| Old Tejon Pass | |
|---|---|
  Old Tejon Pass Tejon Pass (Kern County) | |
| Elevation | 5,285 feet (1,611 m) |
| Traversed by | unpaved road |
| Location | Kern County, California |
| Range | Tehachapi Mountains |
| Coordinates | 34°59′21″N118°32′43″W / 34.98917°N 118.54528°W /34.98917; -118.54528 |
TheOld Tejon Pass (originallyTejon Pass) is amountain pass in theTehachapi Mountains linkingSouthern andCentral California.
The pass is located inKern County,California, 15 miles (24 km) to the northeast of the currentTejon Pass. It runs at the top of a divide between a point about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of theRancho Tejon boundary inTejon Creek Canyon, andCottonwood Creek Canyon north of theAntelope Valley. It lies at an elevation of 5,285 feet (1,611 m), and sits between two peaks of 5,491 feet (1,674 m) (to the west) and 5,566 feet (1,697 m) (to the east).
The ancient native trail which utilized what is now known as the Old Tejon Pass was found and explored in 1772 by Spanish explorerPedro Fages.[1] The pass was used in 1776 by missionary explorer, padreFrancisco Garcés. In 1806, Lt. Francisco Ruiz named itTejon Pass while on an expedition into theSan Joaquin Valley. Ruiz also named Tejon Canyon and Tejon Creek, all referencing the deadbadger (ortejón) he had found at the canyon mouth.
In early 1827, the first overland American exploratory journey to California, led byJedediah Smith, used the pass to move northwest from Antelope Valley into San Joaquin Valley, led byNative American guides familiar with the pass.[1]
Rancho El Tejón, a large 1843Mexican land grant in the Tehachapi Mountains, was headquartered below the pass along Tejon Creek. Eventually, a road running straight north (fromElizabeth Lake), across westernmostAntelope Valley, and then over this Tejon Pass evolved. This route to the pass diverted from theEl Camino Viejo at Elisabeth Lake, and from 1849 to before 1854 it was the main road connecting the southern part of the state to the trail along the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley to the goldfields to the north.[2]
In 1853, the road which used the Old Tejon Pass was surveyed byRobert Stockton Williamson of the U.S. Army for suitability as a rail-bed for the plannedtranscontinental railroad into California. It was found wanting. The commander of the expedition particularly found the wagon road over the pass to be "one of the worst" he had ever seen.[3] He much preferred theGrapevine Canyon route, a much better road further west. Williamson scouted it and found it would be far more suitable for rail lines and wagons if the bulk of the traffic henceforth went that way. The name "Tejon" was transferred west to the "Fort Tejon Pass," an integral part of theStockton – Los Angeles Road, which was established through Grapevine Canyon. From then on, the old pass was used less and less; and eventually lost its designation on official maps.[2] Afterward, Fort Tejon was abandoned, and the "Fort" was eventually dropped from the pass' name, becoming simply, theTejon Pass as it is known today.[3]