After Santa Barbara County incorporated in 1850, there was a need to connect the various population centers for the local ranchers and the overland mail stagecoach by an official “County Road.”
In 1859, William H. Leighton made the original survey for the road through Santa Barbara County, which then included present day Ventura County. He presented it and it was accepted by the County Supervisors on August 12, 1859. The road followed the coast between the Los Angeles County line near Malibu, continued along the shore or coast to Santa Barbara, north to Goleta, Gaviota, Las Cruces, the Santa Ynez Mission through the Nojoqui Pass, on to Ballard, Foxen, Sisquoc, and across the Santa Maria River at the Suey Ranch crossing and on to the Nipomo Rancho stage station in San Luis Obispo County. The road was 150 miles long and cost $15,000 to construct. The contract was awarded to James Thompson, who got the road in operating condition by August 1861.
This road was no superhighway. It followed the contours of the land, fording all creeks and had no bridges. Shovels, pickaxes, and black powder were used to scrape out the original roadbeds. The stages forded all streams or drove out on the sand at the beaches.