Georgetown Junction
At this historic and well-known landmark the immigrant trail left the American River and ascended the summit of the mountains to the north following them toward a point of Sec M:1 near the U.S. Forest Station just east of the 18th Milestone.
The Georgetown Junction once had a toll house, where a stone chimney left from those days stood well into the 20th Century. It seemed to be a popular place to take a photograph for Lincoln Highway and early Highway 50 for travelers.
At its earliest, Georgetown Junction was where Johnson’s Trail left the river and climbed high up to Peavine Ridge, and eventually down to the river and a crossing at Bartlett’s Bridge.
Later, after 1858 the state took over control of the road and built a new trail leaving the river further west at Silver Fork and the Sugar Loaf House site.
Georgetown Junction then became a cut-off road for travelers headed to Georgetown rather than Placerville.
