When it comes to California history, Slippery Ford is a name and place that conjures up a terrifying chapter in transportation history. The name suggests that this river “ford” or crossing was dangerous. Indeed, until a bridge was built nearby, travelers would have to cross this portion of the American River by wading through, depending on the season, a shear film or torrent of cascading water. One slip and you and your wagon would slide down the river to a doubtful, likely painful outcome.

Before the Lincoln Highway passed this way, John Calhoun Johnson built what was known as Johnson’s Cut-Off Trail in 1852, which brought emigrants over the Sierra Crest. This route soon replaced the earlier Carson River emigrant route up and over Carson Pass to the south, a more difficult climb and a higher elevation. Johnson’s Cut -Off Trail soon became the road to use.

Something to keep in mind when exploring Slippery Ford, is there are two Slippery Fords just a few hundred yards from each other. The original crossing was the Johnson Cut-Off Trail which crosses Pyramid Creek, not the American River as the later Slippery Ford does. I will admit, that until I learned this it was a bit confusing reading the records of this area. One crossed Pyramid Creek, the other the American River.

As traffic increased tolls were collected to help find a new trail with the Slippery Ford Grade down to Strawberry being rebuilt by George W. Swan. It’s Swan’s brand new 1866 grade we are seeing in the above photos. The bridge at Snow Slide Mountain could be the first bridge built here in 1858. Both Slippery Fords are shown on the map at the end of the post.

As we have learned, the original 1913 alignment of the Lincoln Highway followed old wagon roads, and this was the case here. The Lincoln Highway followed the Swan-Henry toll road, with the addition of two bridges, or “twin bridges” that crossed the American River. The bridges were not side by side, but rather one went to a island while the other bridge exited the island. In the photo above we see an early auto on one of those bridges.

The following two video show us the first Slippery Ford of Johnson’s Pass over Pyramid Creek. This was the original emigrant trail that was later bypassed by the Swan-Henry Toll Road.

The following video gives you a good view of the area around Slippery Ford. One correction to the video. I mention we are on the ”Scenic Route” of the Lincoln Highway, but this is actually known as the “Pioneer” or southern route of the Lincoln. The Slippery Ford in this video is the later one used after Johnson’s Cut-Off Trail ford.

Once travelers crossed the American River, the road continues down the grade past Register Rocks, Lovers Leap, and into Strawberry. We’ll cover that part of the adventure in our next post of the El Dorado County section of the Lincoln Highway, Part 4.