When it was a two-lane highway, the Bloody Baker Grade, an 18-mile-long grade north of Baker, Calif. along what is now I-15 was the scene of many accidents. These often occurred when northbound cars heading uphill tried to pass slower vehicles only to collide with southbound cars heading downhill.
The English actress Belinda Lee died on the Baker Grade in 1961 when the sports car in which she was riding went out of control. And in 1968, a wrong-way drunk driver collided with a bus trying to pass a slower northbound vehicle, killing 19 people.
The Baker Grade is much safer now, with four lanes for cars and a truck lane going either way, and a median strip.
Boy - that was a long time ago..good memory. Is Baker where the HUGE thermometer is or used to be? Like anyone needed a thermometer in the desert - it was HOT - no matter what!!!