Paul Prado
Highland Community News
Last week, local history buff Mark Landis provided a history of the Santa Fe and Salt Lake Monument at the Interstate 15 north and Highway 138 junction at Wagon Train Road.
The small stretch of asphalt road that runs along the hillside past McDonald’s has a history unto itself.
“This piece of road is now called Wagon Train Road,” Landis said. “Prior to being Route 66, it was called National Old Trails Road. National Old Trails Road was the very first ocean-to-ocean highway.”
It was opened in 1914.
“It was barely a two-lane dirt road which went across the country from east to west,” said Landis.
There were sections that were paved as it went through cities and towns, but for the most part the National Old Trails Road was a dirt road through the rural sections.
In 1926, the National Old Trails Road became the famous Route 66, which ran from Santa Monica through Chicago, according to Landis.
“Route 66 came through the Cajon Pass by the Interstate 15 north and Highway 138 junction and passed through to San Bernardino,” said Landis.
“It was a major thoroughfare, and a lot of the businesses that grew up in San Bernardino were there to support travel on Route 66, as people traveled through to the west coast,” said Landis.
At a present-day Pacific Crest Trail trailhead, remnants of the National Old Trails Road steel truss bridge rest on both sides of a narrow ravine, called Crowder Creek.
The 12-foot high concrete abutments stand as a reminder of the rugged history of San Bernardino’s original highway system.
Landis believes that the steel truss bridge was used until the 1930s.
“The road that wound around the hill was only narrow enough for one car to travel,” said Landis. “There were only a couple of areas on the road were vehicles could pull over and pass each other.
“The road swung around the bend by the, now, Pacific Crest Trail sign and traversed the land down to San Bernardino.”
The National Old Trails Road went north from the Pacific Crest Trail sign through Crowder Canyon and meandered toward the upper toll house, according to Landis.
“You can see how narrow the road used to be,” said Landis, as he stood on the Pacific Crest Trail. “The folks that traveled it, pretty much, had to stay on the road. They couldn’t bypass the toll house.”
Landis is passionate about the history of the area.
Next week, we will learn how all of this is connected to the famous short-lived Camp Cajon.
To see the concrete remnants of the steel truss bridge of the National Old Trails road, you can go to the Pacific Crest Trail trailhead at 3396, 2800 Wagon Train Road, in Phelan.
