Now for the path from the
Mission to Miramar....
The early Inland Road reached the point southwest of the San Diego Mission by means of Ward Road. 1935 US 395 would have taken Fairmount to the original Camino Del Rio (now likely totally obliterated by the freeway). It followed this road west to Ward Road at a point wiped out by the 8/15 interchange. (Today, take Camino Del Rio North.)
I did find one clue, however. Right at the former intersection of Camino Del Rio and Ward Rd, there was once a benchmark. The assumed position seems a bit too far southeast, but it's given as
N 32° 46.683 W 117° 06.733 (NAD 83)Here's the description:
Benchmark DC0939, Designation: "R 321"
01/01/1935 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
01/01/1939 by NGS (GOOD)
DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1939 5.9 MI NE FROM SAN DIEGO. ALONG A COUNTY ROAD, AT THE JUNCTION OF THIS COUNTY ROAD AND U.S. HIGHWAY 395, 40 YARDS WEST OF THE INTERSECTION OF THE ROADS, 35 FEET NORTHWEST OF CENTER LINE OF COUNTY ROAD, 19 FEET NORTHEAST OF TELEPHONE POLE 306492 H, 4.5 FEET NORTHWEST OF A 6 X 6 INCH WHITE GUARD POST MARKED USBM. 5.9 MILES NE OF SF RY SIGNBOARD OLD TOWN.The county road was likely Camino Del Rio coming from Old Town. In any case we know US 395 was here in 1939 (and probably 1935 when it was monumented). The fact that a benchmark was placed in 1935 might be another confirmation that the road became a US highway in that year.
At a point close to the Mission, all the maps indicate the road headed northwest on a bit of a diagonal. So this was probably San Diego Mission Road. Another benchmark was evidently at this turn, but the coordinates given today are totally off.
Benchmark DC0933, Designation: "Q 321 USGS"
01/01/1935 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
01/01/1939 by NGS (GOOD)
DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1939 6.4 MI NE FROM SAN DIEGO. 6.4 MILES NE OF SANTA FE RAILROAD SIGNBOARD OLD TOWN ALONG ROAD TO SAN DIEGO MISSION DE ALCALA, NEAR THE ENTRANCE TO THE MISSION, 66 YARDS NORTHEAST OF CENTER OF A RIGHT ANGLE CURVE IN U.S. HIGHWAY 395, 20 FEET NORTHWEST OF A GATE AT ENTRANCE TO THE MISSION, 19 FEET EAST OF AN IRON BELL ON TOP OF A 3 INCH IRON PIPE, 21 FEET NORTH OF THE CENTER LINE OF ROAD INTO THE MISSION.Note the right angle curve reference. There was evidently once an El Camino Real bell here. Perhaps it's one of the four in front of the mission now. I'd know better where the benchmarks were if I had a 1940s La Mesa Quadrangle map. Unfortunately, I can't find one online. Perhaps SDSU has one, but only the La Jolla and Poway quads are shown online at the
San Diego Association of Geologists web site.
In any case, somehow the road went north along Murphy Canyon Road. Later NGS descriptions in the area talk about "New Murphy Canyon Road." So I assume there was an old one. The new one is likely the future I-15. The 1950 map indicates the road was east of the drainage. I think the section of Murphy Canyon Road near Frys was likely US 395. It is just east of the drainage. From Aero Drive to Highway 52, things are likely messed up by I-15.
Perhaps some sections of Murphy Canyon Rd were the old highway.
Now, I wondered how the heck the road got to Kearny Villa Rd. The maps indicated it shot straight up the Canyon to Kearny Villa Rd, meeting it just west of old Camp Elliott and the turn north on Kearny Villa. Well there is no road there. But...
There
was one once! It was still called Murphy Canyon Road, and traces of it can be seen, though it looks like someone totally ripped it out: [
aerial view].
Again, two benchmarks come to the rescue.
Benchmark DC0919, Designation: "N 896", approximately at:
N 32° 50.800 W 117° 07.417 (NAD 83)01/01/1955 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1955 0.5 MI SW FROM CAMP ELLIOTT. 0.5 MILE SOUTHWEST ALONG MURPHY CANYON ROAD FROM THE MAIN GATE AT CAMP ELLIOTT, 4.8 MILES NORTH OF MISSION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA, AT THE SOUTH CORNER OF A TRIANGLE FORMED BY MURPHY CANYON ROAD AND A PAVED ROAD (OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 395) LEADING SOUTHWEST, AT A 12-INCH CORRUGATED METAL PIPE CULVERT IN THE SOUTH FORK OF THE TRIANGLE, IN THE TOP OF THE CENTER OF A U SHAPED CONCRETE HEAD WALL, 27 FEET WEST OF THE CENTER LINE OF MURPHY CANYON ROAD, 26 FEET NORTHEAST OF THE CENTER LINE OF THE ROAD LEADING TO THE OLD HIGHWAY, AND ABOUT 1 1/2 FEET LOWER THAN MURPHY CANYON ROAD.Benchmark DC0918, Designation: "417.0 USGS", approximately at:
N 32° 50.867 W 117° 07.417 (NAD 83)Unknown by USGS (MONUMENTED)
01/01/1955 by NGS (GOOD)
DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1955 0.4 MI SE FROM CAMP ELLIOTT. 0.45 MILE SOUTHWEST ALONG MURPHY CANYON ROAD FROM THE MAIN GATE AT CAMP ELLIOTT, AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF A TRIANGLE FORMED BY A PAVED ROAD (OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 395) LEADING SOUTHWEST, AT A 12-INCH CORRUGATED METAL PIPE CULVERT UNDER THE OLD HIGHWAY, ON THE TOP OF THE CENTER OF THE SOUTHEAST CONCRETE HEAD WALL, 48 FEET WEST OF THE CENTER LINE OF MURPHY CANYON ROAD, 24 FEET SOUTHEAST OF THE CENTER LINE OF THE OLD HIGHWAY, AND ABOUT 3 FEET LOWER THAN THE ROAD.Now these descriptions are from 1955 (though the second mark is older). "Old U.S. Highway 395" would have actually been Kearny Villa Road from this description. Now I know that this section of Kearny Villa Road was bypassed by 1948-1950 as shown in the 1950 auto club map. But I'm saying 1935-1940s US 395 went down Murphy Canyon Road. So where did US 395 go from the time it went south on Murphy Canyon Road until the time it was bypassed by the later multi-lane alignment? Anyone have a Pacific Highways book from pre-1948? I'll have to figure that mystery out later.
[See later post for a likely solution to the benchmark references to "Old U.S. Highway 395."]OK, so I'm assuming that the 1935 road then went northeast to the entrance of old Camp Elliott at Huntington Drive. The maps then show it heading
straight north. Now I assumed this was under the later US 395 on divided Kearny Villa Road, but you know what they say about ass-u-ming. Here I got the evidence farther north from two older topo maps. I'll show snips of them below.
First the 1942 Poway Valley Quad surveyed in 1939:

Note how the road runs just east of the section line, then right on the section line to "Miramar." It then curves east to Pomerado Road from a point right on the section corner. That would be about {
here}. There's still a curve there, but now it seems to be some sort of fenced in gas line. They must have placed the line where the road once was.
Here's the 1967 map (revised in purple 1975):

So, I assumed wrong. Old US 395 followed Altair Avenue north from Camp Elliott. Then the road dead ends at Miramar Way. This is where we see the road just east of the section line. It then curved west to run on the section line as Maxam Avenue north of Miramar Way. By the way, the curve on Kearny Mesa north of Miramar Road was the old offramp from the earlier freeway version of US 395 as shown in the topo above.
Fortunately, there are some benchmarks on this old alignment. One is on the bridge over the wash at
N 32° 52.093 W 117° 07.082.
The description is:
Benchmark DC0914, Designation: "T 896"
01/01/1955 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1955 1.1 MI S FROM MIRAMAR NAAS. 1.1 MILES SOUTH ALONG A PAVED ROAD (OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 395) FROM THE PASS OFFICE AT MIRAMAR NAVAL AUXILIARY AIR STATION, 1.1 MILES NORTH OF CAMP ELLIOTT, AT A BRIDGE OVER A WASH, IN THE TOP OF THE NORTHWEST END OF THE NOTHWEST CONCRETE WING WALL, 21.6 FEET NORTHWEST OF THE CENTER LINE OF THE ROAD, AND ABOUT LEVEL WITH THE ROAD.Better yet are some older benchmarks farther north. One is at the intersection of former US 395 and the road into old Camp Kearny. This road was once called Kearny Blvd, but is now marked as Zepplin Ave on Google. It appears to be a cement road. Evidently is was the main road into the base, and was at mile 106.5 on the 1922 map above.
N 32° 52.345 W 117° 07.082Benchmark DC0911, Designation: "KEARNY"
01/01/1938 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1938 (ACT) STATION IS 1.35 MILES S OF MIRIMAR POST OFFICE, 33.8 FEET W OF CENTER LINE OF U.S. HIGHWAY 395, 28 YARDS N OF PAVED ROAD LEADING W TO CAMP KEARNY, ABOUT 200 YARDS SSE OF LARGE CONCRETE TANK IN T 15 S, R 2 W. SURFACE, UNDERGROUND AND REFERENCE MARKS ARE STANDARD BRONZE DISKS SET IN CONCRETE. STATION MARK IS A STANDARD STATION DISK SET IN A 10 INCH SQUARE CONCRETE POST, STAMPED KEARNY 1938, PROJECTS 10 INCHES. UNDERGROUND STATION MARK IS A STANDARD STATION DISK SET IN A 10 INCH SQUARE CONCRETE, STAMPED KEARNY 1938, 40 INCHES BENEATH SURFACE. REFERENCE MARK NO. 1 IS A STANDARD REFERENCE DISK SET IN A 10 INCH SQUARE CONCRETE POST, S OF STATION, STAMPED KEARNY NO. 1 1938, PROJECTS 10 INCHES. REFERENCE MARK NO. 2 IS A STANDARD REFERENCE DISK SET IN A 10 INCH SQUARE CONCRETE POST, W OF STATION, STAMPED KEARNY NO. 2 1938, PROJECTS 10 INCHES. AZIMUTH OBJECT IS OLD DIRIGIBLE MAST USED FOR MACON AND AKRON, 0.6 MILE WSW OF STATION, (USED RED LIGHT ON TOP OF MAST). TO REACH FROM MIRIMAR POST OFFICE GO S ON U.S. HIGHWAY 395 FOR 1.35 MILES TO STATION ON RIGHT SIDE OF HIGHWAY, 33.8 FEET W OF CENTER LINE. BAROMETRIC ELEVATION (G 212) 615 FEET.There's another 1955 mark at the corner of Altair and Kearny Court, which was evidently an old Miramar entrance before the newer big Miramar Way was built. This is BM 481 on the topo above.
Benchmark DC1162, Designation: "U 896"
01/01/1955 by CGS (MONUMENTED)
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1955 AT MIRAMAR NAAS. AT MIRAMAR NAVAL AUXILIARY AIR STATION, AT THE PASS OFFICE (BUILDING M-310), SET VERTICALLY IN THE WEST CONCRETE WALL NEAR THE SOUTHWEST CORNER, 72 1/2 FEET EAST OF THE CENTER LINE OF A NORTH-SOUTH PAVED ROAD (OLD U.S. HIGHWAY 395), 44.0 FEET NORTH OF THE CENTER LINE OF A PAVED ROAD LEADING EAST, AND 2 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND.There's also a benchmark description of the one at the curve to Pomerado which can be seen in both topos above.
Next I'll cover the road up to Poway. I'm calling it quits for tonight, but just notice that the 1917 map shows an older, even more winding grade than the later Poway Grade of the 1922 and 1950 maps. I'll show both roads in the next post.