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Big Oak Flat Road to Yosemite – Highway 120
The unique and colorful history of the Big Oak Flat Road
started at the levees in Stockton where a trail to the gold camps led to the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Eventually along this route the gold diggings
became towns such as Chinese Camp, Jacksonville, Big
On July 1915, Tuolumne County bought the Big Oak Flat and Yosemite Toll Road and deeded the road to the State of California which proceeded to improve the road as far as the boundary of Yosemite National Park. The Big Oak Flat route dropped into the Valley some distance uphill from the present road. The new federal highway from Crane Flat to Yosemite Valley bypassed the Zigzag in 1940. The old route could still be driven until 1945, but closed after two huge rock slides. The steep switch-back is still visible from the south side of Yosemite Valley at Tunnel View and can only be accessed by hikers.
History and Background The beginning of the road which is now known as Highway 120 started on the levees in Stockton where river boats unloaded cargo heading to the Southern Mines and Yosemite. Stockton was founded by Charles Weber who was with the Bartleson-Bidwell party in 1841 and endured the hardships of some of the first settlers to cross the Central Sierra Nevada. Weber built his home and a warehouse business facing a large navigable slough east of the main river now called the Stockton Channel. By 1847, the area was the nucleus of the city of Stockton. After gold was discovered in 1848, traffic at the levee increased enormously. By 1851, an estimated 500 wagons and 1500 pack animals traversed back and forth along the route to the Southern Mines.
In the 1870s, grain farming flourished and David Tulloch established a flour mill in what is now known as Oakdale. Oakdale was founded by promoters of the Stockton and Visalia Railroad to locate the terminus of the rail line in their crossroads community. The town became a lively transportation center with teamsters using the railroad station as a departure point to haul freight and merchandise to the Mother Lode towns of Jamestown, Sonora, Chinese Camp, Big Oak Flat, Groveland, and Bodie on the eastern side of Sonora Pass.
A large covered bridge (longest in California) spans the Stanislaus River about twelve miles east of Oakdale in Knights Ferry. The town of Knights Ferry was founded in 1848 by trapper and hunter William Knight, who had been with Fremont’s expedition and felt the site, was perfect for a ferry crossing.
Continuing on Highway 120, the route takes you past what is now the Kistler Ranch Camp, once claimed by Daniel Cloudman and later acquired by John Curtin in 1879. Curtin and his three sons operated a 16-mule team freight line between Stockton and the Southern Mines.
Next you approach Keystone, once a prosperous settlement that sprang up at the crossroads leading to LaGrange, Chinese Camp, Cooperstown, and Knights Ferry. In 1897, the Sierra Railway laid tracks that curved past the town and a depot was built to accommodate local freight and passengers.
Located near LaGrange Road, between Keystone and the old stone corrals, marks the site of the Crimea House which was a staging place during teamster days. Red Hills Road leads to Chinese Camp branches from LaGrange Road at the stone corral. This southern detour from Keystone to Chinese Camp was preferred by freighters on the up-haul route. Returning empty, freighters went by way of Goodwin’s ranch (today Yosemite Junction) and down through Mountain Pass.
From Keystone the highway spreads out along Mountain Pass and parallels Table Mountain. Highway 120 separates from Highway 108 at Yosemite Junction and turns eastward toward Chinese Camp. About 1849, a group of Englishmen employed thousands of Chinese miners at this place which became known as Chinese Camp. In its day the town was bustling with gold mining and stage lines. The first Tong War in the state was fought about three miles away near Crimea House between the Sam Yap and Yan Woo Tongs. Period buildings still stand such as the 1854 stone and brick building later used form many years as a post office. Across the highway is the tiny St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, built in 1855, constructed for the Irish emigrants who settled here during the placer mining period.
At Moccasin, Cavagnaro’s general store at the foot of Moccasin Hill served meals to teamsters and travelers in the early days. The 1850s two-story stone structure was taken down in 1921 to make way for the construction of the powerhouse of the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power Project. A cluster of penstocks can be seen coming down the mountainside carrying water to the powerhouse from the Hetch Hetchy Valley on its way to San Francisco. Priest Grade, originally a foot trail up Moccasin Hill, comes up the back of the hill and through a gap at the crest. Supplies and equipment were hauled up on mule back until 1859 when the road was completed and wagons and stage coaches could make the all-day trip up the steep grade that climbs over 1,200 feet in two miles. The newer road, longer and windier was carved out of the hillside in 1913 on the opposite wall of brush-filled Grizzly Gulch. The newer road was a mere shelf some eight-feet wide, allowing for few places for vehicles to negotiate around each other. At the top of the grade is historic Priest Station, where teamsters and stage drivers were served meals and horses were changed.
Big Oak Flat was originally known as Savage’s Diggings; the place where James Savage found gold in the waterway, later known as Rattlesnake Creek in 1848. By 1860 the town was incorporated. After a major fire in 1863, only two stone buildings survived – the Gamble Building and the Odd Fellows Hall. In 1864 the remaining residents petitioned the County to be dis-incorporated. Big Oak Flat had been named for the large oak tree in the center of town. The town played a role in planning and building the mountain section of Highway 120. When the placer gold played out, the community remained sparsely populated until hard rock mining brought a boom during the turn-of-the-century. Between the time of the great fire in 1863 and the introduction of hard rock mining the only significant activity in the area was the construction of the Big Oak Flat Road into Yosemite. The area was a hub of activity surrounded by the ranches of Moccasin Creek, Deer Flat, Spring Gulch, and Big Creek.
Groveland originally was named Garrote due to its reputation of swift justice by way of hangings. The Hetch Hetchy Water and Power project had its beginning when the City and County of San Francisco gained generous rights to the Tuolumne River watershed to deliver drinking water to San Francisco and the Bay Area. The vast undertaking created miles of tunnels, peripheral dams and reservoirs, hydroelectric power houses and a 150 mile aqueduct to deliver the water and electricity to the Bay Area. In February 1916, the Hetch Hetchy rail line began as a connection of the Sierra Railway at Hetch Hetchy Junction, fifteen miles west of Jamestown and extended another 68 miles to the O’Shaughnessy Dam site for delivery of materials. The Sierra Railway also delivered dry cement to the dam site for several years. The project headquarters and the Hetch Hetchy rail line Maintenance Facility were located in Groveland from 1915-1925. Parts of the Hetch Hetchy line right-of-way grading was used for a new road to Mather in 1925. Improvements were made to make Big Oak Flat Road to Yosemite an all-year route in 1949-1950 when all the remaining rails were removed.
Pine Mountain Lake, a 3,300-acre subdivision surrounds a small boating and fishing lake, lies northeast of Groveland. It was developed by Boise Cascade in the late 1960s. Smith’s Station, just beyond Pine Mountain Lake, was originally a popular stop in the mid-1800s for stages and freight wagons. The meadow was first known as Sprague’s’. John Smith owned the ranch in 1854 and provided overnight lodging and served meals to guests on their way to Yosemite. The first toll gate for the Big Oak Toll Road was located here.
Buck Meadows was originally Hamilton’s Station, another of the stage stops on the road into Yosemite. Ranchers herding cattle up to summer pastures in high country stopped here for the night. The Big Oak flat-Yosemite Turnpike Road Company built a covered bridge and this became the toll gate around 1894. John Cox was the toll keeper from 1895 to 1915. Tuolumne County purchased the road ending the toll gate in 1915.
Within five miles of Buck Meadows is the turnoff for Yosemite Lakes and Berkeley Camp. Yosemite Lakes occupies the site of Hardin Flat where James Hardin ran a sawmill. Hardin’s was a stopping place for tourists and for a time was as far as travelers could go by stage. The rest of the route into Yosemite Valley was accomplished initially on horseback down the precarious Zigzag trail. The series of switchbacks were three miles down cliffs with stone supported walls. Later stages and wagons took turns on the descent and ascent which were controlled by flagmen.
Beyond Crane Flat, Highway 120, aka Tioga Road, climbs into the mountains, passes Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows and drops into Lee Vining on the other side of the Sierra Nevada.
Current Features Highway 120 is the most convenient gateway to Yosemite National Park for tourists coming from the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Stockton or Modesto. The highway provides an opportunity to travel through such historic towns as Chinese Camp, the company town of Moccasin, and the communities of Big Oak Flat and Groveland. In Groveland, be sure to allow time to visit the Groveland – Yosemite Gateway Museum, where the emphasis is on people and events of Tuolumne County south of the Tuolumne River. It must be noted that many communities who depended on this road did not or barely survived into the 21st century such as Cloudman, Green Springs, Milton, Keystone, Jacksonville, Stevens Bar, and Spring Gulch.
How to Get There Since the 1970s, State Highway 120 begins near Manteca where Interstate 5 crosses the San Joaquin River and swings northward toward Stockton. Heading eastward the highway passes through Manteca, Escalon and Oakdale, where it overlaps with Highway 108. At Yosemite Junction, Highway 120 turns south heading towards Chinese Camp joining Highway 49. At Moccasin Highway 49 turns towards Coulterville, while Highway 120 leads east to Big Oak Flat, Groveland and eventually Yosemite National Park.
GPS Coordinates: N37° 49.30' W120° 15.72'
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Oak Flat, First and Second Garrrotes. Later still, tourism was the draw along
this trail into Yosemite Valley. Competition with Mariposa County for stage
roads into Yosemite in the mid-1860s led to a debate over the formation of a
franchise granted by the State of California giving exclusive right-of-way
into the valley. This wasn’t resolved until 1874 when the State Legislature
issued an ultimatum that an error had been made in granting exclusive
privilege to any road company; in essence saying multiple roads could enter
the valley on equal terms. Andrew Rocca of Big Oak Flat hired a construction
team; along with the leadership of Daniel Newhall and George Sprague,
completing the last section of road into Yosemite Valley known as the “Zigzag”
in five months. This was one month after the Coulterville Road had reached
Yosemite Valley in 1874. The first automobile to reach Yosemite Valley
entered in July 1900.