The Road To Tahoe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Video from the El Dorado County Historical Museum.
This video featuring images from the El Dorado County Historical Museum's collection is part of a series created in collaboration with the El Dorado County Library in 2014. It covers the history of this heavily used transportation corridor first as an emigrant trail, then a major supply route to the Comstock Lode. It was California’s first state highway, and then the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway, and finally a modern high-speed highway.
The El Dorado County Historical Museum seeks to preserve and interpret the county’s rich history through exhibits and archives, and has a large collection of historical photographs depicting early Placerville and other communities around the county. Located in Placerville, the El Dorado County Historical Museum’s Research Room is open to the public with a large collection of local historical photographs, maps, records, newspapers, ledgers and other historical and government archival material. museum.edcgov.us
As a kid, there was an old lady across the street who told stories about the trip to Tahoe in the horse and wagon days. She said it took 3 days from Sacramento. The first day was Sacramento to Placerville. 2nd day was Placerville to Strawberry. And the third day was from Strawberry up and over the crest to South Lake Tahoe.
They would have been moving very quickly to cover that much ground in 3 days in wagon. A horse and rider will average 30 miles a day on flat ground. Wagons usually averaged no more than 20 miles a day in easy terrain and I’d guess with the topo this is terrain was anything but easy.
@dukedaniel1524 After the California gold rush of 1849, the Comstock silver lode was discovered in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1859. That sparked a rush from California, back over the Sierras, to Nevada. That route from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe was one of the main roads taken. It was originally the Pony Express route which had been widened and improved during the Comstock rush. By the 1890s when her trips to Tahoe took place, that was a well established and maintained road, not a trail through the wilderness.
Crossed Donner first time 1977. 18 wheeler. 22yrs old and full of adventure. Those were the days
great history here... My 1st time adventure in this area was driving east to west as a young man . I drove by myself for 6 days , sun up to sundown ( 12 hrs. a day ) . on the 6th day I arrived at donners summit . Tire chains were required as was a stop at an agriculture inspection station . the year was 1975 . It was October and the snow was deep . I will never forget it . over the next few years while being stationed at Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento I made many trips back and forth to Lake Tahoe and that area . I still consider that highway 50 drive through Eldorado county through Placerville to be one of the most beautiful drives ever .Great memories for an old guy , thanks ..
Did you do oh that's right you're dangerous man she's going to get beat up or something will you turning for b**** I seen your face that b**** that was walking by for me
We take a lot for granted these days.
You can drive up to Tahoe from Sacramento now with your mind fairly at ease. Reliable cars with good gas mileage , paved roads with rest stops along the way. Saw a video of people in the 1920s driving up in 1925 Ford Model Ts on Highway 50 when it was a dirt road..damn, now that took bravado.
Yeah, and having to turn the car around and back up the especially steep spots because those "T"s didn't have fuel pumps and were, thus, gravity-fed. Going up forward was impossible because the carburetor device was *higher* than the fuel tank (which was under the front seat).
My father's family home, 8240 Folsom Blvd, near Power Inn Rd., was said to have been a Pony Express station. It was demolished in the early 1960s and a new house built. That house has now been demolished and no trace of my family's life there exists.
So strange to think about. Life just moves forward. So strange
@@yeboscrebo4451 Yes, so strange. That had been my family's property for nearly 100 years. Thanks for your comment.
My great uncle built a Forest Service Sumer Home along 50 around where Mt. Ralston Lodge was. He lived in Berkeley and my mom told me it took him 8 hours to get to 'the cabin' from Berkeley starting out on old US 40. I can remember some of the improvements made over the years to highway 50, like when the road was widened going up from Twin Bridges with the rock face just about a yard from the rear window of my dad's Checker Marathon. My mom would go to 'the cabin' with her uncle and cousins, she remembered when there were twin bridges at Twin Bridges. I can remember the winter Mt. Ralston Lodge collapsed from snow load and when there was a dinner at Pow Wow.
Great Video, thanks.
I remember traveling every summer on highway 50 in the 50's and 60's for 2 week vacations at Tahoe. Then in the 70's hauling sand for the state highway snow removal contracts. Now we live in Las Vegas and travel to Tahoe for a week or two every summer. Took my wife down 50 to Placerville to visit cousins. Much improved from the 50's. Thank you for sparking some great memories.
It is still a great vacation to follow the old Lincoln Highway today! Although you might need a four-wheel drive in some areas as because highways bypass them and they haven't been well-tended! But the roadside attractions are a real treat
Very imnterestinmg. Love driving US 50 into Tahoe and then up over Donner Pass at Sugar Bowl in a blizzard! That was an experience.
At least it means it wouldn't be a drought for a while lol 😅
This is one of those roads (50) that you don't need a documentary to picture how tough it must've been for early travelers. Every time through here I'm just in awe.
John Calhoun Johnson was my great-great-great grandfather from my dad's side. My grandmother was Virginia Louise Johnson (Haven), who was his great granddaughter.
My dad, a WWII, Marine Corps veteran, worked with his partner to create a small ski resort near Echo Summit, named Flagpole Mountain Ski Resort, but was called back into the Corps when the Korean War started, and had to abandon the ski resort project.
That is a bit of History that needs to be told.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!❤❤❤ Lake Tahoe is majestic and has a special place in my heart!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤
Well done! Thank you for the wonderful video. Such great history and the photos were amazing.
Emily is my GG , Gladys is my grandmother ! She rest with my father and sister oakhill cemetery San Jose California !
The Johnsons 🎉
We take so much for granted today we must reflect on where we came from
How cool! My grandparents would drive to Tahoe back in the 20's and 30's -- it took them 2 days and they would camp along the way. Maybe in Strawberry as in the previous comment.... they eventually built a cabin at Strawberry. Thank you!
Wonderful video! Excellent presentation. Thank you very much
There is a Lincoln Highway sign on some streets here in Castro Valley. My dad told me before the freeways that yes it took forever to get from SF to Tahoe, on what we'd call today the "backroads.". No AC in those old cars either. I don't think they even attempted it in winter months.
as you drive up 50 you can still see parts of the old road . Including bridges
My former home. Oh how I miss it!
Nice video. I transcribed the 1928 log of the original location of the Lincoln HIghway concrete markers as prepared by Field Secretary Gale Hoag. It cannot account for more than 2,436 installed, not 3,000. These were placed at important intersections, for turns, and for reassurance. 3,000 may have been manufactured to provide spares.
some were stockpiled and never installed - for example Highway 50 between Placerville and Lake Tahoe. in 1977, I found two stockpiled at an old Highway Maintenance Station near Kyburz. Subsequent Caltrans highway work obliterated the site.
The comment near the end talking about imagining what it took to get to Lake Tahoe in the gold rush years. Makes me think of when Mark Twain had to make a fast exit from San Francisco due to a disagreement, probably during a poker game up into Calaveras county near Sonora. That must have been a trip.
Fascinating! Really enjoyed learning some of the history of this pioneering road and the people that made it possible. The personal excerpts of narrative from those early travelers is priceless!
Cool! John Calhoun Johnson was my great great grandfather.
Nice! We must be distant relatives, since John Calhoun Johnson was my great-great-great grandfather.
@@erichavenbass yes! We may have met if you went to the plaque ceremony in 2014.
@@janey7533 sadly, no. I wasn't able to be there for that. But I would think you must have met (or know) Ellen and Ford Osborn?
@@erichavenbass yes I did. My great grandmother was Eva May Johnson (or Maime as some called her).
@2KALUBAFAK40 I have many pictures of her as an adult but none as a baby
Love this thanks-during a fire restoration back in the late 90's we walked (USFS)the cut on the side of the river there.still exists-retaining walls.square nails found where bridges once existed etc. pretty cool
Great history!
Wow, that took a lot of hard work and courage to build and travel that road. A few years ago, I drove up 80 to North Shore, then to Reno in late August. I decided to take 50 back. Big mistake! They had 89 closed at Emerald Bay and it was bumper to bumper from South Shore to Placerville! I thought the traffic would clear, but it never did!
I love that drive.
Great history for sure! I’ve yet to “drive” over dinner on old U.S. 40. I been over it on I-80 many times. Hopefully someday I’ll drive it in my pickup 😉😃👍
I once had a photo album full of photos from the building of the second set of tracks that were a little wider than the ones that were there . The photos were of the railway on the Hwy 50 side or the Hwy 80 side but I do know they were 1870 or so . Had to sell them as that's what I do . I should have kept them as they were one of a kind and showed everything .
Thank you so much for sharing
Actually, the Lincoln highway parallels highway 80 through Truckee today. Nowhere close to the current highway 50 near south lake Tahoe today. Old highway 40 ran over Donner Summit.
That was the primary route over the Sierra, and the one along Highway 50 the alternate. Both were officially part of the Lincoln Highway system.
Hate to bust your bubble citizen, 50 crossed Utah following the Pony Express rout below Salt Lake, into Nevada then California, where it passed through Placerville, Folsom, Mills, Perkins into Sacramento it was also known as the Lincoln Highway....Information is available at the Pony Express Museum on Sutter Street, Folsom, California....When I was younger Lincoln Highway posts were still visible along 50. The 40 segment was later.
Very Good history and story . Thanks
This is great!
Such a beautiful road that I drive pretty regularly. I do prefer highway 88 though. A nice loop is 88 to Jackson, 49 up to Placerville and then 50 back to the NV side.
Much history.
This is a wonderful video. Thank you so much to all those involved for producing it.
That was very well done thank you
Most interesting, thank you.
Very nice..........thank you for your efforts!
My dad’s side of the family moved there in 51, mom’s side in the 60s.
I’m going to have to find that Lincoln Hwy memorial marker at Tortilla Flats: eaten there many times and never saw it!
Excellent job 👏 👍
I love History 😊
thank you!
Was alot of hard work 😮
After the fires you can see the original road and some of the turn of the century bridges.
just imagine how many tires were changed during the trip
The only speeding tickets I’ve ever had are all on the road to and from Tahoe literally speed traps every where so messed up ! They have passing lanes if you use them the will give you a speeding ticket
Before the Indian casinos took the gamblers away from State Line ,the casinos were going to bore a all weather tunnel through the mountain.
Traffic was even bad in California back then!
I would have never made it to Tahoe.
Would have stopped in Strawberry and saw the crag....shit. I gotta climb that!
Watch the first transcontinental by car video!
That's why I like western cow boys movies than any movies
I laugh at traffic delays today 😃
that is not the same bridge
This is an excellent little film, but the extremely low resolution makes it really hard to see any details. Any chance that you might still have the project on a computer and can simply re-render it at a higher resolution? I see this post is less than two years old - no one posts 480p in the 2020s. Hopefully it was just an accident that can be fixed. If not, well thanks for the effort. It's a topic that I hold dear...
Back in those days, ALL motorized vehicles were off-road vehicles because there weren't any paved roads!
This is the sauce
This is old days not many people from these people must came in America by the middle of 1900 late 1900 & after September eleven until now free 🧐🤨
These people suffered so much than any migration rafugggies ilgail from every corner of the world
Imagine if today's California government tried to undertake a project, or any project of this magnitude. Look at the $100 billion train we voted for 16 years ago... what a joke. We don't do anything cool anymore.
Sierra. Not Sierras. Ever
Absolutely correct. I often see this error. It is "the grand old Sierra". It is never "the grand old Sierras".
You speak Mexican(Jack Nicholson, Missouri Breaks)? All the names in the Valley were RNd during the depression. Delano is a key example, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I grew up in the Valley '50s, '60s, lots of old timers, arkies, Okies, texicans, lousyanians. The Valley is actually a collosal lake. It will be again wiping out the Cartels and snobs like you.
🟥 People ride on highways and take for granted that it's just there. No idea what it took to build it.