For those not familiar with the place, it is located at the junction of Highways 70 and 395. Long before the highways existed, it was known Junction and later a stage-stop known as Junction House. It should be duly noted those “junctions” were located near Long Valley Creek, adjacent to the NCO railroad and the roads leading to and forth from Reno.
Since the 1850s, the region has always been referred to as a junction to Beckwourth Pass and the Sierra Valley. It has been told that emigrants in the 1850s, when they arrived at this spot, shouted “Hallelujah” whey they saw Beckwourth Pass—at 5228’ its the lowest pass over the Sierra.
In 1932, Orville Stoy took up an 80-acre homestead there. Stoy built a gas station and it became a popular stop, known as Hallelujah Junction. In time, a bar, restaurant and motel were constructed. There was even the “Hallelujah International Airport” that consisted of a couple of airplane hangers and a runway that was an abandoned stretch of Highway 70. In 1973, the State of California purchased Hallelujah Junction. It was obliterated for the construction of the four-lane freeway from there to the Nevada State line. In 1991, a gas station and convenience store was built at the junction of Highway 395 and 70.
First Jackalope I saw was mounted on the wall at Hallelujah Junction. I have spent the last seventy years on the lookout for one in the wild, but no luck.
Hey, that rings a bell!
I remember it well – the Greyhound bus let me off there when I came back from Chico so my Dad could pick me up there instead of going all the way to Reno.