Mark Muckenfuss of the Inland Press-Enterprise writes a feature about Cajon Pass expert John Hockaday, who has researched the Southern California trail for decades and recently wrote a book, “Trails and Tales of the Cajon Pass,” about it.
Cajon Pass was a predecessor of Route 66 and, later, Interstate 15.
He and his late wife, Sandy, dug through collections as far away as UC Berkeley, gathering copies of documents and historical photographs. He gathered material from swap meets, garage sales and donations from friends. He took his own photographs, including a series of aerial views, some of which reveal not only the modern Interstate 15, but also its predecessors from Route 66 to the first wagon road. […]
Standing on the shoulder of the road in a section of old Route 66 known as Blue Cut, Hockaday points to a line of trees on the east side of the road. The trees follow the original bed of Cajon Creek. The early paved wagon road ran between the trees and the steep hillside behind them.
Highway engineers for Route 66 decided that rather than build two bridges to cross the creek in this area – there wasn’t enough room to simply widen the existing road – they would reroute the creek itself.
Half a mile north, Hockaday points out the erosion that has revealed layers of asphalt. The lower layer is the 1916 road, the upper layer the 1931 widening project.
The article also contains fascinating nuggets about the old pioneer and Indian trails that snaked through the mountains. A local historian said that Hockaday found previously unknown documents and information.
The article also contains a slide show and a short video.