The highway begins at Third Street in the middle of Gold Point.

The alignment followed that of the present-day SR 774 and extended further southwest of Gold Point to the California state line.

[2] With no major road or town connection beyond Gold Point into California, the southern end of SR 71 was truncated to Gold Point by 1968.

[5] SR 774 regularly appears on state highway maps beginning with the 1991–92 edition.

[7] Note: The route's mileposts are assigned from north to south.