In the 1860s, roads around Goleta were finally getting good enough to support some state of the art transportation and at that time, this is what that looked like. A stagecoach. Rough, bumpy and uncomfortable rides, but they got you where you wanted to go, usually. We cover stagecoach travel in Goleta pretty thoroughly on our page, “Stagecoaches On Turnpike” , so this page will focus on just one scary part of that journey.
Slippery Rock, or Slippery Sal as the old timers called it.
The stagecoach route crossed a steep and wide expanse of sheer sandstone that horse shoes could not get any traction on, especially when pulling a wagon full of people! It was dangerous slow going and it would cause great delays in travel time. So they used modern technology to fix the problem.
Modern technology at the time was hard labor and Chinese laborers were up for the task. Immigrants from China had started coming to California with the Gold Rush in 1848 to escape the hard times back home. When the gold rush sputtered out, a lot of them found work on the expanding railroads and they earned a reputation as hard workers.
For the problem at Slippery Rock, construction supervisors hired Chinese workers to chisel deep horizontal grooves into the soft rock, helping the horses get better footing.
They dug out 3 inch deep ruts in the hard sandstone using hand tools. A huge task that must have taken quite some time.
But that wasn’t all, they also carved vertical ruts about three inches deep in order to help guide the stagecoaches through the technical section.
The grooves did the trick, but it was still slow going and dangerous. And since the stage moved so slowly through this section, it soon became notorious as a location for holdups.
This article from 1875 details one scary accident where a land slide spooked the horses and two of them were lost off the cliff beside the road.
So while the ruts made Slippery Rock a little more passable, it was still a worrisome part of the journey over the mountain. The drivers often asked guests to get out and walk through the toughest parts. Some folks liked the opportunity to stretch their legs and enjoy the breathtaking views. Can you imagine what the view of Goleta would have looked like back then?
This article from 1887 describes the ruts of Slippery Rock and raves about the beautiful view of the “Goleta farming land”.
Over the years the vertical ruts got worn so deep by the coach wheels and rain water rushing through them, a second set of ruts had to be dug next to the originals.
That’s why we see more than one set of ruts in this great aerial photo taken by Elwood Schapansky.
This simplified map shows the approximate route of the old Turnpike road, with slippery Rock being directly above Fairview Avenue.
This shows where it is in comparison to the new and old San Marcos Passes.
Generations of local families were able to go up to Slippery Rock and see the history firsthand.
Like these great photos of the Doty family exploring the area in the 1960s.
But unfortunately, public access often allows for vandalism, and that’s what happened here, so the owners of Slippery Rock closed off access. An unfortunate turn of events for history lovers.
Further damage has been done to the historic ruts by U.S. Forest Service bulldozers, using Slippery Sal as a shortcut.
A while back, I was lucky enough to be invited to see Slippery Sal firsthand. It was a long hard hike on a cold, foggy morning, but it was amazing to see with my own eyes.
While the ruts remain relatively unchanged, Mother Nature has begun taking back what’s hers, and the shrubs and trees are slowly covering portions of the road. This narrow rock pass just above the ruts has been completely blocked by some hearty oaks.
Here’s that same section during the Doty’s visit some 50 years earlier.
And here’s how it looked in the 1880s.
In 1892, the owner of the route, Tom Lillard, got fed up with lazy stagecoach drivers leaving his gate open and letting his cattle out, so he locked his gate and refused further travel through his property. A new route was soon graded to the east of Slippery Rock and that is today known as Old San Marcos Pass.
The new route had some obstacles of its own, like the two sharp U turns halfway up the mountain. The stage drivers called them the Double U’s and they still are a hazard today!
My host that day was kind enough to give me a beautiful print of Slippery Sal in her heyday, and it was amazing to see how little the road had changed. Hopefully one day it will be a recognized historic site and supervised, public access will again be granted.
As mentioned before, if you would like to learn more about the first stagecoach route over the Santa Ynez Mountains, check out our other page called “Stagecoaches on Turnpike”.
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