Foote's Crossing Road facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Foote's Crossing Road
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 Location in California
Location in the United States
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| Built | 1913 |
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| NRHP reference No. | 81000180 |
| Added to NRHP | January 29, 1981 |
Foote's Crossing Road (also known as CA 613) is a special road in California. It starts in a place called North Columbia, California and winds through the beautiful Tahoe National Forest. The road connects to the small community of Alleghany, California. It's so important that it is listed as a Registered Historic Place.
The road gets its name from a high bridge over the Middle Yuba River. This bridge is called Foote's Crossing. It is also a California Point of Historical Interest (No. P401). You might hear people call this road by other names too, like Tyler Foote Road or Tyler-Foote Road. This is because a town nearby, Cherokee, California, used to be known as "Tyler."
Why Was the Road Built?
The story of Foote's Crossing Road begins with an engineer named Arthur De Wint Foote. He was married to Mary Hallock Foote. In 1895, Arthur Foote became the manager of the North Star Mine in Grass Valley, California. He had helped build its powerhouse.
Later, in 1911, Arthur Foote and his partners bought another mine. This new mine was called the Tightner Mine and it was located in Alleghany. To make it easier to travel between the two mines, Foote decided to build a new road. He built Foote's Crossing Road in 1913. This road was very important from 1913 to 1924. It was a great engineering success and made travel much better.
How Was the Road Built?
Building Foote's Crossing Road was a huge job. It cost about $85,000, which was a lot of money back then! It took six months to build. Imagine, they used only people and animals, not big machines, to do the work.
Part of the road is a narrow, rough, single-lane path for wagons. Other parts are paved. Wagons had to carefully go around steep cliffs that were 500 feet (150 m) high above the canyons. Italian stonemasons were skilled builders. They built the tall stone walls that you can still see on the sharp turns above the Middle Yuba River. As you travel along the road, you can see amazing views of jagged granite ridges.
Where Does the Road Go?
The road starts in Nevada County, California. It begins in the community of North Columbia. It then passes by Columbia Hill. After that, it crosses Grizzly Creek and then the middle fork of the Yuba River.
The Tightner Mining Company and Sierra County worked together to build the part of the road in Sierra County. This section of the road goes along Kanaka Creek and Lafayette Ridge. It also crosses Blue Ravine and Rapps Ravine. This part of the road in Sierra County is 13 miles (21 km) shorter than the older roads used before.
