The mountains between San Diego and Imperial County in California were long considered impassable. Steep mountains and canyons covered in boulders with very few sources of water made direct wagon travel between San Diego and the east impossible. Then in the 1850s, a path began to form. The path wasn't easy going though, and a frequent saying from the time was that "only the courageous or the desperate try to cross the mountains between San Diego and the Colorado river."
With the opening of the wagon road, the portion of the route that descended into Mountain Springs Station became one of the steepest portions of the road. With a water source there, Mountain Springs Station became an important spot for sheepherders after the route was discovered, and by the 1860s a store was located there.
In the 1870s the stone store became a toll house and as the 1900s came around Mountain Springs Station became a water stop for early automobiles. The opening of a new road in 1913, and later Highway 80 and Interstate 8, cut off access to the Mountain Springs Station site, and for the last century it has sat there abandoned, the only visitors arriving on foot of by four-wheel-drive.
For more information on the history of Mountain Springs Station check out Joe Streetman's article for the San Diego History Center: sandiegohistory.org/wp-conten...
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15 ноя 2022
