johnson cutoff
Apple Hill orchard to feature local author book signing day
Submitted by paula on Thu, 10/04/2018 - 4:40pm
Event Date:
October 13, 2018 - 10:00am
Grampa's Cellar in Camino will be holding a booking signing day with visiting authors on October 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Included in this day during Apple Hill season will be historical fiction author JoAnn Conner and Ellen Osborne, the great granddaughter of John Calhoun 'Cock-eye' Johnson, the namesake of Echo Summit's Johnson Cutoff.
Granpa's Cellar is located at 2360 Cable Road.
Before Hwy 50 it was horses and wagons on the Johnson Cut-Off
Submitted by paula on Sat, 01/09/2016 - 6:43pm
The trip is hot and dry. A layer of several feet of dust lined the route, flying around as the wheels of the wagons and hooves of the horses pass over. The road is steep and over granite along the 130 miles from the Carson Valley to Placerville. When not the middle of summer, the road is muddy or buried by snow. A horse could cover the terrain in 24-hours.
The road is Johnson's Cut-off and the year is 1852. It was built by John Calhoun "Cock-eye" Johnson as a way to cut off 50 miles and 2,000 feet in elevation from the common route people took over Donner Summit as they emigrated West.
