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5 unusual facts about California State Route 20


Bloody Island Massacre

The first, placed by the Native Sons of the Golden West on 20 May 1942 on Reclamation Road 0.3 miles off Highway 20, simply noted the location as the scene of a "battle" between US soldiers under "Captain" Lyons and Indians under Chief Augustine.

California State Route 20

Its west end is at SR 1 in Fort Bragg, from where it heads east past Clear Lake, Colusa, Yuba City, Marysville, and Nevada City to I-80 near Emigrant Gap, where eastbound traffic can continue on other routes to Lake Tahoe or Nevada.

This route generally followed the present SR 20, except around Clear Lake and between Marysville and Rough and Ready (where it used Spenceville Road).

By the end of the 1910s, a passable dirt and gravel road connected Ukiah and Nevada City via the south side of Clear Lake and Marysville.

This road was extended through the state highway system all the way to Ukiah in the early twentieth century, and the missing link near Clear Lake was completed in 1932 before the official designation of this highway as SR 20 in 1934.



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