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Thought you all might find this interesting. I received this via email today from WAYWEGOS Jeep Club, the adopt-a-trail club for John Bull:
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I was doing a bit of research on our trail. This is what I found!
Kent Olson
Hello,
I apologize for not replying to you sooner, but we have been out of town.
Up here, the John Bull Trail is generally referred to as the Van Dusen Road. I can give you a little history on it.
As you are probably aware, gold was discovered in Holcomb Valley in 1860. The main route from the San Bernardino area was a steep mule trail up the Santa Ana Canyon, over the mountains to the south of Big Bear Valley and on to Holcomb Valley. The miners needed a route to bring up heavy equipment and supplies and to take their gold out. In 1861, the miners heard that John Brown was building a toll road from San Bernardino Valley over Cajon Pass to the desert. They contracted with Jed Van Dusen, the local blacksmith, to build a road from Holcomb Valley, through John Bull Flat, over the mountain, down to the desert, ending up at Hesperia, with it met the John Brown. He and his crew started the road in June1861 and completed in August of that year.
Hope that this information helps. The is some information on the road in Tom Core's book, "Bearly Remembered" and John Robinson's book "the San Bernardinos". They are both available at the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum.
Sincerely,
Emory Drury, Webmaster
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----- Original Message -----
From: SweetsAntiques@aol.com
To: kent_olsen@waywegos.com
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 9:50 PM
Subject: John Bull Trail
Hello, our historical webmaster forwarded this to me to answer as best I can. As curator of the Big Bear Historical Museum, I have some info for you. The John Bull family was one of the early Mormans who settled in Lake Arrowhead (back then it was called Little Bear) in the mid-early 1800's. They were in the sawmill business and built the first sawmills here. He and others were responsible for cutting roads thur the San Bernardinos for the sawmills to haul lumber. The trail leads down to present day deep creek. Hope that was somewhat helpful.
Sincerly, Kim Sweet
-------------------------------------------------
I was doing a bit of research on our trail. This is what I found!
Kent Olson
Hello,
I apologize for not replying to you sooner, but we have been out of town.
Up here, the John Bull Trail is generally referred to as the Van Dusen Road. I can give you a little history on it.
As you are probably aware, gold was discovered in Holcomb Valley in 1860. The main route from the San Bernardino area was a steep mule trail up the Santa Ana Canyon, over the mountains to the south of Big Bear Valley and on to Holcomb Valley. The miners needed a route to bring up heavy equipment and supplies and to take their gold out. In 1861, the miners heard that John Brown was building a toll road from San Bernardino Valley over Cajon Pass to the desert. They contracted with Jed Van Dusen, the local blacksmith, to build a road from Holcomb Valley, through John Bull Flat, over the mountain, down to the desert, ending up at Hesperia, with it met the John Brown. He and his crew started the road in June1861 and completed in August of that year.
Hope that this information helps. The is some information on the road in Tom Core's book, "Bearly Remembered" and John Robinson's book "the San Bernardinos". They are both available at the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum.
Sincerely,
Emory Drury, Webmaster
--------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: SweetsAntiques@aol.com
To: kent_olsen@waywegos.com
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 9:50 PM
Subject: John Bull Trail
Hello, our historical webmaster forwarded this to me to answer as best I can. As curator of the Big Bear Historical Museum, I have some info for you. The John Bull family was one of the early Mormans who settled in Lake Arrowhead (back then it was called Little Bear) in the mid-early 1800's. They were in the sawmill business and built the first sawmills here. He and others were responsible for cutting roads thur the San Bernardinos for the sawmills to haul lumber. The trail leads down to present day deep creek. Hope that was somewhat helpful.
Sincerly, Kim Sweet