What do you know about Oroville Roads? The roads of Oroville reflect the history of the area. Being one of the oldest American towns in the region, rooted in the earliest days of the California gold rush, its first roads were trails for 49ers, pack animals, and wagons to carry men and supplies to the gold mining operations in the hills of the Sierra motherlode. These roads wind their ways up and down the canyons and through the flats. Many were drowned by the lake, and some have become parts of other roads, losing their original identity for short sections, or sometimes entirely. Some still exist more or less intact. I want to use this page to list what I know (as a relative newcomer to the area), what I've been told, what I suspect, and what I would like to know. I invite anyone more knowledgeable than I to contribute so we can learn more about this area.

Of course, I want to point out that the first paths through this area were made by animals such as deer on their forage routes. Then, first people, the Maidu (perhaps preceded by the Oak Grove people?), made footpaths throughout the hills and valley, marking the routes they took in their movements through the hills to gather the necessities of life. Some of these were used by the 49ers and are now paved over, others may now be untraceable, and again, many are drowned by the lake. As far as I know, the Californios (Mexican settlers in the Mission and rancho era) left little mark on this area, traveling here, if at all, by the river or overland by horse so infrequently as to leave little or no mark by the time the Americanos began settling here. If anyone knows of roads that were once Maidu, Spanish, or Mexican trails, please let me know, as I don't know of any. So I will start with the statehood/gold rush era, around 1848.

John Bidwell was the first American to find gold in the Oroville area, at Bidwell Bar in 1848, on July 4th. By 1849, miners were flocking to the Feather River area in search of gold, and the first perennial horsetrails and roads began to appear. Probably there was a road along the river from the Bidwell Bar to what is now Oroville, that could only be used for about half the year. Montgomery/Orange St/Oro-Dam Blvd/Canyon Dr probably was the winter and spring route to the Sacramento Valley from the bar. Supplies came up the Feather during the high water, and some during the low water, but overland was preferred during the low water season, and roads were made for wagons and stage coaches by the very early 1850s.