Skip to main content

Ivesta, Clotho, and DeWolf Ghost Town sites in Central Fresno County

By
This previous month has left me with not much to do thanks to all the effects of COVID-19.  That being the case I spent some time scoping out ghost town/rail siding sites in Central Fresno County while running an errand.  The three ghost towns locations I recently went to visit were; Ivesta, Clotho, and DeWolf.



Part 1; Ivesta and Clotho the Ghost Sidings of the Stockton & Tulare Railroad

Ivesta and Clotho were railroad sidings of the Southern Pacific Railroad spur line known as the Stockton & Tulare Railroad.  Ivesta was located on what is now Leonard Avenue whereas Clotho is located about one mile east on what is now McCall Avenue.  The Stockton & Tulare Railroad was completed in 1887 but it doesn't appear that Ivesta nor Clotho were among the original sidings.  Ivesta and Clotho don't appear on the 1889 George F. Cram Railroad map of California but nearby Butler does to the west on modern Fowler Avenue.


The first reference to any kind of siding facilities on the future sites of Ivesta and Clotho is on the 1891 Thompson Atlas of Fresno County.  A small parcel of land next to the Stockton & Tulare Railroad on what is now Leonard Avenue is shown owned by Margaret Ross at the site of what became Investa.  One mile east a small rail siding facility shown as Granville is located on the future site of Clotho.  The lack of major sidings in the area makes sense since downtown Sanger is located a short distance to the east. 


No major sidings appear on the Stockton & Tulare Railroad between Minneola and Sanger on the 1914 C.F. Weber Map of Fresno County.


The first true sighting of Ivesta and Clotho I can find is on a 1923 USGS Topographical Map hosted on historicaerials.com.  Interestingly Ivesta seems to be referred to as "Ive" on the 1923 USGS Map.  Ive appears a minimal siding facility with only a single structure visible.  Clotho appears as a fairly decent sized siding with approximately nine structures. 



Ivesta and Clotho are both large enough to get mentioned on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Fresno County.   


Part 1A; a water logged stop at Ivesta

Ivesta still appears on modern Google Map images and has some remaining structures.  The main siding building at Ivesta is noted as Hmong Star TV on Google Maps. 


 My path to Ivesta was east on a water logged Church Avenue.  The rains had been heavy the previous week which flooded many of the Fresno County farm roads.  Upon reaching Leonard Avenue I made a left hand turn to head north to the site of Ivesta.   


Suffice to say Leonard Avenue wasn't in much better shape flood wise approaching Ivesta.  I made a detour above the water on the right and stopped at the tracks of the Tulare & Stockton Railroad.  



A large warehouse facility east of Leonard Avenue is trace evidence of a once active siding at Ivesta.  The remains of a spur line to service the warehouse building can be found embedded into Leonard Avenue.  Of note; Mount Campbell which was way marker on the Stockton-Tulare Road (an 1850s stage route) can be seen in the distance below in Photos 3 & 4 immediately right of the tracks looking east.





A smaller crumbling warehouse can be found west of Leonard Avenue.



Part 1B; the remains of Clotho

Clotho has some significant siding remains which can be seen on Google Maps occupied by Guerriero Fruit and E.J. Gall McCall Winery. 


Visiting Clotho was much more straight forward than Ivesta given McCall Avenue is a well maintained roadway.  The former facilities of Clotho are definitely much more well maintained and far more active.  Looking east from the winery building a small switch can be easily observed.





Looking west towards the Guerriero Fruit building the spur line appears to be well maintained but some pulled rails can be seen as well.  



Part 2; you called the Wolf?...or DeWolf?

DeWolf is a former rail sidings of a Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF) line known as the Visalia District Railroad.  The Visalia District Railroad began operations in 1891 branching east of Fresno of the mainline in modern day Calwa.  From Calwa the Visalia District Railroad traversed southeast into Tulare County through the following communities; Cecile, Lone Star, DeWolf, Clifton, Del Rey, Miley, Parlier, and Reedley.  The Visalia District Railroad and it's sidings can be observed appearing by comparing the 1914 C.F. Weber Map of Fresno County.


DeWolf sometimes appears as "Wolf" on some maps such as the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Fresno County.  DeWolf never seems to have been large enough to have attracted Post Office service unlike nearby Lone Star.


I'm not certain when the Visalia District Railroad was dismantled but it does disappear between 1981 and 1998 on maps I've compared on historicaerials.com.  From Google Maps there appeared to be a very large older building from the DeWolf siding facility which could be seen off of North Avenue.  DeWolf was located in the gap between North Avenue and Leonard Avenue.


However upon my visit to DeWolf the structure I observed on Google Maps north of North Avenue was a more modernized warehouse.  The grade of the Visalia District Railroad is still obvious looking west of the former siding of DeWolf. 


Looking south from North Avenue the grade of the Visalia District Railroad has been planted over by a local farm.  The Visalia District Railroad grade would have been located right of the gate and paved road in the photo below.  


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Vineland, Florida; the town killed by Disney

By
Vineland is a small ghost town located in southwest Orange County, Florida near the junction of Florida State Road 535 and Interstate 4.  Vineland is somewhat unique due to it largely being squeezed out of existence by Lake Buena Vista which is the company town where Disney World is located. Vineland was founded in the late 1800s as Englewood.  The town name of Englewood changed to Orange Center in 1911 before finally assuming the name Vineland in 1924.  Much like the rest of Orange County the community of Vineland was centered around Citrus Grove.  In the case of Vineland said orange groves were centered around Ruby Lake. The end of Vineland came as the Disney Corporation began purchasing parcels of citrus grove land to build Lake Buena Vista.  Vineland fell into a sharp decline in the 1960s but the community managed to continue to exist to modern times.  Much of the street grid of Vineland still exists east of FL 535 but most of the original structures are either gone or falle
1 comment
Read more

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more