This historic photo and information was generously provided by Gerry Olsen, grandson of Nils Olsen, one of the original settlers in the Conejo Valley in the 1890s.

Back at the turn of the century, farmers in the Conejo Valley grew dry crops like barley and wheat and had to take their harvest to Port Hueneme/Oxnard via horse-drawn wagons. Their only routes were the treacherous (at the time) Potrero Road or down the unpaved Norwegian Grade to Santa Rosa Road.

So in 1909, with a $60 donation from the county to purchase dynamite, Norwegian families Olsen, Pedersen, other volunteers and paid helpers blasted into the hillside from Nils Olsen's property, 1 1/2 miles down to Santa Rosa Road.

It took two to three years to finish the project using the dynamite, manual labor and horse-drawn earth moving machines called Fresno Scrapers (named after a Scottish chap in 1883 who formed the Fresno Agricultural Works to manufacture it). Here is a historic photo of these early Conejo Valley roadbuilders.