Historic Highway 40 – Lincoln Highway Tour

References to Lincoln Highway (LH) and U.S. 40 mean the "main traveled way" at the time. Signs were made and placed by the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) and the U.S. 40 signs were handled by the California State Automobile Association. The placement began in 1927 and was completed in 1928. Lincoln Hwy. Existed from 1914 to 1928 and U.S. 40 existed from 1928 until 1-80 was built in the early 1960's.

Please note that the driving directions are in bold type.

Miles shown in (parenthesis) are cumulative at the point where the turn is to be made. Miles shown in [square brackets] are the distance to the next turn. Your mileage may vary. In some areas we will follow U.S. 40 rather than the Lincoln Highway for ease of travel and less traffic.

The italicized type contains additional historical information about road details.

The tour starts at Brookfield’s Restaurant on Taylor Rd. in Roseville

From I80 east take the Eureka Rd exit, continue straight at the signal on to Taylor Rd. From I80 west take the Eureka Rd exit and turn left at the signal on to Taylor Rd. Brookfield’s is behind the Shell Station on your left.

Leaving Brookfield’s turn left on Taylor Rd which becomes Pacific St. (continue) in Rocklin and resumes as Taylor Rd (continue) in Loomis (0.0) [10.7]

In Rocklin (about 2.3 miles from Brookfield’s) notice the large granite rocks on the left and shortly on the right(2.4) the remains of the Big Gun Quary.

Right on Old State Highway, loop through Newcastle, when you see I80 bear left to stay on Old State Highway (10.7) [0.5]

If you are looking for a good lunch some day, turn left on Main St and go straight ahead to the Newcastle Produce Company on the right.

Right on SR193 at stop sign, shortly turn right back on Taylor Rd. (11.2) [0.4]

Left on Ophir Rd (11.6) [2.7]

Ramp on to I80 (14.3) [1.0]

Exit I80 at Elm Ave (15.3) [0.1]

Left on Elm Ave (15.4) [0.2]

Left on SR49, bear right to stay on 49 (15.6) [0.1]

Left on Lincoln Way at signal (15.7) [1.0]

Stop for regrouping at Foothill Market (16.7) [1.3]

You can also reach the Foothill Market by taking the Foresthill exit off I80 and turning right on Lincoln Way. It’s about 0.5 miles to the market.

Continue on Lincoln Way, Left on Bowman Under-crossing (18.8) [0.1]

Right on Bowman Road (18.1) [2.0]

On your left is Apple Lane. Lincoln Hwy. originally followed this lane and continued to parallel the RR.

Right on Dry Creek Rd. which becomes Lake Arthur Rd. (20.1) [1.4]

The LH was on your right along the creek. Mid-way along Lake Arthur, a

gravel road drops down to the lake shore. This is believed to be the LH.

Right on Placer Hills Rd. (past the old Olivers gas station) Cross 1-80 (21.5) [0.2]

Left onto Applegate Rd. (21.7) [2.1]

For awhile you are on a mix of frontage road, US 40 and LH. At the 1927 RR underpass, the LH climbed up the driveway on the left to cross over the tracks on a grade crossing, then back down the other side to road level.

Continue thru the right curve in Applegate.

After the curve there is firehouse and a yellow warehouse on the right. The LH went behind them.

Pass thru the RR underpass (23.8) [0.8] and another 1927 RR underpass (24.6) [1.6]

About 200 ft before the underpass there is a trail thru the weeds/brush on your right. It's beside a steep gravel driveway. This old section of the LH leads about S00 ft along the RR where there was a grade crossing. The LH returns to the US40 alignment about 1000 ft beyond the RR underpass.

Go right onto Geisendorfer Rd. (just after Applegate crosses over I80) (26.2) [1.1]

Named after a local farmer and landowner.

Right on West Poali Lane (27.3) [0.2]

Left on Paoli Lane (after crossing 1-80) (27.5) [0.2]

While still at the stop sign, look ahead at an old gas pump, a steel roof over the pump and a stucco home. This was the site of Lou Labonte's first restaurant.

Turn left onto Ponderosa Rd. (27.7) [0.6] changes to Canyon Way at Weimar Cross Rd. (28.3) [4.4]

The community that you are in was called New England Mills.

Turn left at the stop sign at the Chevron Station. (32.7) [0.1]

About where the Chevrolet Dealer is now there was a rattlesnake “farm"when US40 existed on this frontage road. Just beyond the dealership, the LH and US40 crossed 1-80 diagonally to align with S. Auburn St. in Colfax.

Turn right and right again at the stop sign (Central St.) to be on Hwy. 174 (32.8) [1.5]

Note remains of the old motor camp on the right after crossing bridge.

After 1.5 mile on SR-174, go straight ahead onto Rollins Lake Rd. Do not turn left on 174!! (34.3) [4.3]

Continue past the lake and eventually over 1-80 where the road name changes to Magra Road (38.6) [4.1] which at this point is both LH and US 40. Continue on Magra Road.

This was both the LH and US 40 through all of their years with some straightening in 1925. 6 miles beyond the Secret Town over-crossing there is a concrete bridge over the RR. This was built during the 1925 construction.

Right (on US 40) after Magra Rd. crosses I80, (42.7) [0.3] Watch for Lincoln Rd. for the next turn.

Turn left across the RR on Lincoln Rd. and be sure the car behind you follows. (43.0) [1.7]

Turning on Lincoln Rd. parallel to the RR (shown as Old Run School Rd on the map) going eastward about. A mile you can see a hydraulic mine pond below on your left. The RR on your right saved this ridge from being washed away. The washing from both sides would have certainly met, thus removing the entire ridge had the Central Pacific RR not owned the gold rich right-of-way.

Turn left at Ridge Road after crossing the RR to the stop sign (44.7) [2.1]

This road was improved in 1957 so it could be used as a detour while widening the 2 lane US 40 to 4 lanes on the other side of the hill.

Left on Alta Bonny Nook, it’s before you get to the bottom of the hill and the I80 overpass. (46.8) [1.6]

Left on East (not West) Towle Rd. (48.4) [0.2]

At Crystal Springs turn left onto Baxter Rd. (48.6) [0.5]

None of the old buildings at Baxter remain. The wide empty flat area on the left is where the community of Baxter was located. There were several buildings including hotel, butcher shop, gas pumps, restaurant, residences, tent floors and an outdoor dance floor. Now there is only the pile of gravel and the cinder block building. To the right along 1‑80 was the Towle Brothers lumber operation. This extended along I-80 from the 1-80 RR under crossing to about 2 miles up the canyon. This included a saw mill, finishing mill, wood flower mill for others to make blasting powder, paper pulp mill for shipment to Stockton to make news print paper, and an extensive lumber ^{storage/drying} yard. The narrow gauge logging RR also ran up this canyon about where the eastbound 1-80 lanes are now.

Enter east bound 1-80 for the 16.5 mile drive to the Cisco Grove off ramp. (49.1) [16.4]

From Baxter to Blue Canyon, about 5.6 miles US-40 became the westbound 1-80. LH meanders on either side of old US40. At the Bear Valley overlook things have been changed. In that large parking area, before 1-80 existed, there was a large elegant stone building, the Nyack Lodge. Both the LH and US40 were near the lodge. Look for pictures of it in the bar during lunch at the Rainbow Lodge. On 1-80.6 miles east of the Eagle Lakes interchange, watch closely about 50-100 feet to your right where the LH returns to 1-80. The roadbed is supported by hand stacked dry rubble. That has been there for 142 years. The road is still serviceable but is not legal for either ingress or egress of the freeway. This rubble is just beyond the green "Placer Country" sign.

Exit freeway at Cisco Grove off ramp. (65.5) [0.1]

LH was in the open meadow to the right.

Left over 1-80 to the stop sign at Hampshire Rocks Rd. (US 40) (65.6) [0.1]

Right on Hampshire Rocks Rd. (65.7) [1.7]

Across the river under the second high bridge you can see the LH on the right side with its hand stacked dry rubble construction from here to the ranger station. LH is behind the garage on the right side at the station.

Stop at the Big Bend Ranger Station (67.4) [1.1]

Park at the ranger station and enjoy the program by Ranger Phil Sexton. 530-426-3609

Continue on Hampshire Rocks Rd. past the Rainbow Lodge

Rainbow Lodge was built in the 1920's of local granite and hand hewn timbers to serve travelers on the Lincoln Hwy. and US-40.

Left under the freeway and turn right on Donner Pass Rd (68.5) [6.3]

Summit Restaurant & Bar is at 22002 Donner Pass Rd (74.8)

This is our lunch stop and the end of the tour. (530) 426-3904

This completes the planned tour. You may return via freeway, or continue on Donner Pass Rd and cross the old Rainbow Bridge, and on to Truckee. A beautiful and recommended route back down the hill is Hwy. 20 to Nevada City and Grass Valley. This route takes only about 15 minutes longer to reach Auburn and it is a nice quiet road.