The photo below, courtesy of the Poway Historical Society. is labeled, “Old Poway Grade Taken in 1911”:
Commuters sitting in traffic snaking over the Poway Grade today might have a hard time imagining it as a dirt road where traffic jams once consisted of livestock, but that was the case a century ago.
The Poway Historical Society’s archives include the written reminiscences of Andrew Kirkham, a member of one of Poway’s pioneering farming families. One of his journals describes how, as a 14-year-old in 1898, he joined his father and brother clearing the Poway Grade’s roadbed of loose rocks.
“Whenever a flock of sheep drove down the Poway grade, there would be a lot of rocks rolled down onto the road,” Kirkham wrote. “These flocks would be driven to the northern part of the country in the springtime and return in the fall.”
The flocks numbered anywhere from 500 to 1,000 sheep according to Kirkham. Similar numbers of horses, cattle and hogs were driven over the grade as well
Gettin’ over the grade is just one of many aspects of North County history I’ll be talking about in my lecture, “San Diego North County-A Look Back,” on Tuesday, June 6 at 12:30 p.m. at the University Community Library in San Diego. The program is co-sponsored by the San Diego Public Library and San Diego Oasis. Come join us!
San Diego History Seeker 
Vince, Which University Library will you be speaking? 4155 Governor Dr,
San Diego, CA 92122? or 8820 Judicial Dr, SD 92122? The latter is
called North University Library.
BTW, The photo in your email was called Poway Grade back then, but we
now call it Pomerado Rd. The extension of Poway Rd to Hwy 67 came
later, and is now called Poway Grade. For a time, old Pomerado Rd was
also called US395. SD County did a lot of work on old Pomerado Rd in
the 1980s, and straightened out some of the curves in your photo. There
still is a stretch of Old Pomerado Rd in Poway that passes by the Big
Stone Lodge.
Mike Fry.
Mike,
Thanks for your interest. I’ll be speaking at the library on Governor Drive. And yes, I know about the evolution of “the grade.” In discussing that segment during my talk I usually begin by distinguishing between the old and new routes.
Thanks again,
Vincent