[Image] ---------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] HOMEPAGE | CLASSIFIEDS | CALENDAR | ABOUT OJAI | ABOUT US | ARCHIVES -------------------------------------------------- Remembering When Road to the Cuyama Valley was constructed early in century by David Mason "They say the Cuyama Valley contains over 600 square miles, the greater part of which is of the best quality farming land. The settlers of this fertile tract of land are earnest in their demands for a good road to Ventura. Practical contractors say the work can be done for $15,000, of which $4,000 has been subscribed as a donation." - Ventura Free Press August 21, 1890 The early settlers of the Cuyama Valley were extremely vocal about the need for a road connecting their valley to the town of Ventura and the seashore. Many meetings were held, plans were drawn and surveys by the state of California were done. The Cuyama Valley residents did not enjoy [Image] making a week's journey to get to the county seat in Ventura, sometimes just to pay their taxes. The citizens of the inland valley dreamed of a road to the coast. After the turn of the century, the papers began to write about the prospects: "Along its scenic reaches will be many beautiful resting places, where one will pause, while thousands of cars will be carrying millions of people from the south to see the wonders of the mountains and streams, and those traveling from the hot interior valley to seek the cool sea breezes of the beach." Not much transpired over the next few years; the plans for the road and the surveys disappeared, lost forever. The farmers continued to tend to their crops and market them as best they could. It would take a new and important discovery before the road would be actually built. The major discovery of "black gold," oil, would once more bring the need for a direct highway to the Ventura coast into the forefront of the news. In 1925, a program was developed to organize a promotion for construction of the highway to the town of Maricopa and the surrounding Cuyama Valley. The state of California organized a joint highway district on Oct. 28, 1926, between Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The road to be built by this district would begin at the north line of Santa Barbara County in the Cuyama Valley, about 20 miles from the town of Maricopa, and run south through Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to a point between Ventura and Ojai. Over the next few years, many men and a considerable amount of equipment would be used to tackle the construction of this seemingly impossible task. By 1932, "The first eight miles of road had been completed, using 200 men and no horses," reported the local newspaper, The Ojai. The road construction was not without a lot of problems. In one instance, they met with twin pinnacles of rock in Wheeler Gorge. It was necessary to build a bridge out to the first pillar of rock, tunnel through it, bridge over the river to the second pinnacle, which was towering up from the gorge about 100 feet into the air, tunnel through the second pinnacle and, lastly, bridge from the second tunnel to the solid earth beyond. Now almost 70 years later, these two approach bridges are being replaced. [Image] In places, the roadway seemed to have been cut into the mountainsides, as it wound its way up and up, circling around the steep incline; at some of the highest points, this is not the truth of the matter. The road was actually constructed on a built-up shoulder which was filled against the hillside. At one place near the waterfall, a 150-foot-deep fill was made and 30,000 yards of earth were scooped off surrounding hills to use for the fill. In her thesis for a master's degree from the University of Southern California, Elizabeth Chase wrote in June 1933, "The road is of great importance to the Ojai community for it will connect the Ojai with the great interior valley of California and will make the Ojai the main thoroughfare for traffic from the San Joaquin Valley to the tide-water." The highway was finally completed in October 1933, two months ahead of schedule. County Supervisor Tom Clark was quoted in the local paper saying, "He never has had to deal with a more agreeable or more efficient road builder than Roy Butterfield, who ran the job for Sharpe and Fellows, the Los Angeles firm of contractors." On completion of the new road, a grand jubilee was held on Oct. 22, 1933, at the Wagy Ranch in the Cuyama Valley. Mr. Wagy was the county supervisor in Kern County, and he and Supervisor Clark had made the plans for a mammoth barbecue and entertainment for the celebration. Estimates of the number of people who came to the free barbecue ran as high as 20,000 individuals. The entertainment was on a "lavish scale." There were amateur horse races, a rodeo, and singing and dancing by 20 Spanish entertainers. The Sheriff's Department provided ample protection from pickpockets and other con artists. There was truly something for everyone and a fun time was had by all. The surface of the highway was not paved. It was an oil road made from the mixture of penetrating oil poured over native rock and gravel. Each year, after the rains and snow had left, the entire road would be put through a reprocessing stage. The gravel would be graded into long furrows and broken up into small fine gravel, the larger rocks would be removed, and new oil would be added and respread to an even surface once more. Cuts in the mountainside were kept clean by the men tying a rope to a solid tree or boulder at the top of the cut and working their way down the rope, removing any loose objects that were in danger of falling. Clearing of slides on the road was done by men and wheelbarrows. The men would run a competition to see who could remove the most wheelbarrow loads in one day. The maintenance men were a proud lot, working a full day and feeling good about themselves for the pay of $4.40 a day. The state purchased the builder's construction yard, which was 21 miles north of Ojai, and used it for a road maintenance station. The property consisted of a large bunk-house, two smaller bunkhouses, a dining room, kitchen and cabin for the cook. My father, Pete Mason, lived in this [Image] maintenance station during the time he was courting my mother. He was still living there at the time of their marriage in 1938. They must have been very brave and very much in love to have married on an income of $4.40 a day. Now married for 61 years, those sparing times must have laid a strong foundation for life. At the south end of the Maricopa Highway, the state built another maintenance station in Meiners Oaks, on the highway just south of the Deer Lodge. The local papers proclaimed that " in a very few months, a well-equipped machine shed will be built to hold the equipment so that regardless of the weather, the new Maricopa road will be kept open and in good condition." The road first appeared on the maps as County Highway Route No. 138, until it became State Highway No. 399. In the late 1940s, it became known as Highway 33, the "Maricopa Highway." Also in the 1940s, another maintenance station was built at the intersection of Ojai Avenue and the Maricopa Highway. At the same time, the route that had been an important factor for so many people was paved, and today it is one of the most scenic highways in the state of California. "Skating rinks are doomed to a natural death, judging from the avidity with which the young folk have taken up the fad of utilizing the new state highway for roller recreation. Moonlight skating parties are quite the common thing on the new smooth surface." - California Highway Bulletin © 1999 The Ojai Valley News Back to the news