Lincoln Highway Association - The Traveler: Winter 2000-01


		The Traveler The Newsletter of the Lincoln Highway Association - California Chapter Winter 2000-01

Mohawk-Hobbs Guide and the Lincoln Highway

by Wes Hammond

The section of the Lincoln Highway that was traveled by our chapter on the Boy Scout Marker Day tour is covered in the Mohawk-Hobbs Grade and Surface Guide. There are two things of special interest in this guide.

First, the bottom line in the box at the top reads "A section of the Pacific Highway and the Lincoln Highway." Does anyone have any information about the Pacific Highway? (More discussion of the Pacific Highway at the end of this article.)

The guide also indicates the Lincoln Highway moved to the northern route prior to the Carquinez Bridge being completed in 1927. This can be seen by the fact that travelers had to use the ferry between Vallejo and Rodeo to cross the Carquinez Straights. Note under "Rodeo Ferry" in the guide, it states a "great highway bridge over the Carquinez Strait at this point is under construction." The bridge actually connected Vallejo on the north to Crockett on the south.

Sacramento-San Francisco section of the Mohawk-Hobbs Grade and Surface Guide. From the collection of George Clark. [Click to enlarge]

Wes Hammond: I have photographed two historical bridges near Buellton, Ca. The historical marker states they were part of the "Pacific Coast Highway." I also have a map published by "The American Toll Bridge Company" and it, like the Mohawk-Hobbs Guide, also shows this same section as the Pacific Highway. Is this the same highway as the Pacific Coast Highway? If so why did it take a turn into central California?

James Lin: I found a web page that very briefly describes the Pacific Highway. The web page is at

http://www.owu.edu/~deschul/trails/national/pacific.html

It looks like it is basically BC 99 from Vancouver to the U.S.-Canada border, old U.S. 99 (now I-5 and I-505) from the border to Woodland, Lincoln Highway/old U.S. 40 from Woodland to San Francisco, U.S. 101 from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and old U.S. 101 (now I-5) from Los Angeles to San Diego.