Our morning began back at the Dangberg Ranch to hear author David Woodruff share his Tales Along El Camino Sierra.
“Iconic Highway 395, originally known as El Camino Sierra, is a magical ribbon of blacktop that has been taking people on a sentimental journey for over 100 years,” Woodruff said.Since this is our favorite road, of all time, we had to learn this history lesson.El Camino Sierra is the direct result of the tireless efforts of the Inyo Good Road Club to connect the county’s first “real” highway with the rest of the world. Establishing the El Camino Sierra was something an enterprising group of local residents saw as not just a necessity but a probable economic boon to a burgeoning tourist economy and thriving agricultural industry.The same aesthetic wonders that currently bring thousands of visitors to the Eastern Sierra each year had begun enticing Southern California residents around the turn of the 20th century, but to get here meant a brutal, arduous journey. It was also costly and far more time-consuming than it needed to be for farmers, miners, and tradesmen to transport their goods to the blossoming Southern California markets via a tattered wagon trail.As it happened, a nationwide campaign to develop paved roads for the benefit of rural communities – aptly named the Good Roads Movement – had been underway since the 1870s. While originally championed by bicyclists, the movement shifted its focus to automobiles as motorized transportation skyrocketed in popularity. “Car Culture” was first embraced in California in 1895, with automobiles replacing horses, wagons, and even trains.By the time those aforementioned, enterprising Inyo County residents began working in earnest to develop a proper route in and out of the county, approximately 7,000 automobiles were registered across the state. With the Good Roads Movement having fully arrived in California, local residents had the momentum and support they needed in their push for a paved Inyo County highway, and the 62-member Inyo Good Road Club was born on April 20, 1910.The group’s lobbying and labor kicked into full gear. The club invited Governor James Gillett to join and then got to work – with picks and shovels – to improve the dirt highway between Big Pine and Bishop. So impressed was Gov. Gillett that he accepted the membership, writing to the group: “I have watched with great interest, the action taken by the people in one county for good roads and I want to compliment them for doing so. The question of good roads is one of the most important that our state now has before it…”A major milestone in the club’s efforts came just months later on August 31, 1910 when Gov. Gillett, accompanied by an all-star entourage, officially dedicated the highway in Inyo County as “El Camino Sierra” – a name coined by Inyo County Good Road Club Secretary W.G. Scott to give the group’s campaign pizzazz, even a sense of romanticism.
The club also helped promote motorized travel on sister “El Camino” routes that would form a loop from Southern to Northern California, crossing the Sierra Nevada range in the process: El Camino Real (San Francisco to San Diego); El Camino Sierra (a southern section from Los Angeles to Inyo County, the original middle section through Inyo County, and a northern section stretching to Lake Tahoe); and El Camino Capital (Lake Tahoe to San Francisco). This loop became known as The Pasear Highway with a hundred byways.The Pasear Highway segment, in Ventura, was made entirely of wood. Wild.David took us on a visual drive along the Eastern Sierra, introducing us to the little towns and historical buildings that once lined the path.In the 20s, Burton Frasher began a business creating postcards of this scenic route, helping to publicize its beauty and uniqueness. His images document beautifully, what once was.I was intrigued by Casa Diablo, a distinctive landmark and gathering place used by many early inhabitants of the area for bathing, food preparation, ceremonial and medicinal purposes. It was named "House of the Devil", by early explorers, for its boiling hot springs, plumes of rising steam and spectacular geysers.
From 1878 to 1881, it was a stage stop along the Bishop Creek-Bodie state route, a vital relay station for supplies, mail and equipment en route to the mining camps of Mammoth City, Mill City, Mineral Park and Pine City. Unfortunately, when those mines failed, Casa Diablo faltered.
After its tenure as a stage stop, Casa Diablo endured a succession of business ventures (trading post, seasonal resort, tavern, gas station, grocery store, hardware store and lumber yard) until 1983, when it was transformed into a geothermal electric generating plant.
Although today remnants are all that remain of Casa Diablo, it made a lasting contribution to the development of Mono County and the Eastern Sierra.
We even met Father John Crowley, a Catholic priest who served in the desert area in the 1920s and '30s. Fr. Crowley has been cited in the book, Water and Power, by William L. Kahrl, as one of the most influential advocates of tourism in an area desperately in need of economic development during the Depression years.
For years, El Camino Sierra was also referred to as the Three Flags Highway (before officially becoming U.S. 395). The name represented the fact that the highway began at the Mexico border, traversed America and ended at the Canadian border (three countries, three flags).El Camino Sierra did indeed prove beneficial not just to Inyo County residents, but countless visitors – all of whom were unwittingly taking a step back in time as they enjoyed the convenience of a modern-era road. El Camino Sierra, after all, traces the same path forged by the Native Americans, and followed by gold-seekers, stage coaches, aqueduct wagons, freighters, mule skinners, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and early tourists in successive generations.
Armed with David's Tales Along El Camino Sierra, I am eager to head south and explore The Good Road. With all I learned today, I love 395 even more.
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