Beale's Cut Stagecoach Pass

The San Fernando Mountain had one weak point and men dug at it for decades. By 1863 the notch was ninety feet deep and twenty wide, cut by crews largely made up of Chinese workers, and whoever held the franchise collected a toll from everything that passed. The Newhall Tunnel ended its working life in 1910, and Hollywood took it over — Griffith shot here, Ford shot here repeatedly, and Tom Mix supposedly jumped it in 1923. The Northridge earthquake collapsed most of it.

What the plaque says

[This site was designated California Historical Landmark No. 1006 on May 11, 1992. There are three rock and concrete bases which had displayed four different markers. The markers are now missing. The following marker was never placed:] California Office of Historic Preservation Statement of Significance: Beale's Cut is the only physical and cultural feature of its kind in the entire Los Angeles Basin. At the time of its construction in 1862, the actual creation and maintenance of the Cut was considered a significant technological and physical feat consisting of breaching the former impassable geographic barrier of the San Gabriel and Santa Susana Mountain ranges. General Edward F. Beale is attributed with the construction of a toll road across the mountains. Beale's Cut was also used as a favorite film-making location by pioneer film maker, David Wark Griffith, and others.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Monica Pier — 23 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• Colorado Street Bridge — 24 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 29 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.

More markers nearby

• Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop — 1.4 mi
• The Cascades — 1.5 mi
• Pioneer Oil Refinery — 2.0 mi
• Oak of the Golden Dream — 3.2 mi