Scissors Crossing - Redux Traditional Cache
Scissors Crossing - Redux
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Scissors Crossing got its' name from the road crews building the route from the coast to Imperial Valley. In 1937 Robert Hays described the name as the term "used frequently by railroad people to indicate a crossing which is not made at right angles but in a diagonal such as would be formed by a partially opened pair of scissors". He further stated the "the name is not particularly pretty but it is appropriate".
Ranger Jack Welch tried to get the name changed to San Felipe in the mid 1950s but it was never changed.
The route we know as S-2 followed the route used by the Butterfield Overland Mail and in the 1920s was called the Imperial Highway by the El Centro Chamber of Commerce. They saw a "first class" road starting in El Segundo traveling thru Norwalk, Yorba Linda, Corona, Temecula, Warner Springs and Mason Valley ending in El Centro.
In the 1930s the proposed route was still not completed and was almost impossible to use except by animal-drawn cart. It was challenging even for jeeps!!
In 1944 The San Diego Board of Supervisors officially changed the name of the road to "The Great Southern Overland Stage Route of 1849.
A plaque was placed on the Imperial/San Diego county line in 1933 by the El Centro American Legion. The original plaque was stollen in the 1970s. Sometime in the 90's an aluminum plaque was installed that read "This is the Desert. There is nothing out here. Nothing." It was signed N. Karavasiles.
Today there is geocaching and there is a lot in the desert!
Thanks to Fossillady for correcting my errors about the crossing!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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