Sonora Pass

Infobox Mountain Pass
Name = Sonora Pass
Photo =
Caption =
Elevation = 9,624 ft. / 2,933 m.
Location = California, USA
Range = Sierra Nevada
Coordinates =
Coordinates = coord|38|19|40|N|119|38|9|W|type:pass
Topographic

Traversed by = State Route 108

Sonora Pass (el. 9,624 ft. / 2,933 m.) is the second-highest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada, [cite web|url=http://www.sierranevadaphotos.com/geography/roads/index.asp#108|title=Highways and Major Roads Through the Sierra Nevada|publisher=Sierra Nevada Photos|accessdate=2008-09-20] lower by 321 ft. (about 98 m.) than Tioga Pass to the south. [cite web|url=http://www.sierranevadaphotos.com/geography/roads/index.asp#120|title=Highways and Major Roads Through the Sierra Nevada|publisher=Sierra Nevada Photos|accessdate=2008-09-20] State Route 108 traverses the pass.

Description

The pass connects the communities of Sonora to the west and Bridgeport to the east. Like most high Sierra Nevada passes, the highway is closed in winter, generally between November and May, due to snow accumulation. [cite web|url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/clsdlst.htm|title=Road Information - Winter Driving Tips - Mountain Pass Closures|publisher=Caltrans|accessdate=2008-09-20]

The highway over the pass is extremely steep (up to 26% in some locations), narrow and winding between Kennedy Meadows on the west side and Leavitt Meadows on the east. The route is not recommended for vehicles or vehicle combinations that are unusually wide, heavy or long. [cite web|url=http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/images/steep.jpg|title=Picture of advisory sign on State Route 108|accessdate=2008-09-20]

, crosses Highway 108 at Sonora Pass. [cite web|url=http://www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=38.32769&lon=-119.63684&datum=nad83&zoom=8&
]

Adjacent to the Pass is a picnic/parking area, which serves as a day-use rest stop or a trailhead for hikes to nearby Sonora Peak, Wolf Creek Lake, and other spots north or south along the Pacific Crest Trail.

History

The first documented immigrant traverse of Sonora Pass appears to have been in the late summer of 1852 by a wagon train known as the Clark-Skidmore Company. Subsequently, merchant interests in the communities of Sonora and Columbia promoted the route to California-bound immigrants, not always with happy results when immigrants discovered how difficult it was. [cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~crow2000/sonorapass1.htm|title=Sonora Pass|accessdate=2008-09-20] There are some references indicating the earliest immigrant crossing was in 1841 by the Bartleson-Bidwell party, but the U.S. Forest Service indicates they crossed north of Sonora Pass in the Carson-Iceberg area. [cite web|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/stanislaus/visitor/carson.shtml|title=Recreation Activities: Carson-Iceberg Wilderness|publisher=US Forest Service|accessdate=2008-09-20] [cite web|url=http://www.schweich.com/geoCAMnoSonoraPass.html|title=Sonora Pass, Mono County, California.|accessdate=2008-09-20]

With the discovery of deposits and development of silver and gold mining east of the Sierra Nevada in the beginning of the 1860s, merchant interests in the counties on both sides of the pass pushed for development of a road that would enable them to improve transportation and trade. Surveying for a road through Sonora Pass began in 1863 and the road was in use by 1865. [cite book|last=Farquhar|first=Francis Peloubet|title=History of the Sierra Nevada|publisher=University of California Press|date=1965|pages=102|isbn=0520015517|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=066-OKED8aoC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=sonora+pass+railroad&source=web&ots=FB4KFYsypV&sig=6OJH0qsNa8wtonsrLIWjNkBtRPE#PPA102,M1|accessdate=2008-09-20]

In the 1880(s) the California and Nevada Railroad and its predecessor, the California and Mount Diablo Railroad, proposed to run a narrow gauge railroad over Sonora Pass with a line running from Emeryville - Stockton and then connecting with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in Utah. The railroad never built track beyond the San Francisco Bay Area.

References