The Lincoln Highway was born in 1912; an idea of Carl Fisher who thought it was time there was a coast to coast all weather highway stretching from Times Square, New York to Lincoln Park, San Francisco. Helped along with funds from the automobile industry and the Lincoln Highway Association, the highway was completed in the mid-1920s and the final stretch of gravel road was paved in 1935. In 1956 President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act into law and the Lincoln Highway was on its way into history. In 1992, a new Lincoln Highway Association was formed to help prevent the destruction of the nation’s most historic highway. Members of the Association still travel the historic highway that is marked along the way, due to the efforts of local citizens and organizations. The Lincoln Highway passed through Elk Grove in front of the Elk Grove House & Stage Stop on what is now East Stockton Blvd. On October 6, 2007 the Elk Grove Historical Society dedicated a new commemorative marker that was placed along the route of the historic Lincoln Highway, at its Elk Grove Heritage Park. The funds for the marker were provided by the Elk Grove Auto Mall, aptly harking back to the early days when the highway’s construction was funded in part by the automobile industry. Members of the Society and the Lincoln Highway Association along with members of the public, enjoyed the speakers and lunch afterwards. The Society was presented with an official Lincoln Highway sign by the Lincoln Highway Association to place at the museum. Another will be given to the City of Elk Grove to place along East Stockton Blvd.
President Anita Peters and Generations Director Jeanette Lawson, unveil the Lincoln Highway commemorative marker.
The Lincoln Highway marker at the Elk Grove Heritage Park marks Elk Grove's place along the historic Lincoln Highway.
A friend of the Historical Society placed this marker near the Lincoln Highway Commemorative marker. These markers were found, at one time on either side of state highways marking the land owned by the state. The "C" shows it is from California.
Lincoln Highway Association members present Elk Grove Historical Society president, Anita Peters, with a historical highway marker sign for the front of the Elk Grove House Stage Stop & Museum. Pictured are California State Director Bob Dieterich and California Chapter President Norm Root, presenting the sign. A similar sign was presented to the City of Elk Grove for placement along East Stocton Blvd., the road that was once the Lincoln Highway. We would like to thank the following sponsors who helped make this event possible: The Elk Grove Auto Mall, E Clampus Vitus, Vargas Financial and Insurance and Zgraggen Farms.
Jared Dixon Sheldon, one of our earliest pioneers and originally from Vermont, came to California in 1832 and at some point afterward became a Mexican citizen. In 1842, Thomas Larkin, who was then the American Consul to Mexico, was awarded the contract for expansion and improvement of the Customs House in Monterey, which had been built in 1827. Jared Sheldon worked on this project for Thomas Larkin. Based on the size of the land grant he received as payment for services to the Mexican government on this project it could be assumed he was a foreman. He was granted Omochumnes Rancho, nearly 14,000 acres near present day Sloughhouse and Rancho Murieta, in 1843 for his work. It was there that he and friend William Daylor built a grist mill in 1845 to mill wheat for Capt. John Sutter on the Cosumnes River. To supply water to his crops south of the river he built a dam 16-ft high, double-walled of heavy oak, and filled with large stones. On July 12, 1851 he was shot and killed by 40 to 100 angry miners in the river below his dam. Also killed in the shootout were 2 of Sheldon’s 12 friends, James M. Johnson of Iowa and Edward Cody of Illinois. Three men were wounded, including a miner. The prevailing miners destroyed the sluice gate in the dam. They had unrecorded gold mining claims in the river-bottom on Sheldon’s land, which would be flooded by the rising water upstream from the dam. Subsequent floods continued the dam’s destruction, and hydraulic mining in Michigan Bar buried the remnants in silt. Public right of access to California streams was not clarified until 1879. This display shows how the mill worked and pictures of the remains of the mill. Various parts of the mill are now on display at the Heritage Park in effort to help preserve this part of our rich heritage. Plans are underway, as funding allows, to create a working model of Sheldon's Grist Mill.
This is the site on the Cosumnes River where Jared Sheldon built his dam to water his crops that he planned to sell to the miners. Those same miners ended the lives of Jared Sheldon and two of his friends on 12 July 1851 in a dispute over the dam built on Sheldon's own land.
On 12 July 2008 the Elk Grove Historical Society and the Native Sons of the Golden West, Parlor 41, dedicated a new marker to the memory of Jared Sheldon and those who died helping defend his property 157 years before.
Ellen Rosa, great granddaughter of Jared Sheldon, talks to those attending the dedication of the marker honoring him.
The Miwok tribe were the Native Americans that were in the Elk Grove area. This ancient grinding stone, or metate, was found in a field in Ione, just above Sloughhouse, and donated to the Society. Plans are underway to present a Miwok interpretive center around the metate. The Society is currently seeking groups or organizations wishing to help fund this preservation project.
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