Does anyone like riding the Cuesta Grade? In any case, it is no longer ‘too steep’ for cars

Recently a truck driver discovered that Old Stage Coach Road was built for – let’s all say it together now – stagecoaches.

GPS maps are bad historians and sometimes bad travel advisors. Paper cards can be your friend.

At least he didn’t have the problem of a 1953 truck driver driving all over town without brakes.

So why is the interstate on one side of the canyon and Old Stage Coach Road on the other? Road rage was a contributing factor in the current Cuesta grade alignment.

At the turn of the 20th century, travel made the transition from horses to chugging internal combustion engines.

A July 10, 1908, Tribune story described the dangers when horses and cars met: “Accidents caused by horses afraid of cars are becoming so frequent here of late that they pose a serious threat to our future existence.”

In that story, a pastor and a friend were between Templeton and Paso Robles in a horse-drawn wagon when a passing car startled their horse, which jumped and turned, throwing them from the wagon.

An Indiana driver immediately stopped “and rushed to render aid.”

One of the men had to be taken to hospital. The car driver left $50 to cover medical expenses and $10 to repair the buggy.

This problem was amplified on the narrow Cuesta wagon road.

When it was built by San Luis Obispo County in 1876, it was state-of-the-art for stagecoaches, wagons and carriages.

The Board of Supervisors formally accepted the road work on November 13, 1876, as reported in the weekly Tribune five days later.

The contractors were called Harris, Lemon & Wing, but most of the shoveling work was done by a Chinese crew, provided by contractor Ah Louis.

The supervisors then directed the road commission to employ a man to maintain the road “at a salary not to exceed $50 per month.”

On January 7, 1902, maintenance work was carried out by prisoners from the prison. The Board of Supervisors considered ordering striped clothing for the chain gang.

But what had been a state-of-the-art road in 1876 failed to meet the needs of the 20th century thirty years later.

According to the Tribune of July 14, 1908, the Board of Supervisors decided to reopen an old stock road on the other side of the gorge as a highway.

Horse teams avoided the city because of the danger of cars.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune of March 5, 1909 talked about the dangers of mixing horses and cars on a narrow road with no guardrails and steep grades.

“Several deaths have occurred on the Cuesta Grade wagon road in recent years due to teams being spooked by cars,” the article said. “One of these accidents was caused by a team’s fear of a car driven by San Francisco banker Tilden. It resulted in one death.”

The county’s early attempt at building an interstate highway didn’t exactly get great reviews.

The then editor of the Tribune, Benjamin Brooks, was annoyed by the ingratitude of the gas drivers. He was a horse and buggy or railroad man.

But soon, a scream as loud as a wheezing Model T engine would prompt state and federal governments to help build roads, and the highway over Cuesta Grade would no longer be a state highway.

The Morning Tribune published this article on July 26, 1910, correcting typographical errors and adding paragraph breaks for readability.

AUTO ROAD CREATES COMMENTS

Machine Owners Got What They Wanted: Will Supervisors Change Ranks?

Motorists coming to this town have complained loudly about the road made for cars over the Cuesta Grade, and some have taken a different route on their return rather than attempt the steep grade when traveling north from this town.

Others who left here north have been forced to take the wagon road to get over the mountain.

As a result, complaints have spread across the state and now the Santa Cruz Sentinel has some unkind things to say about the road built specifically for motorists.

Before the road was rebuilt in times gone by, it was used for regular traffic, with the stages passing over it, in addition to the farmers traveling between this town and the other side of the mountain. It was not considered too steep at the time and many a heavy load has been dragged over it.

Things seem to be different with the car. The majority of high power fine machines cannot go above the level that is made for them.

When the subject was first raised by the Supervisors, car owners were called and were present when they were questioned by the board about the grade their machines could reach before taking action.

For this reason, drivers are responsible for the road being so steep.

Surveyor Parsons was called and he advocated widening the current road used for regular vehicle traffic, but the car owners were determined to build a separate road and the board decided to grant their demands.

Another committee appeared at a subsequent meeting of the board and at that time the committee representing the car owners informed the supervisors that a slope of 17 percent for the half mile to the top of the hill from this side would be perfectly satisfactory to them , since they would too. can come across without any problems.

They said there was a crying demand for directions.

In September, 1908, a contract was made by the Supervisors to build the road at a cost of $7,319.60, and some time afterward it was completed and car owners began to travel over it, and at the same time began to complain that it was not so. too steep.

Considering that the motorists got exactly what they asked for, they can be pleased, and now the majority of them use the wagon road.

The taxpayers whose money paid for the new road do not use the road because they are not car owners, but they do object to machine owners using the car road.

Due to the extra costs, the government would probably have been more successful in improving the regular road, but that is no longer the case, although there is hardly one in forty an automatic that tries to drive on the highway.

About the interview with motorists, the Santa Cruz Sentinel says:

Cars returning from trips to the coast are reporting a dangerous situation on the road between Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo at what is known as the San Luis Grade, which should get the attention of authorities in that province.

At the top of the slope going down from this side the road splits and on the left there is a sign that says ‘Automobile Road’ and a hand points to that side.

The motorists claim that this road is so steep and rough that it is extremely dangerous to go down it with a machine, as the brakes do not work unless they are in the very best condition. If anything goes wrong at all, it is almost certain that a serious wreck could result. Ed Gerow and Pierce Haas, the latter with several ladies in his car, narrowly escaped a major accident while driving along this stretch of road.

They had to run into mud puddles and the bank to check the machines, and Haas had to wait and fix his brakes before he could get to the bottom of the slope.

WC MacFarlane, who recently made the journey to the coast, was warned of this place and took the right road. He reports that the latter is in good condition and should be used by cars.

He says putting up the left-hand road sign is a danger to all travelers.

Since San Luis Obispo rakes in a lot of money from tourists from the valley who pass by this road, the least they should do is post signs along the roads so they are not misleading.