EARLY
CARS
When cars became common
in the early 1900s there was a greater demand for better roads and
bridges. Some improvements
were made and some of the worst sections were worked on, but basically it
was still a narrow dirt road with severe curves.
It pretty much followed the same route as before.
It is said that the first
automobile trip from San Diego to Campo and back took place in 1904.
The trip was made by John Gay, a prominent San Diego businessman.
Dorothy Schmidt, in “Pioneering in Dulzura” (5) wrote “It must have
been about 1904 when an event occurred which marked the beginning of the
new era. The local school was
suddenly disturbed one day by a most unusual racket, a distant chugging
growing increasingly near. Up
the road came a small horseless vehicle and school was promptly recessed
to witness the first automobile to traverse the road.
It belonged to Mr. John Gay.”
Dorothy Schmidt continues “
Ed Aiken, proprietor of the Campo Hotel, owned the first automobile on
this highway and Mr. George Cameron followed with a hard-tired car.
It was thought hard tires were the answer to roadside trouble and
several in the backcountry bought cars with high wheels and hard tires”.
It wasn’t long before
automobiles were no longer a novelty
and motorized stages and trucks took the place of mules and horses.
All pictures of early cars on Highway 94
are from the collection of Shecklers of
Dulzura.
One severe curve that has
not yet been mentioned before is about 2 miles east of Potrero on the way
to Campo. Maggie’s Café, was a coffee shop located at one end of a
particularly hazardous switchback. By
the time truck drivers reached Maggie’s, they were exhausted.
Most drivers parked their rigs adjacent to the café and slept a
few hours to gain strength and courage for the perilous drive ahead.
This switchback was a landmark to truckers.
It was known as Maggie’s Bedroom curve.
At this time the county
started to allocate more money to improve the roads.
They were in dire need of it with automobiles and trucks traveling
on a more regular basis.
