Above photo: Boles Creek flows under Grove Street in Weed. Grove Street carried the first routing of US 97 into Weed.
A little bit of this, a little bit of that
During the past couple of months, I have spent what little bit of free time I’ve had chasing down some benchmarks, determining the early routing of US 97 through Weed, California, and doing a little exploration of former US 99W and US 99E. I still have some research to do on the aforementioned section of US 97, as well as some pictures to take, but I hope to have a post up in the next month or so on that subject. If you are a member of the Facebook group “California Historic Highways” you’ve seen some results of my research already posted to that group in the past few weeks.
Segment of first routing of the Pacific Highway, then US 99, then US 99W, just south of Yolo County Line Road, just east of Interstate 5. This pavement probably dates from 1925. I haven’t yet researched when the more modern and straighter alignment was built to the left, but I suspect sometime around the late 1930s. Photo taken 24 February 2022.
Benchmarks: I added benchmark W 494 to the Siskiyou County, California Survey Marks page. This benchmark is near the first routing of US 97 outside of Weed, after the southern terminus of 97 was moved from Ashland, Oregon, to Weed in 1934.
I also added new pages for Butte and Tehama counties in California. The first benchmark listed in the Butte County page is near the crossing of an abandoned branch of the Sacramento Northern Railway over CA State Route 99 (ex-US 99E).
“C post” right-of-way marker used by the California Department of Highways from the mid-1910s to the late 1930s. This one is found near benchmark W 494 along US 97 north of Weed.
New blog post: Lake Shasta Artifacts, 9 December 2021. A visit to a segment of historical US 99 left high and dry by the receding waters of Lake Shasta, as well as a railroad tunnel that is also accessible.
Update to the Union Pacific Railroad: Black Butte Subdivision page in the Abandoned Railroad Infrastructure section. I’ve identified a number of straightened curves between Dunsmuir and the Black Butte siding that I’m checking out.
All photographs by Denis Fabbrini unless otherwise indicated.
At the beginning of November, I made a trip down to Lake Shasta to explore some of the old infrastructure uncovered by the drought conditions much of the West has been suffering from in the past couple of years. Lake Shasta has been a levels only really seen in the past decades – 2014, I believe, and the great drought of 1976-77. Stuff that has emerged from the waters include old highways, bridges, and railroad beds and tunnels. Unfortunately, much of the area surrounding the lake was engulfed in wildfires throughout this past summer, with national forest closures making access to much of the lake and these historic sites pretty tough.
At the beginning of November, I was finally able to make it down to the lake and spend a few hours exploring a couple of sites of interest with a fellow roadgeeker, Eric Hall, from Redding.
Bailey Cove
This spot is located in a drainage off the west side of the McCloud River Arm of Lake Shasta. The 1915 Pacific Highway and the 1926 US 99 routing drops off a ridge heading south down to the McCloud River, then along the north side of the Pit River, until it crossed the Pit near what is now Bridge Bay, under the shadow of the present I-5 Pit River Bridge. This routing was replaced when Shasta Dam was built and required that US 99 be moved to higher ground, along with 26 miles of Southern Pacific trackage. The new routing opened in January 1943.
We found this segment from the Bailey Cove boat ramp down to the water level of that day to be in remarkable condition. Some stretches were nearly intact, while other pieces were partially washed away or still covered in 10 to 12 feet of silt deposits. Eric and I believe that part of the road had been uncovered by grading over the summer to allow boaters to reach the receding waters.
Google Maps. Google Satellite screenshot of the Bailey Cove area. The longer yellow line is the location of the normally submerged section of the Pacific HIghway/1926 US 99 that we explored. The shorter line by the campground area is a blackberry and poison oak covered segment that we also checked out.Map from the November 1939 issue of California Highways and Public Works magazine, showing the current US 99 at the time, and the proposed rerouting of US 99 and the Southern Pacific Railroad, due to the construction of the Shasta Dam. This view is looking east.Aerial photograph from 1940 showing the replacement route under construction, as well as the construction of new routing for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Photo: Flight C-6525, frame 24, July 12, 1940, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial CollectionLooking south towards the McCloud River Arm. Photograph by Eric Hall, from a trip he made to this area on October 12. The lake level was about 20 feet higher on this date.Highway stripe still evident after nearly 80 years.Looking north. Interstate 5 is in the upper lefthand corner.Continuing north. A major storm a few days before our trip washed out part of the road where my truck is parked.Looking north from where I had parked. Photograph by Eric Hall.One of 3 culverts we found. I suspect that dates to around 1926, when the route was designated US 99 and improved and paved.Pavement layers. My hunch is the bottom layer dates to the mid-20’s, while the top layer is probably early 1930’s.Remnants of a utility pole just below the full lake level on the east side of the highway. A string of these cut off poles could be seen along the canyon. The second culvert.We climbed the west side of this small canyon because we thought we saw some old stonework, but we found this box culvert a buried a couple of hundred feet below northbound Interstate 5.Looking through to the other side of the cut and fill that makes up northbound Interstate 5.Looking south down Bailey Cove from a point just below the culvert in previous photo.Looking north towards the boat ramp from the same spot.The third culvert we found as Eric and I were making our way back down to the road.Back up at the picnic grounds above the boat ramp, this area in the right of the photo was probably the 1915 Pacific Highway routing. The curve was straightened a bit an moved a couple of hundred yards to the west, now under the marina parking lot.Eric walking in the road cut adjacent to the campground. This segment is indicated by the shorter yellow line in the Google Sat image at the beginning of this post.
Southern Pacific Railroad Tunnel 6
After concluding our exploration of the Bailey Cove area, we drove up Interstate 5 to Antlers to check out one of the old railroad tunnels exposed by the receding waters. Tunnel 6 is located just north of what was the confluence of the Sacramento River and Charlie Creek. Today, the tunnel can be reached by driving south on Lakeshore Drive south of Antlers about 1 mile. After passing the US Forest Service Lakeshore Station, make a hard left just before crossing the Charlie Creek Bridge. A high clearance vehicle is recommended to travel down the river canyon slope to reach the tunnel.
When built by Southern Pacific predecessor Central Pacific in 1884, it was a just basically a hole dug through rock until sometime in the 1920s when concrete headwalls were added. The south end of the tunnel is lined for about 50 feet, whereas the north portal is not. Since being first inundated in 1948, the tunnel has partly filled with silt, raising the floor probably about 10 feet or more. The tunnel is situated in highly metamorphosed shale and slate, more than likely from some old island arc slammed up against the North American plate many millions of years ago. Also impressive is the the trestle high above the canyon that replaced the tunnel necessitated by the flooding the Sacramento River by the Shasta Dam.
South entrance of Tunnel 6. Current Union Pacific (ex-Southern Pacific) trestle looms high above. The Sacramento River arm is to the right.The south entrance was lined for about 75 feet somewhere around the late 1920s, along with the addition of concrete headwalls at the entrances. The rest of the tunnel is exposed rock.The river-facing side of the tunnel. The shelf-like area I’m standing on alongside the tunnel was graded to allow for construction of the overhead trestle.The north entrance. The amount of silt that has been deposited for the decades is evident, as the current clearance at this end is only abut 12 feet.This is just as you enter the north portal. As you can see, the tunnel was not lined at this end.Just north of the tunnel are apparently the buried remains of 3 railroad cars that spilled into the Sacramento River in 1903. This is a wheel set visible from one of the overturned cars.The historic 1925 Charlie Creek Bridge just south of the tunnel, and on the west side of the Sacramento River. The current bridge deck was added about 1940 in anticipation of rising waters from filling Lake Shasta. Just further upstream is the 1917 Charlie Creek bridge, which carried the Pacific Highway.A few hundred yards south of the Charlie Creek and Sacramento River Confluence is a concrete retaining wall built to protect the railroad bed. Some of the great geology through which Tunnel 6 was built.
Some months back blog posts by Tom Fearer at Gribblenation.org regarding local roads in my area ended up leading me down the proverbial wormhole for more information. I have to say the trip was rewarding. While not answering all my questions about the original subjects – Siskiyou County Road A12 and the first routing of US Route 99 through Weed, California – the search for information resulted in answering a few questions about previous railroads in the area (the Weed Lumber Railroad/Southern Pacific Railroad) and the locations of the first Weed Airport and the long-gone Yreka Airport.
A recent exploration of a segment of the abandoned Weed Lumber Company Railroad yielded clues to the original routing of US 97 northeast of Weed, California. These are remnants of wooden highway guardrails prevalent in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.
Most of the research involved internet searches for historical maps between the years of 1915 and 1945. While my search started with historical topographic maps at the USGS website, other map sites included the David Rumsey Map Collection, aeronautical charts and airway bulletins at the Library of Congress, as well as posts and articles at Gribblenation and cahighways.org. While my research continues, enough information was accumulated to post a worthy entry about the Yreka Airport on the Siskiyou County Aviation Infrastructure page of this site.
Within the next week, I will also post an entry on the aforementioned page about the original Weed Airport. I had first seen a mention of this airport in the September 1, 1931 Airway Bulletin No. 2. The 1927 (revised 1930) Army Air Corps Air Navigation Map indicates an approximate location of the former airfield, but it was the 1935 California Division of Highways Siskiyou County Highway Map that really helped in nailing down the exact location in a ranch pasture along Old Highway 99/Stewart Springs Road a mile south of the current Weed Airport.
1935 California Division of Highways Siskiyou County Highway Map, with arrow pointing to the rectangle representing the Weed Airport.
The lesson is that it is the journey through the wormhole can be just as rewarding as the destination. Being mindful that seemingly unrelated resources can result in clues to other research projects should always be kept in mind. The only problem is that usually leads one down other, numerous wormholes!
One of the usually submerged historic highway bridges in Shasta Lake
The Salt Creek Bridge was built on the Pacific Highway in 1925 between what is now Lakehead and Redding. This bridge apparently replaced one built some years earlier, as the older abutments are visible underneath the newer structure. It was later abandoned in 1941, as US Route 99 (the former Pacific Highway) was rerouted in anticipation of Shasta Lake inundating the older route (as happened in 1948).
In dryer or drought years, the Salt Creek Bridge is one of the first submerged artifacts to make its appearance as the lake level falls. It is easily accessible from the Salt Creek exit on Interstate 5. Take Lower Salt Creek Road west for about 3 miles at which point you will come to the bridge underneath the towering Union Pacific railroad trestle.
My visit to the site got a little more interesting, as I ran into a gentleman making casts of footprints in the muddy bank of creek upstream of the bridge. He believed them to be evidence of Bigfoot-like creatures. I have to say the footprint and casting of others he had made in the area didn’t look quite human. He proceeded to show me dozens of pictures of like footprints he had found at numerous sites, as well as other weird things that apparently Bigfoot hunters believe are evidence of the mythical creature actually existing. I came away from the conversation thinking I might have to make my forays into the area forests with a new viewpoint.
The Salt Creek Bridge underneath the towering Union Pacific railroad trestle. This is looking south, as the Salt Creek Bridge is oriented east-to-west.The south side of the bridge.Looking west down the old highway grade. The shadow is from the trestle above.Looking east.Another south side view.Date stamp on the Salt Creek Bridge.Another south side view looking east. Notice the flared ends of the railing.Flared railing at the ends.Footing from a previous bridge on this spot, probably built when the US 99 predecessor Pacific Highway was built. The previous bridge would have probably been only 15 feet wide. The underside looking towards the east end. The previous bridge footing can be seen in the center.Since the 1925 bridge was higher than its predecessor, the road approachmentds had to raised. This is the reinforcement of the east approach.Evidence of Bigfoot?
All in all, the bridge is in great condition. This is likely due to being submerged in the cold waters of Shasta Lake most of the year. If you decide to drive across the span, beware of the approaches, as there are gaps between the bridge and the road.
Heading west along US 99 through the settlement of Salt Creek before the site was inundated by Shasta Lake. Some structures were move elsewhere before inundation. Eastman, Jervie Henry. (1941). “Salt Creek Bridge” on Highway 99 near Redding, Calif. Retrieved April 2, 2021, from https://digital.ucdavis.edu/collection/eastman/D-051/B-1/B-1367
An abandoned railroad bed, a lost benchmark, & things found
Shortly after moving back to the Mount Shasta area (after leaving as a child in 1963), I began exploring the remains of the Weed Lumber Railroad. The railroad was built in the early 1900’s by lumber baron Abner Weed, to exploit the abundant forests east of the town he founded, with the segment from Weed to Grass Lake being sold to Southern Pacific shortly thereafter. When Southern Pacific opened the new Black Butte Subdivision (from Black Butte, just south of Weed, to Klamath Falls) bypassing the Weed-Grass Lake segment in 1926, the original ex-Weed Lumber Railroad portion was abandoned.
One piece of old right-of-way of interest winds its way along a tongue of lava south of US 97 to Bolam Road, a road which heads south from 97 to the Union Pacific control point of Bolam. I initially walked this segment one day after noticing the raised manzanita and creosote choked railbed heading south off of 97. Later, after checking topographic maps of the area, I noticed that older maps indicated the presence of a benchmark along the railbed. Searching the National Geodetic Survey benchmark database, I found that this one was still listed as Siskiyou County W 12 (PID MX0021).
The datasheet station description of the benchmark is one of the more confusing that l’ve read.
First, it lists the benchmark as being monumented in 1919, but the description seems to have been written in 1954, during a recovery visit to the site by a Coast and Geodetic Survey team. However, it also says that the benchmark was not found.
Second, it describes the mark as “on the abandoned Southern Pacific Co. roadbed, 9-1/2 poles (156.75 feet) southeast along the roadbed from the crossing of the Weed-Dorris highway” which matches placements on the 1934 Macdoel and 1954 Lake Shastina topographic maps. However, then the description reads “about 300 feet west of the highway, about 300 west of milepost 12“, which doesn’t make sense as the indicated position of the benchmark on the 1934 and 1954 maps puts it south, not west, of US 97. Of further note, the description notes the old highway – I can find no record of any highway other than 97 at this spot predating 97 before its construction. The only thing I can think this refers to is perhaps that US 97 was straightened between its original construction around 1936 and 1954, when the above mentioned topo map shows its present roadbed. An aerial photo on historicalaerials.com seems to show an older highway trace crossing Yellow Butte Road (which itself is the old Weed Lumber Railroad bed heading north from the segment being discussed here) about 75 feet north of the modern US 97.
Third, the description says that the mark is “near the middle of a side hill rock cut, 12 feet east of the centerline of the roadbed, in bedrock, 1 foot higher than than the roadbed”. Okay, so the 1934 Macdoel map seems to indicate that the mark is on the west side of the roadbed (or, railbed), as the roadbed travels north-to-south along the east side of the lava flow. The railbed climbs up in elevation from US 97 along the lava flow, on a constructed berm, with no rock existing on the east side of the railbed. Additionally, the aforementioned “9-1/2 poles” or 156.75 feet placement from the intersection of the railbed and the Weed-Dorris highway, either from the modern intersection placement, or the suspected original intersection, lands nowhere near any “bedrock”.
The datasheet states that two recovery efforts were made in 1981 to locate the benchmark, both unsuccessful.
My search efforts
I’ve made three visits to the area to search for the benchmark. I examined both sides of the railbed, including the east side which does not travel next to any bedrock formations. On the west side of the railbed, I searched further than the 12 feet from the centerline where I could, and up to 10 feet or so up the side of the lava flow. Significant erosion of the andesite bedrock along the east side of the railbed has occurred, with several small landslides along the alignment present, and in other places the hillside rock has broken in large chunks, falling onto the roadbed. I spent a lot of time scraping dirt off of the hillside bedrock, hoping to find the brass disk underneath, but it wasn’t to be. My efforts extended from the railbed crossing at US 97 south for 2000 feet, well beyond the distance stated in the datasheet.
Looking south down the abandoned railbed from US 97. At the center of the photo, the railbed starts to curve to the left (east).Example to the eroded hillside along the west side of the railbed.
I did find numerous railroad ties, remnants of signal poles, a piece of a glass insulator, and a railroad spike, as well as numerous tin cans, probably left by railroad or salvage crews.
My conclusions
The NGS benchmark locator shows both benchmarks in the wrong locations. D 495 RESET is on the north side of the highway, and W 12 was located 2000 feet to the southwest.
What happened to the benchmark disk? I suspect one of several things could have occurred: 1) a worker took the disk as a souvenir during rail salvage and demolition; 2) someone else took it while exploring the area after railroad operation ceased, looking for collectibles such as bottles, glass insulators, or tools (my grandparents did this for years, searching out old railroad, lumber, and fire camps); or 3) the disk is still attached to a piece of rock that is now buried amongst the erosion.
My efforts were not without accomplishment. On my last visit, I did recover a nearby benchmark,D 495 RESET (PID MX0023), as well as 3 Caltrans survey markers, and found a geocache as well.
Driving home from the Bay Area up Interstate 505 (the “Winters Cut-off), I jumped off the highway at the Midway Road exit just north of the Nut Tree Airport to look for remnants of the Southern Pacific Clear Lake/ Winters Branch along the modern interstate.
I vaguely remember seeing rail cars along the interstate’s predecessor 2 lane highway as our family travelled back and forth between the Bay Area and Siskiyou County in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I rediscovered the railroad branch while looking at old topographic maps of the area recently.
USGS 1953 Allendale, CA topographic map, photorevised 1973
The above topo map shows the railroad running between Hartley Road and the under construction Interstate 505. I explored the stretch between the two arrows, heading north from Midway Road to Allendale Road.
Looking south across Midway Road, from the northeastern corner of Midway Road and Hartley Road.
Starting from Midway and Hartley Roads, the railbed would have come through the middle of the warehouse shown in the above picture. (7 January 2021 update: It should be noted that a brand new warehouse has been constructed on the land in the above photo)
Looking north from the northeast corner of Midway and Hartley Roads at the path of the railbed.
Also at this corner is found a USGS benchmark with its associated witness post, monumented in 1904 (Solano County B 44, PID JS1521).
Along this stretch of the abandoned railbed, a number of small drainages are crossed. Below is one the the concrete culverts used to cross these.
Looking east from Hartley Road. Interstate 505 is in the background.Top view, looking north.East side of culvert.
At Hartley and Allendale Roads, we look back south in the next photo, the the raised railbed to the left in the image.
My quick exploration ends at Allendale Road. The next stretch of railbed is now private property across the road.
The railbed heads north towards Winters through the center of the photo.
After a few weeks of self isolation, and the onset of great spring weather, my wife and I headed out for a day trip through eastern Siskiyou County, as well as parts of Shasta, Lassen, and Modoc counties, California, and Klamath County, Oregon.
This is sparsely inhabited country, consisting of national forest lands, large ranching and farming operations, small towns, and stunning volcanic, forested, and high desert vistas. This was mostly a scouting trip to plan future explorations. Some parts of this country I had never been to, and others it had been decades since I visited.
We drove this loop counterclockwise, starting in Mount Shasta.
Inside the 300 mile round loop is found Mount Shasta; the Medicine Lake Highlands, including the massive Medicine Lake Volcano; the McCloud, Pit, and Fall rivers, which flow into the Sacramento and then the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate some 300+ miles south; Lava Beds National Monument; the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges; the remains of historic lumber, agricultural, and railroad operations; large cattle ranches; numerous alfalfa, hay, potato, garlic, onion, and horseradish farms; and Native American reservations and historic sites. The trip also skirts the Klamath River along the Oregon border.
This region on the eastern side of the Cascades is classic Basin and Range landscape, combined with the spectacular results of Cascade volcanism.
We loaded on provisions for the day to minimize our contact with others. We drove counterclockwise from Mount Shasta on this loop. State Route 89 (Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway) going east takes you through the former lumber town of McCloud, then through federal and privately held forest lands for about an hour until reaching the junction of 89 and State Route 299 (Lassen State Highway). This portion of the drive treats one to an impressive view of Mount Shasta’s east side, as well as titillating turnoffs to a multitude of destinations (McCloud River and its falls; Pondosa ghost town; stretches of the abandoned McCloud Lumber Railroad (now a multi use trail); and Burney Falls and the nearby railroad bridge used in “Stand By Me”).
As you approach the 89/299 junction, the forest gives way to views of grass covered valleys, flood basalts, and other volcanic structures, such as cinder cones and impressive secondary volcanic peaks in this eastern side of the Cascades, such as Burney Mountain (7864 feet). As you head east on 299 to the town of Fall River Mills, the highway climbs a volcanic ridge, with a spectacular canyon carved by the Pit River to the south. Here, one gets a view of Lassen Peak, as well as other prominent secondary volcanic peaks between Lassen and Mount Shasta.
Forests give way to grass covered valleys as you near Burney, driving from McCloud.
It’s amazing how much water there is in these parts. Just north of Fall River Mills lays Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park, which is only accessible by boat. According to Wikipedia, “The park sits on “one of the nation’s largest systems of underwater springs.” They produce some 1.2 billion US gallons (4.5×109 l) of fresh water per day into the aboveground waterways. Water in the springs originate as snowmelt from the Medicine Lake Volcano highlands.”
A readout just outside of Fall River Mills reveals the volcanic structure of the area. Layered cinder cone deposits are covered by a newer lava flow.
The towns along this trip are for the most part shells of their former selves. With the mechanization of logging and farming operations, the closing of smaller milling operations, railroad mergers, and the shift towards more sustainable industries (i.e. tourism), these are settlements still looking for a purpose and relevance in today’s world. Fall River Mills has done better than most, with a golf resort, nearby hot springs, and retirement development. Other towns are struggling to repurpose themselves.
We stopped to inspect a forest service campground and have lunch. Just a few miles north of Adin is the Lower Rush Creek forest service campground, only 3/4 of a mile off of combined State Route 299/139. It was a nice little campground with the creek running through it, but you drive past several manufactured home hovels to get to it. In fact, the campground is situated within 200 yards of one of these shacks. I’m not quite sure what a night would be like at this site, as it seems that several of the nearby properties house cannabis grow operations. There is another campground (Upper Rush Creek) farther up the road, but the road was not yet open for the season beyond this campground.
At Canby, we turned north on 139 towards Oregon, we finally popped into the southern end of the Klamath Lake Basin. We made our way into the Lava Beds at Petroglyph Point, containing one of the largest panels of Native American rock art in the United States. It was pretty awesome, but sad at the same time, as one also sees the the results of vandalism thrust upon such a significant cultural treasure.
From here, Mount Shasta again dominates the landscape, with Mount McLoughlin in Oregon also visible to the north. By this time, it was getting late in the afternoon. We headed briefly to Merrill, Oregon, where we used the bathrooms at the local Dollar General, then headed west on California State Route 161. We stopped for a few moments to enjoy the golden hour at Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge, watching the birds at a gorgeous viewing platform. With hunger pains not too far from manifesting themselves, we headed home to Mount Shasta to grab some takeout before finally arriving home.
The Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge, with Mount Shasta in the distance.
