition suffered no fatalities.
John C. Fremont wrote of his experiences crossing the Sierra Nevada which brought attention to what became known as Carson Pass. As the name implies, the pass was named after Kit Carson. Carson Pass became part of the southern branch of the California Trail. Following ill-fated Donner Party expedition of the winter of 1846/1847 the southern leg of the California Trail would see increased usage.
Woodfords is the oldest settlement of European origin in what is now Alpine County. The origin of the community came during Spring 1847 when it was used to stage supplies by Sam Brannan. A small community originally known as Brannan Springs and later Carey's Mills would soon develop around providing services to travelers along the road Carson Pass. The first Post Office in the community would open at the hotel of Daniel Woodford in 1849. The Postal Service would formally change the name of the community to Woodfords in 1869. Woodfords is famous for being a remount station along the Pony Express Trail during the early 1860s.
During 1848 former members of the Mormon Battalion who had served in the Mexican-American War opted to return to Salt Lake City. The group of 46 sought to plot a new wagon trail over the Sierra Nevada which incorporated Carson Pass. The expedition departed from the outskirts of Placerville during June up what is now the Mormon Emigrant Trail and would ultimately reach Carson Pass by July 28, 1848. The expedition would successfully cross the Sierra Nevada and reach Salt Lake City by September 1848.
Following the start of the California Gold Rush the Carson Pass Highway would become the favored crossing the Sierra Nevada. Approximately 40,000 gold seekers would cross Carson Pass to the gold mines of the western Sierra Nevada foothills. Carson Pass Highway would remain the favored crossing of the Sierra Nevada until a new routing over Johnson's Pass was established to the north near Lake Bigler (now Lake Tahoe).
In 1853 Congress ordered survey to locate a possible route for a railroad line over the Sierra Nevada range. The conclusion of the 1853 Congressional survey suggested any route over the Sierra Nevada was unfeasibly due to deep snows which occurred every winter. The State of California ordered its own survey by
April 1855 to investigate the feasibility of constructing a wagon road from Sacramento Valley east to Carson Valley.
By June 1855 enough money had been raised so that Sherman Day could scout potential wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada. The Day Survey concluded that the only viable options for a wagon road over the Sierra Nevada would be at Johnson's Pass or Carson Pass. Johnson's Pass was considerable favorable to Carson Pass due to the lower elevation potentially permitting all-year travel. The Day Survey was featured extensively in the September 1950 California Highways & Public Works.
The Goddard Survey later corroborated the findings of the Day Survey in that Johnson's Pass would be the desirable route of a Trans-Sierra Wagon Road.
The surveyed routes of Sherman Day over Johnson's Pass and Carson Pass.
During 1857 the counties of; Yolo, Sacramento and El Dorado contributed $50,000 dollars towards construction of a wagon road over Johnson's Pass. County officials hired noted stagecoach driver J.B. Crandall of the Crandall & Sunderland Company to drive surveyors over Day's route east through the Sierra Nevada range to Carson Valley via Johnson's Pass. The Crandall & Sunderland Company at the time operated as a stage line from the terminus of the Sacramento Valley Railroad in Folsom eastward to Placerville. The stage trip from Folsom originated on June 11, 1857, and proved that a wagon road over Johnson's Pass was indeed feasible.
The Lake Tahoe Wagon Road would be constructed on the Johnson's Pass route between 1858-1865. Following the completion of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road the Carson Pass Highway would see a decline in usage. The Carson Pass Highway was still close enough to established towns on both ends of the Sierra Nevada that never became fully defunct.
The Carson Pass Highway can be seen originating east of Placerville, California and extending eastward towards Genoa, Nevada on the 1873 Bancroft's map.
By the early 1880s the main line of the Carson Pass Highway was rerouted towards Jackson with a branch to Sutter Creek. The previous mainline west of Carson Pass towards Placerville remained in use as public highway and would come to be eventually known as Mormon Emigrant Trail. The branches of the Carson Pass Highway can be seen in detail on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California and Nevada.
In 1911 the California Legislature would commission the Carson Pass Highway east from Jackson to Hope Valley as part of what would become Legislative Route Number 34. The specific wording legislation essentially formed a loop of the Sierra Nevada which included Luther Pass, the conceptual highway over Monitor Pass and the Big Trees Road over Ebbetts Pass:
"The certain road connecting at the Calaveras big tree grove located in Calaveras County thence running to Dorrington in said county, thence E-ly following what is known as the Big Tree and Carson Valley Turnpike to Mt. Bullion in Alpine Cty, thence along the county road to Markleeville in Alpine Cty, thence along that certain road via Kirkwood, Silver Lake, Pine Grove and Irishtown to Jackson in Amador Cty, including therewith the road from Picketts in Hope Valley connecting with the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, a state highway, at Osgood's Place in El Dorado Cty, and the road from Mt Bullion via Loupe in Alpine Cty to Junction in Mono County connecting with the Sonora and Mono State Highway is hereby declared and established a state highway and shall be designated and known as "Alpine State Highway""
In 1933 the California Legislature extended their portion of the Carson Pass Highway from Hope Valley to the Nevada state line as part of Legislative Route Number 24. The Carson Pass Highway within California would be designated as California State Route 8 when the original run of Sign Routes was announced in the August 1934 California Highways & Public Works. At the time Nevada owned portion of Carson Pass Highway from the state line to Minden was maintained by the Forest Service as the Woodfords Road. Woodfords Road would be improved to state standards during 1934 and assigned as Nevada State Route 37.
By 1940 Carson Pass Highway east of Jackson to the Nevada state line was renumbered as California State Route 88. This can be seen on the 1940 California Division of Highways map.
By 1947 California State Route 4 was extended from California State Route 89 near Markleeville to the Nevada state line multiplexed with California State Route 88 from Woodfords. This can be seen for the first time on the
1948 California Division of Highways. By 1956 Nevada State Route 37 would be renumbered as "88" to provide for continuity with California State Route 88.
In August 1934 California State Route 89 was designated as ending at Coleville along what is now US Route 395. It isn't clear where the signage actually extended during the late 1930s given Monitor Pass was not yet constructed. State Highway maps through the 1940s and early 1950s indicate California State Route 89 as ending at Hope Valley until the opening of Monitor Pass on September 12, 1954 (
September/October 1954 California Highways & Public Works). Following the opening of Monitor Pass the signage of California State Route 89 was seemingly extended through Woodfords via California State Route 88 and through Markleeville along California State Route 4.
Old Pony Express Way can be seen as part of Woodfords Junction which served California State Routes 88, 4 and 89 on the 1956 United States Geological Survey map of Freel Peak.
As part of the wider 1964 State Highway renumbering the eastern terminus of California State Route 4 was withdrawn to California State Route 89 near Markleeville. The withdrawn eastern terminus of California State Route 4 can be seen on the 1964 Division of Highways map.
The September/October 1964 California Highways & Public Works featured an overview of realignment projects along California State Route 88 and the Carson Pass Highway corridor. What is now Old Pony Express Road and the original Woodfords Junction between California State Routes 88, 4 and 89 was shown to be bypassed in 1963. The segment of older highway east of Woodfords along the West Fork Carson River is shown to be earmarked for later construction.
Part 2; a drive on Old Pony Express Road in Woodfords
Old Pony Express Road begins at California State Route 88 Postmile ALP 19.357 in Woodfords.
A monument about the Pony Express remount station at Cary's Barn can be found on Old Pony Express Road across from Mad Dog Cafe.
The original Woodfords Junction can be seen below at the dirt grade on the left-hand side of the photo. From this position westbound California State Route 88 would have lost westbound California State Route 4 and picked up northbound California State Route 89.
Old Pony Express Road consolidates with modern California State Route 88 at Postmile ALP 19.025.
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