Plumas County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta Jul 2009

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format 
for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or 
organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial 
purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, 
OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating 
to this site retain the rights to their own work.


Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties
with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850, Farriss & Smith , 1882, San Francisco.



OROVILLE AND HONEY-LAKE ROAD 
  
    
         April 28, 1857, the legislature passed an Act "To provide for the 
construc-tion of a wagon road from Oroville, Butte county, to and intersecting 
at the most practicable point the line of the proposed National Wagon Road that 
has its terminus at or near Honey lake, Plumas county." William L. Upton, of 
Butte, and William Buckholder and R. C. Chambers, of Plumas, were named as 
commissioners to construct the road. The Act also provided for the issuing of 
$20,000 bonds each by the two counties, provided such measure received the 
endorsement of the people at the fall election. The underlying object was to 
secure the passage through this county of the overland railroad, which every one 
felt certain would be constructed before many years. The United States military 
road which had been surveyed to Noble's pass, and the exploration of a route for 
a railroad by Lieutenant Beckwith on the same line, led many to think that this 
would be the route chosen for any transcontinental railroad - as it was for a 
certain distance. It was thought that a good road from Oroville to Honey lake 
would be the means of deflecting any railroad from Beckwith's route to Ft. 
Reading, thus securing a shorter line to San Francisco. This opinion is still 
held by many, who assert that if this road had been built as projected the 
Central Pacific would now be running through Noble's pass and through Plumas 
county. However, it was impossible to convince the voters of Butte and Plumas of 
the fact, and the measure was defeated in both counties, and the project 
abandoned.