By any name, road from Auburn to Folsom links history

If you're in Auburn, the sign reads Auburn Folsom Road. If you're in Folsom, its moniker is Folsom Auburn Road. No matter what you call it, this two-lane byway links two counties and their history.Folsom Auburn Road generally follows the path of pioneer settlers that trailed alongside the Middle and South forks of the American River to reach new homesteads in the Western frontier. It also was the route taken by many novice prospectors who arrived by ship in San Francisco, steamed up the Sacramento River, then hiked or rode a mule or horse up through the foothills to search for gold.The paths linked Sacramento - through the train town of Folsom - to an encampment at Sutter's Mill, where gold had been discovered on the South Fork of the American. The rough track led through early mining settlements before veering north to meet the Pioneer Trail.Stopping along the way to pan for gold in the waterways, the miners pitched camp on the river banks, creating the territory's first boom towns, such as Mormon Bar, Granite Bar and Beal's Bar. One of the many routes paralleling the river became the Pioneer Express Trail. From 1849 to 1854, riders on horseback took this route from camp to camp, delivering mail to the river-side mining communities and to the burgeoning city of Auburn. That service was replaced a few years later by the Pony Express, which traced the river through El Dorado County to the southeast. One of the initial establishments along the southwestern end of the trace was the Allen Ranch. Built in 1863 near Miner's Ravine Creek by Hiram and Elizabeth Allen, the place included a store proffering provisions to emigrants traveling the Pioneer Trail.As often happened, the area became known by the landowners' names. The territory surrounding this outpost was dubbed Allentown. Farther up the road were inns and stage stops, swarms of crude mining villages and refined posts of civilization, like the Long Valley School, which was established in the late 1860s.The old tracks continued serving riders, stagecoaches and buckboard wagons well into the 20th century when automobiles joined the traffic on the rutted dirt road. As the gold mining industry waned, agricultural pursuits became Placer County's economic mainstay. The camps along the river faded back into sandy bars and smooth boulders as miners moved on to other strikes in Nevada and Alaska, or gave up prospecting and turned to farming.Auburn Folsom Road was just a dusty trail, leading from ranch to ranch in the foothills northwest of the river. But as new development moved out of the big cities into Placer's rural reaches, the road became the path to bucolic bedroom communities on the outskirts of Auburn, Newcastle, Loomis, Granite Bay and Folsom.When the Folsom Dam was built in the 1960s to capture the American and control its flow into the Sacramento valley, remnants of many of the historic paths and mining villages were submerged in the manmade reservoir. Some of the trails still wander within the boundaries of the 18,000-acre Folsom Lake State Recreation Area.Once the dam was constructed, Auburn Folsom Road became a busy backroad between Folsom's and Auburn's exploding populations. Homes began to spread over tracts of land where there were scenic views of the river and the lake it forms. Today, this byway passes by some of Placer's most expensive neighborhoods on its way to meet the Sacramento County line in Folsom.There are several access points off Auburn Folsom Road to the Folsom Lake SRA - at Shirland Tract below Auburn; Rattlesnake Road in Newcastle; and at Beals Point in Granite Bay where there is an equestrian staging area for the Western States Pioneer Express Trail. There is also an entry at the east end of Horseshoe Bar Road in Loomis, although there is no public parking permitted. The Folsom Lake SRA also ties to the American River Bicycle Trail, which leads west toward Sacramento, and the Western States Trail that starts in Squaw Valley. With 75 miles of shoreline and 80 acres of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, the Folsom Lake SRA offers an array of recreational activities including bicycle camps, family camping, fishing, swimming, boating and water skiing.Back on Auburn Folsom Road, outside the park in Granite Bay, the Miner's Ravine Wildlife Preserve offers self-guided tours of a 24-acre nature refuge operated by the Placer County Parks Division. Open daily from dawn to dusk, the preserve uses an easy half-mile interpretive loop to teach visitors about the native flora and fauna of the area. No matter what direction you're headed, Auburn Folsom Road leads the way through history.