Before 1854, the main route of travel into the San Joaquin Valley had come directly north from Elizabeth Lake (originally Laguna de Chico Lopez) across the Antelope Valley, over this original Tejon Pass, and down into Tejon Canyon, and then proceeded west along Tejon Creek—into the lands of the Rancho Tejon, that had been granted in 1843. This route to the pass diverted from the El Camino Viejo at Elisabeth Lake, and from 1849 to before 1854 it was the main road connecting the southern part of the state to the trail along the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley to the goldfields to the north.