Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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Highway 1 Construction & Recent Settlement

UNTIL 1938, early settlers could only dream of a safe, fast route down the coast from Monterey to Big Sur. Even a simple supply trip to Monterey required a three-day trek up steep ridges and across creeks and deep canyons. In 1919, after lobbying pressure from a local politician, the federal government began construction of a road along the central California coast. The construction project pitted settlers who wanted to preserve their privacy against those who sought to profit from California’s growing tourist trade.

Built by convicts and local labor, Highway 1 would become one of America’s most popular roadways, revealing a gorgeous natural landscape. Artists and writers, social activists, scientists, philosophers, and other visionaries flocked to the area for inspiration, forming small artists’ colonies and Bohemian sanctuaries. In the 1940s and ’50s, playwright Henry Miller lived and worked in Big Sur. Other famous people who spent time here include Robert Louis Stevenson, Ansel Adams, Jack Kerouac, Mary Austin, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck, Robinson Jeffers, Lillian Ross, and Edward Weston.