Although there’s plenty of interesting history regarding the Cajon Pass itself, I couldn’t find too much information about gold mining in the Cajon Pass. I know people find gold there and some have found little nuggets - I’ve found gold myself there albeit fines and some flakes, but it doesn’t appear to be as rich as other strikes in Southern California. My Christian cop friend who sold me my dredge and drywasher years ago told me he got his first nugget dredging here some years back! You can find color here, you just need to sample a little more to find it! You can see my pages on ‘Lytle Creek’ to learn more about the surrounding area.

 

THE TOLL ROAD THROUGH CAJON PASS

 

The economy of the desert community in pioneer days was, and still is for that matter, tied inextricably to the road through Cajon Pass. Practically everyone used this route to travel back and forth between the desert and the inland valleys or the coast. The miners and ranchers, as well as the immigrants and freighters, utilized the pass, and the supplies and services provided to the desert dwellers by those "down below" came through the same corridor. In 1861 John Brown significantly improved a pack trail through Cajon Pass and charged toll for its use.

 

During the early 1870s the toll road, or "turnpike" as many called it, was kept in poor condition in the opinion of many of the teamsters, desert residents and others who regularly used the road. In the spring of 1875 Captain Lane and his friend, George Blake, determined to take action to correct the problem and ran an advertisement in the March 29th issue of the San Bernardino Weekly Argus:

 

NOTICE THE UNDERSIGNED gives notice that in consequence of the bad condition of the Cajon Toll Road, that unless the road is put in thorough repair by the 1st. day of May, the citizens living between the Point of Rocks and Lane's Crossing, they will decline to pay toll after the above date.

 

The deadline lapsed, and true to his word, Lane circumvented the tollhouse gate on several occasions. In the summer of 1875 John J. Driggers, who had leased the road from John Brown, was compelled to sue Lane in San Bernardino District Court in order to get him to cease the activity.

 

Brown participated in the case of Driggers v Lane on behalf of Driggers, and thus two well-known and respected pioneers became pitted against each other. The case soon developed in complexity, extending far beyond the original issue of maintenance. Before it ended, even Brown's authority to charge toll was brought into question.

 

SANFORD'S ROAD THROUGH CAJON PASS

 

The toll road was an adaptation of the old Spanish Trail, which, prior to Brown's improvement, was suitable only for pack trains, although wagons could be taken through with extreme difficulty. Sydney Waite and Sheldon Stoddard used the road on their trip into California in 1849, and their wagons had to be unloaded and actually dismantled in order to traverse the steep and narrow, boulder-strewn canyons characterizing the east Cajon route.

The following year, freighters Phineas Banning and W. T. B. Sanford constructed a much better wagon road through the west Cajon valley. The route was not nearly as rough as the crossing on the old Spanish Trail five or six miles to the east, but it lengthened the travel by several miles and it was described as being excessively steep at the summit.

 

In 1855 the west Cajon route was further improved by Sanford, who constructed a new summit crossing about one and one-half miles west of his original road. The grades of this road were stated to be "only 30%," although the last 150 yards were acknowledged to be "precipitous." In the case of one caravan of fifteen wagons, it was reported that the usual unloading and reloading of the freight was avoided only by hitching 32 mules, in turn, to each wagon.