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Madera County Road 201 (the former Millerton-Fresno Flats Road through O'Neals)

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Madera County Road 201 is an approximately one third mile long roadway which passes the heart of the mountain community of O'Neals.  The corridor was part of the nineteenth century Millerton-Fresno Flats Road which served the mines and logging mills which now comprise the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County.  During the automotive era the highway would be designated as North Fork Road and later Road 200.  Road 200 was realigned onto a bypass of O'Neals during the early 1980s which led to original highway being renumbered as Road 201.  




Part 1; the history of the Millerton-Fresno Flats Road through O'Neals

O'Neals is located several miles south of the former mining town of Fine Gold along the Millerton-Fresno Flats Road.  Mining claims were staked at Fine Gold during the Mariposa War during 1850. The community was never very large but became a stopping point on the stage road between the original Fresno County seat at Millerton and Fresno Flats (now Oakhurst). The stage road eventually bypassed Millerton when the Fresno County seat was moved to Fresno in 1874.

The Fine Gold Post Office can be seen on the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road on the 1882 Bancroft's Map of California. Post Office Service would be relocated to nearby O'Neals in 1887. O'Neals was located at a more opportune location on the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road as it connected to two nearby spur roads to the Fresno-Yosemite Road. The southern spur connected to Bates Station whereas the north spur permitted access to nearby Coarsegold. The community had been founded by local merchant Charles O'Neals who also was the first Postmaster. Charles O'Neals established his store on land holding he had purchased in 1878. During 1893 Madera County would be formed from what was Fresno County north of the San Joaquin River.


O'Neals can be seen along the Fresno-Oakhurst Road (formerly Fresno Flats) on the 1912 United Geological Survey Map of Mariposa.  The highway north of O'Neals would come to be known as "North Fork Road" during the early automotive era and eventually would be renamed as "Road 200" when Madera County assumed the numeric grid convention.  


Road 200 can be seen passing through O'Neals for the last time on the 1980 United States Geological Survey Map of Shaver Lake.  Road 200 would appear realigned onto the current bypass whereas the original alignment was shown as Road 201 on the 1981 United States Geological Survey Map of O'Neals.  




Part 2; a drive on Madera County Road 201

Southbound Road 201 can be accessed from Road 200.  Signage indicating Road 201 passes through O'Neals is lacking from the modern bypass.


Road 201 southbound passes through the heart of O'Neals and loops back to Road 200.  The roadway is lined by numerous local businesses, the community Post Office as well as homes.  



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