Site information:

Bridge Bay Resort parking lot, Bridge Bay turnoff and I-5

Nothing remains of this site, that I know of.

40.754459,-122.322971

Plaque information:

Private plaque

Plaque text:

In loving memory to these pioneers who "held the ribbons" but have turned the bed in this road

One of the best known and beloved men in California
Williamson Lyncoya Smith

Aug. 6, 1830, born on a plantation on the James River, Bedford Co. VA. Named “Lyncoya: by President Andrew Jackson. 1832, family settled in Pike Co. Mo., Apr. 25, 1850, left Pike Co. Mo. with McPike & Strothers Express Line for California. Aug. 6, 1850, arrived in Placerville Calif. 1851. Continuously connected with U.S. Mail until 1892. Railroad between Sacramento & Portland was completed on Dec. 17, 1887. July 1854, carried the first U.S. Mail on horseback, from Jacksonville, to Canyonville, Ore. May 31, 1902, died at his home, West & Tehama Sts. Redding, Calif.

James E. Birch, first stage driver in California & organizer of the California Stage Co. Sept. 12, 1857, lost at sea on the mail steamer Central America.

J.B. Crandall, pioneer stage driver, from 1849, covering Calif. Ore. & Nev. June 11, 1857, drove the first stage over the Sierra Nevada Mts. Nov. 24, 1872, eight miles from Los Angeles, thrown from his stage, was kicked by the wheel horse, ending his life.

W.F. Hall & W.H. Hall
Stage drivers from 1849.

Marshall McCummings
Aug. 1851, drove the first stage from Sacramento to Shasta, Monroe & Feld proprietors.

Daniel Masten Cawley
July 14, 1852, born in N.H. Sept. 1, 1858, drove the first stage over the Siskiyou Mt. for the California Stage Co. Dec. 17, 1887, drove the last stage over Siskiyou for the California Oregon Idaho Stage Co. Oct. 15, 1901, died in Yreka, California.

[A list of many names follows]

This Stage Driver’s Monument marks the Sacramento road where it connects with U.S Highway 99

Erected by Mae Helene Bacon Bogge, niece of Willianson Lyncoya Smith, Bass Hill, August 6, 1920, centennial of the birth of W. L. Smith.

OHP description:

On the summit of Bass Hill a remnant of the California-Oregon stage road crosses the Pacific Highway and descends to the Pit River. Because this was a favorite 'holdup' spot in stage-coach days, a marker has been placed there in memory of W. L. Smith, division stage agent of the California and Oregon Stage Company, and of the pioneer stage drivers along this road.

Registered 1/11/1935