Skip to main content

Indian Gulch Road (Mariposa County)

By

Indian Gulch Road is an approximately nine-mile rural highway corridor located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Mariposa County.  This corridor begins at California State Route 140 near Catheys Valley and extends north to Hornitos Road via Bear Creek.  Indian Gulch Road is named after the former Gold Rush era community of Indian Gulch which was settled near Santa Cruz Mountain in 1849.  

Much of Indian Gulch Road is comprised of a single lane of heavily eroded asphalt.  The roadway was mostly known for the wooden deck Bear Creek Bridge which was destroyed by flooding during March 2018.  Mariposa County opted to replace the wooden structure with an interim Bailey Bridge design which was opened to traffic in April 2021.  




Part 1; the history of Indian Gulch Road

Indian Gulch Road is named after the former Gold Rush community of Indian Gulch.  The town site of Indian Gulch was located along the hills north of Bear Creek a couple miles east of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road.  Said community was founded in 1849 near Santa Cruz Mountain and was initially named after said peak. The community was renamed to Indian Gulch in 1855 when it received Post Office Service.
Indian Gulch is thought to have had a population of several hundred during the height of the Gold Rush era. The Post Office maintained service in the community until 1912. Holy Cross Catholic Church in Indian Gulch was moved to Mariposa in 1973 and later burned in the 1980s. Not much remains of the Indian Gulch today aside from Santa Cruz Cemetery.

The Holy Cross Catholic Church can be seen as it was before being moved to Mariposa during the early 1970s (Mariposa Pictures & History Page).




Holy Cross Catholic Church can be seen in an earlier photo behind the gate of Santa Cruz Cemetery (Mariposa Pictures & History Page).


The below photo is from the Solari Store along what is now Indian Gulch Extension during an unknown year (California History Facebook group photo).


This photo is of the Julian Ladon home as it was in 1973 (California History Facebook group photo). Ladon was a cattle rustler and was ultimately hanged by cattlemen.


The Ladon home along with what is now Indian Gulch Extension can be seen below in an earlier photo (Mariposa Pictures & History Page).


Indian Gulch can be seen south of Hornitos on the 1882 Bancroft's map of California.  The community is shown east of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road (shown as Forty Mile Road).


The first documented record of Indian Gulch Road south of Indian Gulch community appears in Mariposa County records as a public highway on May 3, 1887 (courtesy the Mariposa Pictures & History Facebook page).  The record references to petition to change the alignment towards Catheys Valley which insinuates it to be an older road corridor.  It is likely the road originated before 1856 when Mariposa County didn't keep as detailed of records. 

The modern scale of Indian Gulch Road between California State Route 140 and Hornitos Road is displayed on the 1935 California Division of Highways map of Mariposa County.  The community of Indian Gulch is shown to be no longer present.

The Bear Creek Bridge appears on Google Street View imagery from September 2007.  It isn't clear if this was the original structure which crossed Bear Creek, but the wooden deck design suggests 1910s or 1920s era construction.   The bridge had a 11-ton weight limit for standard length trucks.  

In March 2018 the Bear Creek Bridge was destroyed by flood waters.  The February 14, 2019, Mariposa Gazette reported that Mariposa County was hopeful to have a permanent replacement span in place by 2024.  The loss of the span was described as being an issue for local ranchers living on Indian Gulch Road in addition to the administration of emergency services.  

In June 2020 Mariposa County released bids for an interim replacement for the missing bridge along Indian Gulch Road at Bear Creek.  Dokken Engineering was ultimately awarded the contract to construct a 180-foot-long prefabricated steel truss span which functionally is a modern Bailey Bridge design.  

The Mariposa County Update reported on March 30, 2021, that the interim Bear Creek Bridge was scheduled to open to traffic on April 2, 2021.  It is unclear when Mariposa County intends to replace this prefabricated span with a permanent structure.  


Part 2; a drive on Indian Gulch Road

Northbound Indian Gulch Road begins at California State Route 140 near Cathey's Valley.  The southern end of the roadway is closely aligned with Old Legislative Route Number 18 (signed as Old Highway). 

Northbound Indian Gulch Road begins as a two-lane road but narrows to a single lane after approximately a mile.  


















Indian Gulch Road begins a descent to Bear Creek and crosses the single-lane 2021 era bridge.  











Indian Gulch Road north of Bear Creek makes a rapid and steep ascent to Slate Gulch Road.  Much of the asphalt surface is in an extremely poor state of repair and has numerous rough surfacing patches.  
















Indian Gulch Road approaches the town site of Indian Gulch.  Santa Cruz Cemetery can be access by following Indian Gulch Extension which acts as a spur of the mainline road.  






Indian Gulch Road continues north and terminates at Hornitos Road near the namesake community.  


















Hornitos is one of the best-preserved Gold Rush era communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills.  Much of the historic heart of the community can be found along Bear Valley Road (Mariposa County Route J16).

Hornitos was founded in 1848 by Mexican miners and received Post Office Service during 1856. Hornitos is described as being first incorporated as a City on April 8, 1861. The original incorporation of Hornitos was dissolved by the State of California on March 19, 1868, but the community would incorporate for a second time on March 29, 1870. By the late 1870s Hornitos is thought to have had a population exceeding 10,000 before it began to decline. By 1932 Hornitos had a reported population of 60 despite being the only incorporated City in Mariposa County. The second incorporation of Hornitos was abolished by State Statute during 1973.


















Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crescent City Connection (New Orleans, LA)

By
The Crescent City Connection is a massive dual-span steel truss bridge that spans the lower Mississippi River at downtown New Orleans, about 95 river miles upstream from the mouth of the great river at the Head of Passes Light. If counted as a single bi-directional highway bridge, the parallel spans combine to form the single busiest bridge on the Mississippi River and its importance as a linchpin in the region’s transportation network cannot be overstated. While there have been various schemes over the years to construct bridges downriver from Algiers Point, this bridge has been the southernmost bridge on the Mississippi River since its initial construction in the 1950s. The years immediately following the end of World War II were a transformational period in the history of New Orleans. Already one of the great economic and cultural centers of the American Deep South, it was recognized at this time that major changes and improvements to the city’s transportation infrastructure would b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old US Route 99 through Tipton, Tulare, and Tagus Ranch

By
This summer I had a look into the alignment history of US Route 99 through the Tulare County communities of Tipton, Tulare, and Tagus Ranch.  While this slab below might seem like much it is one of the few remaining reminders of how US Route 99 was during the 1920s in Tulare County. This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and it's three-digit child routes check out the link the below. Gribblenation US Route 99 Page Part 1; the history of US Route 99 in Tipton, Tulare, and Tagus Ranch Tipton and Tulare were both founded in 1872 as sidings of the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The Southern Pacific Railroad laid the groundwork for development of southern San Joaquin Valley.  Previous to the Southern Pacific Railroad travel via wagon or foot in Central California tended to avoid San Joaquin Valley in favor of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road.  The Stockton Los Ange...
Post a Comment
Read more

Winnemucca to the Sea Highway

By
The Winnemucca to the Sea Highway was conceived as an idea to establish a continuous, improved route branching from what was then US Highway 40 (now I-80) in Winnemucca, Nevada to the Pacific Coast in Crescent City, California . This highway was to span 494 miles as it crossed through deserts, mountains and forests on its way to the Pacific Ocean. Community leaders from points along this proposed highway formed the Winnemucca to the Sea Highway Association, which worked with state and local governments to obtain funding for the planning, construction and upgrade of the highway. The original proposal was to create one highway, numbered 140, which was to be applied to the complete route as the parent major US highway was coast-to-coast US-40, the Victory Highway. However, this idea never fully came to fruition. Currently, a traveler driving on the Winnemucca to the Sea Highway actually follows seven different highway numbers, which are US 95, NV 140, OR 140, US 395, OR 62, I-5, US 19...
Post a Comment
Read more