The Ax-men had to Swing Themselves from Bush to Limb

 In 1864, a bill was before the Legislature to build a road from Santa Cruz to Redwood City across the Santa Cruz Mountains. The road, which was estimated to cost $40,000, “will actually be the making of that city.”  It would open up the beautiful valleys of the San Lorenzo and the Sayante for development.

It wasn’t until 1866 that a preliminary survey was conducted “so rugged were the steep banks of pine and undergrowth.” It took a couple of months for Ambrose Calderwood and his team to cut the brush away to make a trail along the route but “so difficult was the job the ax-men in places had to swing themselves from bush to limb to make headway …”

By the end of 1866, it was reported that 12 men were working on the road taking out stumps. The upper end was graded down from Ferguson’s Farm [Felton] to Gold Gulch and was now “barely passable for horsemen.” But it was not a road that could carry the heavy loads of lumber and lime out of the Valley to Santa Cruz.

So, in 1867, surveyor Thomas Wright was asked to survey a route for the construction of a sixteen-foot-wide road.  Commissioners Frederick Augustus Hihn (entrepreneur), John W. Towne (farmer) and John D. Chase (Chase’s Meat Market) formed the committee for overseeing the building of this crude road.

The committee asked for bids to be submitted by January 11, 1868 and work to be completed by May 1 of the same year. The middle of the road was to be sixteen inches higher than the inside and eight inches higher than the outside. All curves had to be [a minimum of] 100 feet radius and the slopes of the banks had to be two-fifths of the height of the cut. All rocks and roots had to be removed down to the level of the inside of the road, and culverts and bridges had to be built where needed.

Three bids were submitted, including a bid from George Ulmer Collins of Zayante and a partner for $6500. But it was the lowest bid of $6000 from Stanley, Bennett, and Palmer that was accepted and Superintendent Eben Bennett lost no time advertising for 100 men to perform the arduous work.

On the grade near Felton, Charles W. Nystrom, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, California.

The road was formally handed over to the commissioners on April 25, ahead of schedule and a huge celebration took place at the San Lorenzo schoolhouse at the upper end of the road where “’a splendid lunch was laid out.” A speech by John Stanley, the primary investor, thanked the other donors who had financially supported the project and he proclaimed:

The road is now finished, gentlemen: it is yours, to remain open and free, forever. It is dedicated to the public and the public should keep it in order, and see that it is kept open and remains free.

The band played and a dance ensued.

To keep the road open, and to pay for the constant repairs needed, the residents of the Valley were taxed annually. Use of the road was also subject to a fee and a tollhouse was built at which the toll was collected. George Collins and Eben Bennett were among the first of the toll keepers.

For more on the Toll House visit scmhistory.blogspot.com/2026/09/felton-toll-gate-house.html.