MILEPOSTS #1051

By Bill Pumford, Image from Russ Keller Collection

TITLE: BUILDING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE ROAD: The year of 1915 in the San Bernardino Mountains was significant. The Rim of the World Drive had been completed and opened to the public. However, even prior to the completion of this road there were concerns that a better road to Big Bear was required. The route of the Rim of the World Drive went through Hunsaker Flat (later Running Springs) and up to Green Valley (later called Green Valley Lake after the 1926 completion of the dam). The route then proceeded through Fawnskin Valley all the way around Big Bear Lake to the community of Big Bear. This route was very difficult, being little more than a track that today’s quad riders might find challenging. In August of 1922 the County Board of Supervisors awarded a $275,000 contract to the Utah Construction Company to build a road from Running Springs to the Big Bear Dam which was called the Deep Creek Cut-Off (presumably because Deep Creek ran between Green Valley and Running Springs). This route would save a considerable amount of time for people traveling from San Bernardino to Big Bear. The work began immediately and was completed in the fall of 1923. Much of the road construction hugged the steep mountainsides and provided challenges for the company to provide places for the workers to sleep, and for meals to be brought to the workers. In order to speed construction four steam-powered shovels were operated and worked from each end of the twelve-mile route. This week’s image shows the road during the winter. The original project did not include a bridge across the dam but that was completed in 1924. The original road was dirt but in 1928 it was oiled and in 1956 it was widened. By 1960 the road was referred to as the Arctic Circle Road because of the iciness sometimes encountered.

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