Nexus of the Universe; the Bulter, California ghost town site

Near the far flung eastern expanses of the city of Fresno in a County Island there is a roadside oddity along Butler Avenue. Just west of the junction with Fowler Avenue there is a cross-street signed as Butler/Butler.

If you are a Seinfeld fan you'd might consider a junction where a street intersects with itself to be the "nexus of the universe." Howsoever it appears the Butler/Butler street blade signage is simply the result of Fresno County not often signing; street, place, lane, road, drive, or boulevard for whatever reason. However, the location of Butler/Butler is approximately located a half mile north of the Butler ghost town site. Butler was located on the Southern Pacific Railroad line heading east out of downtown Fresno towards Sanger.

Butler was a rail siding town along the Stockton and Tulare Railroad which was apparently built likely in 1887. The first map reference to Butler I can find is on the 1889 map of the State of California.

1889 Map of California

Butler appears to have been a sizeable settlement as evidenced by this sectional of a large Fresno County Map below from 1891.

1891 Fresno County Sectional Map

Interestingly Butler appears to have been located at the junction of what is now Fowler Avenue and a street called Malvoise Avenue. Malvoise Avenue used to run on the north side of the Stockton and Tulare Railroad tracks. A portion of Malvoise Avenue appears to still exist today as a rail service road west of Clovis Avenue. Bulter appears to have had an organized street grid that appears to have been completely lost to time. Muscatel Avenue is the modern alignment of Butler Avenue but I have no idea when the name may have changed.

The last map reference I can find for Bulter was on the 1935 California Division of Highways Fresno County map. Additional sidings east of Butler can be seen and were called; Locans, Ivesta, and Clotho.

1935 Fresno County Highway Map

Comments

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade. This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman. Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga. The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough. Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade. The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding. From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga. The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the 1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...

The Dummy Lights of New York

A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights that were placed in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also originally positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as " dummy lights " and were common until traffic lights were moved onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection. In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights are found in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale. Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east. Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista. Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage. Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale. Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley. Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers. The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908. Early agricu...