Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...

of Northern California between Livermore in the

Livermore Valley The Livermore Valley, historically known as the Valle de San José (Valley of San José), is a valley in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region. The city of Livermore is located in the valley. Geography The valley is bound ...

and Tracy in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby crossings of the range. The lower of the two, at an elevation of , carries two railroad rights-of-way (ROWs) and Altamont Pass Road, part of the old

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

and the original alignment of

US 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

before it was bypassed . The bypass route travels over the higher summit, at , and now carries Interstate 580, a major regional highway heavily congested by Central Valley

suburbanization Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...

. Of the two railroad lines through the old pass, one is still in use: the ex- Western Pacific line built in 1908 over the pass, which is sometimes known as the Altamont Corridor, now owned by

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

. It carries freight trains as well as the

Altamont Corridor Express The Altamont Corridor Express (also known as ACE, formerly Altamont Commuter Express) is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose during peak hours only. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs ...

, which gives its occasional name (ACE) and operates between Stockton, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, and San Jose. The other and older right-of-way was the line built in 1869 with a 1,200-foot long summit tunnel by the original

Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870) The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

as part of the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

. After 1879, when a sea level ferry crossing at the

Carquinez Strait The Carquinez Strait (; Spanish: ''Estrecho de Carquinez'') is a narrow tidal strait in Northern California. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay. The strait is ...

replaced the 1869 route, it remained in use for other purposes by the Southern Pacific. In 1984 it was abandoned and deeded to

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

by Southern Pacific Railroad in favor of

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

on the aforementioned ex-Western Pacific line. Wind Turbine (new)

From 1966 to 2008, the Altamont Pass area was home to the Altamont Speedway, which became famous as the site of the 1969

Altamont Free Concert The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some a ...

, a large outdoor concert featuring

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

and marred by violence. The pass is also known for the Altamont Pass Wind Farm, one of the earliest in the United States.

History

From the time of the California Gold Rush, what is now Altamont Pass was called Livermore's Pass after Robert Livermore, the owner of the

Rancho Las Positas Rancho Las Positas was a Mexican land grant in present-day Alameda County, California given in 1839 by governor Juan Alvarado to Robert Livermore and José Noriega. Las Positas means "little watering holes" in Spanish. The rancho included t ...

and a way station near the pass. After the transcontinental railroad was built through the pass by Chinese laborers in 1869, Altamont, formerly The Summit, was established in 1872. Eventually the pass took the name of the town, but the site is now essentially uninhabited.

Gallery

File:Wind energy converter5.jpg, Older wind turbines, part of the Altamont Pass Wind Farm. File:WP 803A with the California Zephyr in Altamont, February 1970.jpg, Eastward ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'' just east of Altamont Pass, February 1970.

References

External links

30 photos of Altamont Pass Wind Farm

Altamont Pass image
{{Authority control Mountain passes of California Diablo Range Landforms of Alameda County, California Livermore Valley Rail mountain passes of the United States Interstate 80 Livermore, California Tracy, California Lincoln Highway U.S. Route 50

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links