Barstow and Daggett to Needles

[Parsa]

This thread will cover all alignments of the roads between Barstow and Needles, California. This route was not used as the National Old Trails Road transcontinental highway until the national NOTR convention in Kansas City, April 29, 1913. In November 1926, this road became U.S. numbered highway 66 (Route 66). I'll try to place notes for each map underneath the map, covering them section by section. I'll be adding topographic map sections, aerial images and annotated maps in addition to the auto club maps. All maps shown are for academic discussion regarding disused auto trails and highways. Their use is purely educational.

[Parsa]

From an article in the 1912 Touring Topics included a map #92 and #93. They have a 1912 copyright notice, a practice which ended in 1918. These are the oldest maps I've found for the route. This Notes follow the image. Only the top of map #92 is shown for this section.

Map #92.



Map #93.

[Parsa]

This next two maps are from a tour book produced by the Arizona Good Roads Association in 1913. It was reprinted by Arizona Highways in 1987. All the maps in the guide show Arizona roads, but fortunately the entire route from Needles to Los Angeles is shown. Perhaps this was due to influence from the Santa Fe-Needles-Grand Canyon National Highway Association which formed at about this time.

Map for Victorville to Ludlow.

[Parsa]

This map is from the same 1913 Arizona tour book.

Ludlow to Needles.

[Parsa]

Next are a series of the first National Old Trails Road maps from 1915, produced by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The small circles represent the NOTR signs placed along the highway, mostly at turns and forks. These are posted as links since they are too wide for the forum window.

Map 5 (#225), Barstow to Ludlow.

 


Map 6 (#226), Ludlow to Danby.

 


Map 7 (#227), Danby to Needles.

 

[Parsa]

The next set of maps are from from a circa 1922 set of maps by the ACSC for the National Old Trails Road. I've also included a 1926 map for Barstow to Ludlow, since slight realignments occurred on this map. The other maps from 1926 are identical to the earlier ones.

Map 5 (#225), Barstow to Ludlow. Circa 1922.

 


Map 5 (#225), Barstow to Ludlow. Circa 1926.

 


Map 6 (#226), Ludlow to Danby. Circa 1922 through 1926.

 


Map 7 (#227), Danby to Needles. Circa 1922 through 1926.

 

[Parsa]

This set of maps is from the 1934 ACSC booklet entitled National Old Trails Road and U.S. Highway 66. Except for detours cause by Interstate 40, these are basically the current alignment of old Route 66. All the ACSC strip maps are cartographically outstanding, but this set is particularly artistic.

Map #225, Barstow to Ludlow. 1934.

 


Map #226, Ludlow to Danby. 1934.

 


Map #227A, Danby to Needles. 1934.

 

[Parsa]

The following are sections from shaded relief maps for water resources in the Mohave Desert. Source: Relief Map of Part of Mohave Desert Region, California. Water-Supply Paper 490-B (and later reused for Water-Supply Paper 578). USGS. David G. Thompson. 1921 (surveyed 1917-1920).
For our purposes they shows the National Old Trails Road as the primary road through the desert. The former highway is also indicated. I'm not including the whole maps, just the parts relevant to Route 66.
Water symbols are: Red dot ? — Flowing well; Red circle ? — Nonflowing well; Red circle with smaller circle inside ? — Nonflowing well with pumping plant; Black vertical line through circle  ? — Abandoned well or dry hole; Red triangle ? — Natural reservoir or "tank"; Red dot with stream ?~ — Spring; Red square ? — Cistern or other artificial reservoir.; Red T  T — Sign post erected by U.S. Geologic Survey.


Rialto to Barstow

 


Nebo to Klondike

 

NOTES:
The map shows the highway leaving Barstow on the north side of the tracks. It seems to be about 1/3 of the way from the west side of the survey township. Looking at the 1950s topo there seems to be a crossing at the section line between sections 8 and 9. This is approximately where the Tom's Burgers parking lot is now. It may have been farther east, however. This is the same route shown on the 1922 era ACSC strip map.
The road goes through the Nebo Marine Corps Supply Center....
The old Stoddard Well road meets the Barstow-Daggett Road approximately at the township border, which is actually the San Bernardino Meridian. This is right where the road bends west of Daggett and where it approaches close to the rail line. The 1922 strip maps seems to show the Stoddard Well Road merging in at about the same point. In fact, all of the maps show the road joining just west of Daggett. I see no trace of this road. It must have been near Nebo Street. It looks as if it is heading southwest down a canyon, and the only likely candidate is what is called Cape Gloucster Avenue, shown as a jeep trail on the topo map below.
Ord Mountain Road merges in from the south, a road that does not go through due to the freeway. A remnant of this road, called Ponnay St, does exist north of the freeway. The NOTR crossed just west of Ord Mtn Rd, on current Daggett-Yermo Road.
It headed east on Santa Fe Street though Daggett.
The road crosses the railroad spur to Yermo Marine Corps Supply Center, passes Gale siding, and seems to pass Hidden Springs Rd. Minneola Rd is exactly in the middle of the survey township, but the highway rail crossing is farther west of center. Looking at the way a dirt road curves eastward from the crossing, it seems analogous to the road shown in the topo map below. That would put the crossing at the point in Minneola shown on the topo just just west of the line between sections 28 and 29. The crossing was here. This makes sense, as east of this point the road on the north side of the tracks becomes irregular.
The initial curve into Newberry Springs (aka Newberry) is the same today as on this 1921 map and on the 1955 topo. The springs are shown on both sides of former Mountain View Road, now a dirt track to nowhere. The one on the east is marked as "Newberry Spring (dry)." At this point the road started heading southeast, where a road (Echo Ranch Road) is shown on the modern topo map skirting the east side of the promontory. This is not continuous, though Google Maps calls it Magney Lane, but becomes "Old National Trails Highway" when it meets Newberry Road at the line between sections 3 and 4. The road did not continue along this road far. It curved southward immediately west of the next "Newberry Road" farther east. This curve still exists. It then curved onto Magney Lane, which makes sense since the road west of the main Newberry Road is also called Magney Lane. The road passes by a house at Earll Road, then gets cut by some sort of former dry tank depression, then continues on the east side of Caspian Road. It merges into Old National Trail Hwy near a driveway to the north. This track is shown on the 1955 topo, but not the current one. Upon reaching Athol Lane, more than one road curves southeast. Both are labeled Old National Trails Hwy in places. Perhaps they both were the highway at different times. The one bending almost SE at 45° head straight to a connection with Sweet Rock Lane and Cneter Road (the east end of the old highway). So its logical it was an NOTR alignment at some point. However, this map and the auto club map from 1922 show the road heading at a less then 45° angle, then heading south just west of the township line marked by Fort Cady Road. it then headed south with a well in the Loman Ranch property to the right. Using the 1955 topo to search for the well, I believe it's here. This makes me believe that the more northerly of the diagonal roads is the one shown on this map. The road south of Loman Ranch is shown here as slightly angled, but is roughly equivalent to Sundoen Lane/Center Road. There is a road extending west-northwest from "Sweet Rock Lane" (Center Road extension), but it curves too much compared to this map. Once on Center Road, there are no more properties and things are obvious all the way to Route 66. There is even evidence of asphalt paving in places. The road coming in from the southeast (also on the strip map) is still present today.
Once you run into Route 66, the road crosses right at the property south of the freeway rest areas. It bends northeast as it crosses the freeway, and crosses a lava malpais region. it then curves northeast and parallels the south side of the rail line. It begins to head southeast at 34.804937,-116.474181. A road continues east to Hector siding as shown on this map. A trace of a road does head southeast from Hector siding as shown. Proceed southeast on the NOTR track. An alternate wash crossing seems to exist in this area. The road continues to the former rail crossing to the northwest of Pisgah siding. There isn't a crossing here now, but one exists just to the northwest. A detour has to be made. A road used to connect from the old crossing southwest to Route 66. The road on the other side leads northeast to Black Butte Mine. Both these roads seems to have had some sort of paving. After crossing the railroad, the highway heads southeast until it runs into the freeway near a wash. A small remnant also appears to the east between the freeway lanes. I think it likely that this big loop north was primarily to avoid the worst of the Pisgah volcano lava flows.
Once on the other side of the freeway, the NOTR crossed over Route 66 at 34.752169,-116.34014. This is just after 66 crosses over to the north of the rail line.
The road eventually bends a little more east, and parallels Route 66. At a point on this road, the older NOTR veered southeast on what I call the Lavic Loop. This was bypassed by the 1926 strip map, and so was likely never US 66. I believe the other part I've been following was actually US 66 for a few years, and seems to have paving. Actually, I've driven the Lavic Loop, and it seems to have had a primitive level of paving as well. There are two tracks that diverge at 34.741923,-116.321542. The more northerly one is our older NOTR. The southerly one leads to Lavic Siding. This loop has the exactly wiggles shown on the ACSC strip map. The later NOTR merges with current Route 66, and they both actually disappear under freeway lanes for a time. What remains is actually modern frontage for the freeway crossing. A trace of 66 exists north of the freeway just to the west of the overpass bridge. 66 resumes once near the freeway again. When the road veers away again, 66 once again when under freeway lanes, but reemerges on the south side as a trace and the east end of the Lavic Loop. Out older NOTR rejoined the later Route 66 NOTR alignment just near the wash. The NOTR and Route 66 are actually between the freeway and the rail line, but it appears to be all chewed up now. This is near Argos siding.
The road then went back under the freeway to emerge back onto the north frontage road after the wash crossings. Heading east, the road crossed the old Tonopah railroad that went south to Ludlow and Stedman at 34.723564,-116.170995.
This map and the 1922 era strip map curved southeast into the main part of Ludlow near the tracks along Main Street. There is a diagonal road that just misses the northeast side of the old railroad loop that may have been the NOTR. main Street merges with later 66 to the east of Ludlow.
When the railroad veers southeast away from later 66, the NOTR stayed with the tracks. It crossed over later 66 near its railroad crossing, continuing east. The NOTR crossed the tracks at 34.721617,-116.110058. Once on the other side, later NOTR continued southeast, which is shown as a track on this map.
Our road however, bends east along the tracks, then veers east and southeast  at 34.72085,-116.105621. It wanders close to present 66 for a bit, then veers away. It merges for a time with the road to Ash Hill siding. It crossed the rail line somewhere near here. Then it headed almost due east. It winds a bit more than this map indicates through washes and hils, then head straight southeast past Klondike siding. End of this map.


Siberia to Goffs

 


Homer to Topock

 

[Parsa]

The following series are 1:62500 scale (15 minute) U.S. Geological Survey maps from the 1950s. They show Route 66 as it existed before any Interstate freeways were built.

The maps proceed west to east as all other maps above.

Barstow Quadrangle, 1956	Daggett Quadrangle, 1956	Newberry Quadrangle, 1955
Cady Mountains Quadrangle, 1955	Lavic Quadrangle, 1955	Ludlow Quadrangle, 1955
Bagdad Quadrangle, 1956	Cadiz Quadrangle, 1956	Danby Quadrangle, 1956
Essex Quadrangle, 1956	Fenner Quadrangle, 1956	Bannock Quadrangle, 1956
Needles Quadrangle, 1950