Cuesta Pass or La Cuesta Pass (Spanish for "the slope") is a low mountain pass in

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mission ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

's Central Coast. It crosses the southern

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from t ...

at an altitude of , and connects

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

, roughly to the south, with

Atascadero Atascadero (Spanish for "Mire") is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, about equidistant from Los Angeles and San Francisco on U.S. Route 101. Atascadero is part of the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metropolitan statistical area, which ...

Paso Robles Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...

, and the

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley. The Salinas River (Califo ...

to the north. It is traversed by

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

and the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad, and is better known for the long slope up to the pass from San Luis Obispo, in the canyon of

San Luis Obispo Creek San Luis Obispo Creek is a stream, about long, in San Luis Obispo County, California. It drains a large coastal watershed that includes the city of San Luis Obispo, emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Avila Beach. Geography San Luis Obispo Creek ...

, which is redundantly named the "Cuesta Grade". The railroad line through the pass includes a segment with a 2.2% grade, the steepest point of the coast line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It traverses six tunnels, including one at an altitude of bypassing the summit of the pass.

History

The pass was long used by indigenous people, and lies on the boundary between the historical homelands of the northern Chumash and

Salinan The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition f ...

s. Sources disagree on whether the

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition ( es, Expedición de Portolá) was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European land entry and exploration of the interior of t ...

in 1769–1770 crossed the pass or found it impassible; however, soon afterwards, it was crossed by two expeditions led by

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

in 1774 and 1775–1776. It later became part of El Camino Real connecting the Spanish missions of California. Although

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

traffic used the trail from the 1840s, it remained rough, and passengers were advised to get out and walk in the steepest parts. In 1876 the city of San Luis Obispo funded the construction of an improved and smoother stagecoach road across the pass. The Southbound Coast Starlight at horseshoe curve

The Southbound Coast Starlight at horseshoe curve

The

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

line from San Francisco south through the Salinas Valley reached Santa Margarita, near the top of the pass, in 1889, and a continuation of the line over the pass, connecting to San Luis Obispo, was completed in 1894. The construction of its original seven tunnels included the removal of a record of hand-drilled rock. One of the tunnels caved in, and was bypassed, in 1910. The tunnels were widened and reinforced with concrete in a long piecemeal process from 1940 to 1960. A fire in the summit tunnel in 1987 led to additional relining. In 1996, the Southern Pacific Railroad merged into the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. In 1914 the former route of the road from San Luis Obispo to the pass, on the west side of the canyon, was realigned to the bottom of the canyon, and widened to a full two-lane road. It was repaved in concrete in 1923, and named as part of U.S. Route 101 in 1926. In 1938, the highway was realigned again, to the east side of the canyon, and widened to four lanes; portions of the two older alignments can still be found. Another widening was made in 2004.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{citation , last = Coulter , first = John Wesley , date = July 1931 , doi = 10.2307/140896 , issue = 3 , journal = Economic Geography , jstor = 140896 , page = 308 , title = San Luis Obispo, California , volume = 7 {{citation, url=http://www.gribblenation.org/2019/08/history-of-transportation-in-cuesta.html, title=History of Transportation in Cuesta Pass; El Camino Real, Southern Pacific Railroad and US Route 101, author=Challenger Tom, date=August 24, 2019 {{citation, url=https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article250952734.html, title=Hike along Cuesta Grade reveals hidden secrets of Highway 101 history, first=Steven H., last=Provost, date=May 1, 2021, department=Photos from the Vault, newspaper=The Tribune {{citation, url=https://ridermagazine.com/2015/08/31/a-short-history-of-californias-cuesta-pass-on-u-s-101/, magazine=Rider Magazine, date=August 31, 2015, title=A Short History of California's Cuesta Pass on U.S. 101, first=Clement, last=Salvadori {{citation, url=https://calcoastnews.com/2012/11/salinan-tribal-justice/, title=Salinan tribal justice, first1=José, last1=Freeman, first2=Gregg, last2=Castro, date=November 28, 2012, newspaper=Cal Coast News, access-date=2022-08-05 {{citation, url=https://slorrm.com/QR-5yearwait.html, title=A Five-year Wait for the Train, work=San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum, access-date=2022-08-05 {{citation, url=https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/fallen-flags/southern-pacific-history-remembered/, title=Southern Pacific history remembered, magazine=Classic Trains, date=February 4, 2022, access-date=2022-08-05 Mountain passes of California U.S. Route 101 Santa Lucia Range Landforms of San Luis Obispo County, California Transportation in San Luis Obispo County, California