Foote's Crossing Road (CA 613) originates in

North Columbia, California North Columbia was a California Gold Rush town on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County, California. Originally known as Columbia, Columbia Hill, or The Hill because of its proximity to Columbia Hill, it started as a gold miners' camp around 1851 ...

and winds through the Tahoe National Forest to connect with the community of

Alleghany, California Alleghany is a small census-designated place in Sierra County, California, United States in the Sierra Nevada. It is situated in the Gold Country and continues to be a significant locale for gold mining. The Sixteen To One Mine has been in operat ...

. It is a Registered Historic Place. The high bridge crossing at the Middle

Yuba River The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba ...

, named Foote's Crossing (

California Point of Historical Interest California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

No. P401), gives the road its name. Alternate names for the road persist, including Tyler Foote Road, Tyler-Foote Road, Tyler Foote Crossing Road or Tyler-Foote Crossing Road due to

Cherokee, California Cherokee is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Butte County, California. It is an area inhabited by Maidu Indians prior to the gold rush, but that takes its name from a band of Cherokee prospectors who perfected a minin ...

, west of North Columbia, once being known as "Tyler".

History

Mary Hallock Foote Mary Hallock Foote (November 9, 1847 – June 25, 1938) was an American author and illustrator. She is best known for her illustrated short stories and novels portraying life in the mining communities of the turn-of-the-century American Old West ...

's husband, the civil and mining engineer

Arthur De Wint Foote Arthur De Wint Foote (1849–1933) was an American civil engineer and mining engineer who impacted the development of the American West with his innovative engineering works and entrepreneurial ventures. In Northern California in the late 1890s, ...

, became manager of Grass Valley's North Star Mine after building its powerhouse in 1895. In 1911, O'Brien, Foote & Associates purchased the Tightner Mine in Alleghany. Foote built the road in 1913 to establish a better route between the two mines.Brower, p. 42 The road was significant during the period of 1913–1924 both as an engineering accomplishment and as an improved transportation route.

Structure

At a cost of $85,000, using manpower and animals, not

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

, it took six months to build the road, a portion of which is a narrow, roughly-graded, single-lane wagon shelf road, while other parts are paved. Wagons wound around bluffs above the canyons below.Brower, p. 43 Italian

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

s built the high stone

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

walls prevalent on the tight curves above the Middle Yuba River. Views of jagged,

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

ridges abound along the way.

Route

The Nevada County portion of the road begins in what is now Nevada County's unincorporated community of North Columbia and passes Columbia Hill. before crossing Grizzly Creek, and then the middle fork of the

. The Tightner Mining Company and Sierra County jointly built the Sierra County portion of the road, which skirts Kanaka Creek and the Lafayette Ridge on the road's southern side, but does cross Blue Ravine and Rapps Ravine. The Sierra County portion of the road is shorter than the older road.

References

External links

Map

Photo
at ''The Union'' {{Sierra County, California Historic trails and roads in California Roads in Nevada County, California Roads in Sierra County, California 1913 establishments in California Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Nevada County, California History of Sierra County, California Tahoe National Forest Yuba River