Skip to main content

Agua Fria Road (Mariposa County)

By

Agua Fria Road is an approximately 2.3-mile rural highway located in Mariposa County.   This highway corridor is one of the oldest identifiable roadways in the state as it once served the original Mariposa County seat of Aqua Fria.  The community of Agua Fria was founded in 1849 by Sonoran Miners and became the first Mariposa County seat in February 1850.  The County Seat was not long lived in Agua Fria as it would be moved to Mariposa in November 1851.  The community of Agua Fria would burn during a fire in 1866 and was never rebuilt.  

Agua Fria Road and the site of Agua Fria can be seen south of the Princeton Mine (Mount Bullion) on the 1868 Whitney map of Sierra Nevada adjacent to Yosemite Valley.  




Part 1; the history of Agua Fria Road and the first Mariposa County seat of Agua Fria

Mariposa County was incorporated on February 18, 1850, as one of the original counties following California becoming an American state.  Mariposa County initially was by far the largest county by area in California which was centered around mining claims in the Sierra Nevada foothills.  The original county seat was the now ghost town of Aqua Fria.

Aqua Fria was centered around claims struck by Sonoran miners in 1849.  The town site was located near Agua Fria Creek near two cold water springs.  At the height of the community, it boasted about a dozen stores, several gambling halls and a hotel.  The Aqua Fria Post Office would open on October 7, 1851.  Despite Agua Fria obtaining Post Office service the Mariposa County seat would relocate to Mariposa on November 10, 1851.

This Quirot & Company lithograph was produced between 1851-1853 and depicts the Aqua Fria town site (California Landmark Foundation).  There are no known photos of Aqua Fria when it was an inhabited town.  


After losing the Mariposa County seat the community of Aqua Fria began a quick decline.  The community would be destroyed during a fire on June 22, 1866, and would never be rebuilt.  Despite being then recently destroyed the community of Agua Fria appears on the 1868 Whitney map of the Sierra Nevada adjacent to Yosemite Valley.  What is now Agua Fria Road (Upper and Lower) appears on the map connecting Princeton (now Mount Bullion) to the now ghost town Guadalupe.  




Part 2; a drive on Agua Fria Road

Southbound Aqua Fria Road begins at California State Route 49 in Mount Bullion.  


Agua Fria Road becomes a single lane highway and passes through the location of Upper portion of the Aqua Fria town site.  The roadway crosses over a small bridge and picks up the course of Agua Fria Creek.













Agua Fria Road continues south through what was Lower Agua Fria and terminates at California State Route 140.  The state highway corridor (then Legislative Route Number 18) was relocated here in 1932.  Aqua Fria Road was once continuous with that is now Yaqui Gulch Road. 


Two historical plaques regarding the history of Aqua Fria can be found on California State Route 140 a short distance east of Aqua Fria Road.  





As of 2025 a new historical plaque can be found at the Aqua Fria town site.  



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more