Fall 2026

the road in the dark. Doud proclaimed, “Doc, your horse will never make it, she’s starting to foam. Let’s switch in my stallion. Let him run— he knows the way.” The horses were switched, the stallion ran on following the twisting road, and Roberts arrived at the wreck site before sunrise. From Seaside, the 30-mile trip took three and a half hours, the fastest time by horse and cart ever recorded. On a small beach at the foot of Point Sur rock, Roberts took stock of the grim scene. All told, 150 passengers were on board the steamship. Many were “thrashing about in the breakers, scrambling up rocks, or lying injured or dying on the beach.” Scores of passengers had sustained serious traumatic injuries, varying from broken bones to major lacerations. Roberts worked uninterrupted for three days and nights, tending to the injured as best he could. Despite his best efforts, six passengers died. A nearby barn was repurposed as a make-shift morgue, where Roberts embalmed the dead. Roberts’ efforts were hampered by the Old Coast Road, which made difficult getting additional personnel, equipment and supplies in, and the injured out. Recognizing this deficiency, a steely determina- tion began to set in. Roberts would champion getting a better road built. Back on the Monterey Peninsula, Roberts talked with others about the need for a better road. He found a friend in attorney Frank Powers, cofounder of Carmel-by-the-Sea. In 1897, the two men hiked the Big Sur coast together, scouting out a route for a future road. Roberts sketched and took notes, and Powers took stereopticon photographs, which he later colorized. After the pair reached San Simeon, they returned home on a ship. (Above) Laborers taking a break in 1929 during work on the highway roadway leading up Carmel Hill. (Below) A family in a single horse carriage traveling on the Old Coast Road in the heart of Big Sur, circa 1900. 120 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 6 Photos: Courtesy of Monterey County Historical Society