Switchback trail - 1902

[hemingray]

Wasting time today at The National Map, I found this 1902 topo showing the beloved Switchback Trail. Note no highway at all in this, the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road was still in use at this time.



And, some interesting stuff in this 1891 edition. First, English Lake is depicted (long gone). And McMurray Lake is named McKenzie Lake here. South Fork of Middle Yuba River is now named East Fork Creek.

Note that Meadow Lake Road is definitely there - consider how old it is when you ride it next time!

[Ken]

That's amazing...Where the F did English Lake go??

I'm going to post this on Pirate.

[hemingray]

The dam was breached and blew apart I believe - it was a gold-rush era dam anyway. Of course, Jackson Meadows reservoir takes care of the impound in that area. As a matter of fact, it would be a short walk up from the end of the lake to the dam site.

Note also that it's now Carr and Feeley Lakes, Carr is missing on this rendition.

What amazes me is that between Foresthill/Soda, FR-19, and the Bowman Lake area - I've been occupied for about 5 years now, sniffing this history out. There is so much to explore and investigate! I'll never get it all done...

[Ken]

Great stuff...

I'd like to check that one out...

[camokids]

Awesome

[hemingray]

By 1902, McMurray Lake had it's name and English Lake was gone.

[hemingray]

Here's my planned hike to the south part of the English Dam:



and why I want to hike over - look at the stacked rock!

[Ken]

I wanna go with you Dave.

Friday? I have the day off.


BTW...I looked at the site Nationalmap.gov...the link you put there...and when I google it, doesn't work. What's wrong? Me or them?

[camokids]

@hemingray
looking at google earth your "english dam II" site looks really cool, it seems there might be an outlet at the base that is still intact!

[hemingray]

Yeah, I saw that too - can't wait to see that!

Feast your squinties on these pictures: http://content.cdlib.org/search?facet=t ... &x=24&y=13
Go to each picture, and click on it to enlarge.

Ken - wish I could this week, but I can't!

[Ken]

Pepe found this old map...1955 of the Fordyce trail. You can see the original route, never crossed the 2nd or 3rd river crossing. A rock slide closed it...so it was easier to re-route.

[hemingray]

I love doing the comparisons, that's a good one!

[hemingray]

Ken - were you ever able to get to http://nationalmap.gov? It's been working fine for me.

[Ken]

Yes..it's now working fine.

Something...either a DNS server or a server jumping to theirs was down.

[Ken]

After looking at Google Earth....it's amazing that 112+ years later....you can still see where the lake was......it still hasn't grown over the basic shape of the lake...and you see both sides of the dam.