Harris Creek Toll Gate
East of Horseshoe Bend, on the north side of Harris Creek Road:
Site of Harris Creek Toll Gate
Road from Placerville
to Picket Corral Hill**
built and operated by
Thomas Reeves Felix Harris
Tom Pettingill Hank Hawkins
Phillip Fry
Dedicated to Boise County"
Mills writes it cost Kentucky-born Felix Harris $100,000 to build the road that extended from the then-Boise County/Ada County line to Placerville. The ranch was eight miles above Horseshoe Bend and twelve miles from Placerville. The toll gate was operated directly from the front porch of the house. The travel was so heavy sometimes the tolls collected ran as high as $1,000 per day. Harris died from injuries received when he was robbed one night on a ride to Placerville. His widow, Anna Harris, later married George Pettingill. In 1883 they sold the road and the ranch to Henry "Hank" Hawkins.
**to the west, in what is now Gem County
Sources:
Nellie Ireton Mills, -- All Along the River/Territorial and Pioneer Days on the Payette. Privately printed for Payette Radio Limited, 1963.
Photos and narrative by Sharon McConnel | © 2013 Reba McMillan. All Rights Reserved.