The Tejon Pass , previously known as ''Portezuelo de Cortes'', ''Portezuela de Castac'', and Fort Tejon Pass is a
mountain pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
between the southwest end of the
Tehachapi Mountains
The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwe ...
and northeastern
San Emigdio Mountains
The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the southe ...
, linking
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
north to the
Central Valley. Both the pass and the grade north of it to the Central Valley are commonly referred to as "
the Grapevine". It has been traversed by major roads such as the
El Camino Viejo, the
Stockton – Los Angeles Road Stockton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Stockton, New South Wales
* Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region
New Zealand
*Stockton, New Zealand
United Kingdom
*Stockton, Cheshire
*Stockton, Norfolk
*Stockton, Chirbu ...
, the
Ridge Route,
U.S. Route 99, and now
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...
.
Geography
Tejon Pass marks the intersection of the two largest seismic faults in California; the
San Andreas and
Garlock fault systems.
The highest point of the pass is near the northwesternmost corner of
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
, north of
Gorman. Its elevation is along Peace Valley Road and Gorman Post Road, northwest of downtown
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and south of
Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of the ...
.
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...
, which connects Southern California with the
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...
and the north, reaches its highest point in the state, , near the summit of Tejon Pass.
The pass has a gradual rise from its southern approach of at
Santa Clarita, but a precipitous descent through Grapevine Canyon toward the San Joaquin Valley on the north, where it ends at
Grapevine
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
at .
On its northward slope lies
Fort Tejon State Historic Park, the site of a former U.S. Army post, first garrisoned on August 10, 1854.
The pass actually crosses 3 mountain ranges. The stretch from Lake Hughes Road to State Route 138 crosses the
Sierra Pelona Mountains
The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains and originally known as the Liebre Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, t ...
, and goes through the
Angeles National Forest
The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in Southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabri ...
and the section from SR 138 to Grapevine crosses the Tehachapis and the San Emigdios.
History
Pre-Columbian
Historians speak of the area around Gorman, California (just south of the crest of the Tejon Pass), as "one of the oldest continuously used roadside rest stops in California." This is because
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
indigenous Californians "would have stopped there when it was the
Tataviam
The Tataviam (Kitanemuk: ''people on the south slope'') are a Native American group in Southern California. The ancestral land of the Tataviam people includes northwest present-day Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County, primarily in ...
village of Kulshra'jek", a trading crossroads for hundreds to thousands of years.
[''Santa Clarita Valley in Pictures'']
; Kane, Bonnie Ketterl; "A History of Gorman"; March 2002.
18th century
In 1772, Lieutenant
Pedro Fages
Pedro Fages (1734–1794) was a Spanish soldier, explorer, and first lieutenant governor of the province of the Californias under Gaspar de Portolá. Fages claimed the governorship after Portolá's departure, acting as governor in opposition ...
crossed the pass in pursuit of military deserters, and named it ''Portezuelo de Cortes'' (Cortes Pass). Fages also named the canyon beyond the pass leading down into the Tulare Basin, ''Cañada de las Uvas'' (Canyon of the Grapes) for all the wild California grape vines (''
Vitis californica
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
'')
growing in it.
[''The Ridge Route: the Long Road to Preservation''](_blank)
; Scott, Harrison Irving; "The California Historian," www.californiahistorian.com website, accessed November 14, 2011; Quote: "The first white man through this area was a Spanish officer and acting governor of Alta California in 1772, Don Pedro Fages. He noticed an abundance of Cimarron grapes growing wild in the area north of what is now Gorman. He named the place ''Canada de Las Uvas'', or Grapevine Canyon. Grapevines were so prevalent the wagoneers and soldiers had to hack their way through. Wild grapes still grow on the sides of I-5 in the pass."
In the late 18th century,
El Camino Viejo, a road between
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and the
Mission Santa Clara de Asis began to be used for travel north and south along the western San Joaquin Valley. It crossed over the pass and turned westward up
Cuddy Canyon, (avoiding the Cañada de las Uvas) and then descended
San Emigdio Creek into the San Joaquin Valley.
Old Tejon Pass
In 1806, Father Jose Maria Zalvidea, diarist for the expedition of First Lieutenant Francisco Ruiz into the San Joaquin Valley, named the canyon, creek, and pass which had been discovered in 1776 by the explorer priest, Father
Francisco Garces
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Meaning of the name Francisco
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...
. He recorded the name as "Tejon" (badger)—after a dead
badger
Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...
found at the canyon's mouth. This original Tejon Pass (later called "Old Tejon Pass"), is situated 15 miles to the northeast of what is now Tejon Pass. The old pass goes through the Tehachapi Mountains, at the top of the divide between
Tejon Creek Canyon in the San Joaquin Valley and
Cottonwood Creek Canyon in
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is a valley primarily located in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, Kern County, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated ...
.
Before 1854, the main route of travel into the San Joaquin Valley had come directly north from
Elizabeth Lake (originally ''Laguna de Chico Lopez'') across the Antelope Valley, over this original Tejon Pass, and down into Tejon Canyon, and then proceeded west along Tejon Creek—into the lands of the
Rancho Tejon, that had been granted in 1843. This route to the pass diverted from the El Camino Viejo at Elisabeth Lake, and from 1849 to before 1854 it was the main road connecting the southern part of the state to the trail along the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley to the goldfields to the north.
[''Where Rolls the Kern: a History of Kern County, California''](_blank)
; Herbert G. Comfort; Enterprise Press; Moorpark, Ca; 1934; (#255); Chapter IV, "The Founding of Fort Tejon; pp. 21-52. "Before 1854, the main line of travel into the valley was straight North from Elizabeth Lake across Antelope Valley, entering the San Joaquin by way of the original Tejon Pass, at the head of Tejon Creek, above the present headquarters of Tejon Rancho. The establishment of the Fort Diverted this general travel to the West almost 29 miles to the present Tejon Pass, then known as Fort Tejon Pass. As the Tejon Creek Pass was abandoned, the name Tejon Pass came to be used solely for
the pass leading into Canada de las Uvas."
19th century
Castaic Pass
In 1843,
Rancho Castac was established in La Cañada de las Uvas. During that same year, the first grant of
Rancho Los Alamos y Agua Caliente included the pass, which was now called ''Portezuela de Castac'' (Castaic Pass).
Fort Tejon Pass
After the establishment of
Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the San Emigdio Mountains and ...
and the
Stockton - Los Angeles Road, the Portezuela de Castac began to be called the "Fort Tejon Pass." The rather poor wagon route of the old Tejon Pass route was generally abandoned, and eventually the Fort Tejon Pass took the shortened name it has today.
In 1858 the
Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...
stagecoach line ran through the pass on the Stockton - Los Angeles Road. The Butterfield Overland was discontinued in 1861 but was replaced by the Telegraph Stage Line, which stopped at almost all the former stations, including Gorman's, where the horses were changed. Six of them were used for the pull up from Bakersfield to Gorman's.
[Frank F. Latta, ''Saga of Rancho El Tejón,'' Santa Cruz, California: Bear State Books, 1976.]
20th century

The
Ridge Route was the first automobile highway linking the
Central Valley with the
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
. It was laid in a sinuous fashion through the ridges and gullies of the
Sierra Pelona Mountains
The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains and originally known as the Liebre Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, t ...
to the Tejon Pass around 1910. The northern portion of this highway, which became a part of
U.S. Route 99, was known as "
The Grapevine." The Ridge Route was replaced by a three-lane alternate highway in 1933, a four-lane expressway in 1947, and later by the eight-lane Interstate 5 Freeway in 1970.
A section of the highway known as "Dead Man's Curve," was the "scene of many accidents on the narrow old road,"
[ and in July 1932 it took the life of Jack Klieby, 33, who deliberately drove his truck, transporting gasoline, off the roadway to avoid hitting oncoming automobiles. He died when the truck burst into flames.
The curve ''(in adjoining photo)'' was eliminated in 1935 with improvements completed from Fort Tejon to Grapevine station. That work "supersedes the worst portions of the old twenty-foot Grapevine Canyon Highway, shortens the length of the road by approximately eight-tenths of a mile and eliminates 2,937 degrees of curvature or the equivalent of eight complete circles," according to R.M. Gillis of Fresno, District 6 highways engineer.]
Wildlife
Bears roam the rugged area.
Weather impacts
The pass is sunny in summer, spring, and autumn, but is subject to severe weather and closure to traffic in winter. Car engines frequently overheat when ascending the long grade, especially in hot weather. The 40-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Grapevine and Castaic is sometimes closed by the California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is the principal state police agency for the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary jurisdiction, including patrol and Criminal investigation, investigations, over all California Controlled-access highw ...
, generally because of the icy conditions combined with the steep grade of the pass, and the high traffic during the winter holidays. The Highway Patrol is also concerned, especially with the number of big-rigs that pass through, that one accident in the snowy conditions might force traffic to slow down or come to a complete stop, leaving hundreds of vehicles stalled at once. Whenever there is such a closure, traffic must either wait for it to reopen, or endure a multi-hour detour.[''Grapevine Closures: It's for Our Own Good'']
Jorge Barrientos; "The Bakersfield Californian
''The Bakersfield Californian'' is a daily newspaper serving Bakersfield, California and surrounding Kern County in the state's San Joaquin Valley.
History
''The Bakersfield Californian'' is the direct descendant of Kern County's first newspap ...
," December 20, 2008.
Communities
This historic gap has given its name to the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass
The Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, or the Frazier Mountain Communities, in the San Emigdio Mountains is a region of California that includes Lebec, California, Lebec, Frazier Park, California, Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, California ...
. Beginning on the south at Santa Clarita, it passes through Castaic, Gorman, and Lebec, to end at Grapevine
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
. It passes by the Tejon Ranch
Tejon Ranch Company (), based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. The company was incorporated in 1936 to organize the ownership of a large tract of land that was consolidated from four Mexican land gr ...
, where two large planned communities
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
—Centennial
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include:
* Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
and Tejon Mountain Village—are proposed.
See also
* Tehachapi Pass
Tehachapi Pass ( Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") is a mountain pass crossing the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, California. Traditionally, the pass marks the northeast end of the Tehachapis and the south end of the Sierra N ...
, used by the rail lines connecting southern and northern California.
References
External links
history-map.com
See ''Map and profile of the Tejon Pass: from explorations and surveys / made under the direction of the Hon. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War by Lieut. R. S. Williamson, Topl. Engrs. assisted by Lieut. J. G. Parke, Topl. Engrs. and Mr. Isaac Williams Smith, Civ. Engr., 1853''.
{{Authority control
Mountain passes of California
Interstate 5
San Emigdio Mountains
Tehachapi Mountains
Landforms of Los Angeles County, California
Landforms of Kern County, California
Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass
Transportation in Kern County, California
Transportation in Los Angeles County, California
Butterfield Overland Mail in California