Historical Marker · No. 422
Sonora Pass - Mono Road
Sugar Pine, Tuolumne County · California
Erected by the California Centennials Commission, with the base provided by the Sonora Lions Club, 1949
A road is usually measured in miles. This one is measured in weeks: once it was finished in 1864, the bronze says, a six horse team took three weeks for the round trip from Sonora to Bridgeport. Before that there was a toll gate, a fine hotel and stables near this spot in the 1850s, and a stretch built by the Tuolumne County Water Company in 1852. The survey east into Mono County came in 1860. Twelve years from that first stretch to a road you could drive.
What the plaque says
MARK TWAIN BRET HARTE TRAIL SONORA PASS - MONO ROAD TOLL GATE, FINE HOTEL AND STABLES NEAR THIS SPOT 1850'S. JEDEDIAH SMITH REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN FIRST WHITE MAN TO CROSS OVER OR NEAR SONORA PASS, 1827. PORTION OF ROAD BUILT BY TUOLUMNE COUNTY WATER CO., 1852. SURVEYED TO BRIDGEPORT, MONO COUNTY, 1860. COMPLETED 1864 WHEN SIX HORSE TEAM TOOK THREE WEEKS FOR ROUND TRIP, SONORA TO BRIDGEPORT. STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO. 422 TABLET PLACED BY CALIFORNIA CENTENNIALS COMMISSION. BASE PROVIDED BY SONORA LIONS CLUB DEDICATED DECEMBER 11, 1949
Where it stands
38.06113, -120.19952 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Columbia State Historic Park — 11 miThe Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.
More markers nearby
- Cherokee — 6.2 mi
- Soulsbyville — 6.3 mi
- Tuolumne — 7.0 mi
- Sawmill Flat — 10 mi