Crescent City Plank and Turnpike Road

The bronze calls it the Pioneer Stage Road; the register's name, the Crescent City Plank and Turnpike Road, is closer to what it was, a company's toll road. Its promoters incorporated in 1854 as the Crescent City and Yreka company, stalled in the Panic of 1855, and when they finished in May 1858 the road ran instead to the gold town of Jacksonville, Oregon, with a toll booth at the Smith River and a stretch that crossed the state line back and forth. Much of its line is now US 199.

What the plaque says

Pioneer Stage Road to Oregon Constructed in 1858, this was the route of the Crescent City Turnpike. Following the present Elk Valley Road to Old Camp Lincoln, it then crossed the ridge, forded Smith River to Low Divide, and continued to Jacksonville, Oregon, by way of various gold camps. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 645 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Del Norte County Historical Society, August 23, 1958.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Camp Lincoln — 1.2 mi
• S.S. Emidio — 4.6 mi
• Brother Jonathan Cemetery — 5.1 mi
• Battery Point Lighthouse — 5.1 mi