designated as the Feather River Scenic Byway, a National Forest Scenic Byway. History Trails James Beckwourth opened the Beckwourth Trail over Beckwourth Pass in 1851, crossing the Sierra Nevada at a lower elevation than the existing Donner Pass route of the California Trail. This split from the Truckee Route of the California Trail near Reno and roughly followed the present SR 70 to Quincy, but, rather than passing through the Feather River Canyon, it followed Oroville-Quincy Highway along ridges to Bidwell's Bar. A company was incorporated on July 23, 1855, to build the Quincy and Spanish Ranch Wagon Road, which bypassed the older trail from Quincy west to Spanish Ranch and began collecting tolls in November. The Pioneer Wagon Road, another toll road, was built in 1856 and 1857, continuing the improvements southwest to Buckeye (just before the Butte County line). An 1866 law authorized Plumas County to improve the portion from Quincy east to Beckwourth. The county also improved the road east from Beckwourth over the pass as part of the Red Clover Wagon Road, which began at Genesee and was completed in the 1870s. The Western Pacific Railroad completed its main line into California in 1909. This followed the old Beckwourth Trail east of Quincy, but to the west it reached Oroville and Marysville via the Feather River Canyon. While building the railroad, the Utah Construction Company had created a dirt road through the canyon to assist with construction; citizens created the Plumas County Road Association in 1911 to push for improvements to this roadway and creation of a year-round route between Oroville and Quincy (the existing route over the ridges was closed for at least four months each winter). The first state highway bond issue, passed by the state's voters in 1910, included a Route 30 connecting Oroville with Quincy. Plumas County surveyor Arthur W. Keddie surveyed the Feather River Canyon route for the California Highway Commission in 1913, but the state announced in 1916 that the existing ridge route would be improved. After much debate, the state legislative road committee included the statement that this route would follow the Feather River in the 1919 amendment authorizing a third bond issue; instead of keeping it as Route 30, the Highway Commission changed the designation to an extension of the short Richvale-Oroville (now SR 162) Route 21, which was also part of the first bond issue. Modern route