Most of Mariposa County has been in the county since 1850.
A very small piece in Mariposa County from 1850 to 1856, was in Fresno County from 1856 to 1870 when it was returned to Mariposa County.
The County took its name from Mariposa Creek. The area was so named by Spanish explorers in 1807 when they discovered great clusters of butterflies ("mariposas" in Spanish) in the foothills of the Sierras. Some say these butterflies were really butterfly lilies. The County Seat is Mariposa . See also County History for more historical details.
Mariposa County CDPs(A census-designated place (CDP) is a type of place or area identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes)Include Mariposa, Bootjack, Yosemite Valley. Unincorporated Communities Include Buck Meadows, Catheys Valley, Coulterville, Wawona
PLEASE READ FIRST!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information. All Departments below can be contacted by clicking the link.NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.
Mariposa County Clerk-Recorder's Officehas Birth Records from 1850, Marriage Records from 1850, Death Records from 1850 and , Land Records from 1850. The County Recorder-Clerk is responsible for examination and recording of all documents presented for recording that deal with establishing ownership of land in the County or as required by statute; administers the real property transfer tax law and maintains a permanent record and indexes of all documents for public viewing plus providing certified copies requested by the public; recording of all lawful documents such as deeds, deeds of trust, judgments, liens, affidavits, Uniform Commercial Code Financial Statements, etc; and the filing of Births, Deaths, and Marriages.
Mariposa County Clerk of Superior Court has Probate Records from 1850 and Court Records from 1850. The county Superior Court clerk has probate books and files from the county's superior court, civil court records, and naturalizations. Divorces may be here or in the Recorders Office, depending on how it was filed.
Some early court records from the various courts may have been sent to the California State Archives. Besides court minutes and judgements, these records include tax lists, wills, deeds, estate inventories, and marriage bonds. The California State Archives has microfilm of selected county records, 1850–1919.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Court Records by clicking the link below:
California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968: This database contains indexes to voter registration lists from various counties in California from 1900-1968. Information listed in these records includes: name of voter, age, address, occupation, and political affiliation.
California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1957: This database is an index to passenger and crew lists of ships and some airplanes arriving at Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Pedro, and Ventura in the U.S. state of California, between 1893 and 1957. Information contained in the index includes name of passenger, their age, gender, ethnicity, nationality or last country of permanent residence, arrival date, port of arrival, port of departure, and ship name. If a name of a friend or relative whom the passenger was going to join with, or place of nativity was provided, that information is included as well.
San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists Vol. I [1850-1864]: The volume offered here is a reprint of the first volume in a series dealing with passenger arrivals at the port of San Francisco between 1850 and 1875, though this first volume contains a selection of passenger lists extending only though 1864.
San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists Vol. II [1850-1851]: Volume II is based on completely different sources than the first volume in the series, which covered the years 1850-1864, and it encompasses an additional 16,500 passenger arrivals at San Francisco Bay during the 20-month period from April 1850 to November 1851.
San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists. Vol. III: November 7, 1851 to June 17, 1852: Volume III covers a seven-month period during which approximately 25,000 persons arrived at the port of San Francisco--nearly 50% more than the number of arrivals for the preceding 18-month period covered in Volume II. The year 1852 witnessed a surge in migration to California, and this volume reflects the initial thrust of that surge.
Click Here to Search California Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
California Department of Public Health, Office of Vital Records,
MS 5103, P.O. Box 997410, Sacramento, CA 95899-7410; (916) 445-2684. They have the following records:
Birth & Death Certificates: The state of California began issuing certificates for births and Deaths in July 1905. Birth and death records for current year events and one year prior are available from the county health department; records for all years are maintained by the county recorder.
If not, you should submit your request to the County Recorder’s Office in the county where the birth or death took place or order the birth / death certificate online through VitalChek.
Cost: $14.00 per birth certificate & $12.00 per death certificate.
Processing Time: 12-14 weeks when ordered by mail (Application for Birth or Death Certificate) or 2-5 Days when you order online
Marriage Certificates: The state of California began issuing certificates for marriages since July 1905, except for 1987 to 1995 (The state does not have indexes for the years 1987-1995 so you must request these from the county). Certified copies of public marriage records are available from both the California Office of Vital Records and the County Recorder’s Office in the county where the public marriage license was issued. However, the Office of Vital Records is limited in its ability to search the records, and it can take up to 2-3 years to obtain a certified copy from thier office. Therefore, we recommend that certified copies of public marriage records be requested directly from the County Recorder’s Office or online.
Cost: $13.00 per certificate.
Processing Time: 2-3 years when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order online
Divorce Certificates: Certified copies are not available from State Health Department. Certified copies of actual divorce decrees are only available from the Superior Court in the county where the divorce was filed. The Office of Vital Records issues a Certificate of Record that includes only the names of the parties to the divorce, the county where the divorce was filed, and the court case number – it is not a certified copy of the divorce decree and does not indicate whether the divorce was ever finalized in court. The Office of Vital Records only has information for divorces that were filed with the court between 1962 and June 1984, and our processing times can take up to 2-3 years or Online with VitalChek.
Cost: $12.00 per certificate. Fee is for search and identification of county where certified copy can be obtained.
Processing Time: 2-3 years when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order online
PLEASE READ!! A certified copy fee must accompany all requests for copies of vital records. Requests received without the appropriate fee will be returned to the sender. Make your check or money order payable to the Office of Vital Records. Checks must be drawn on a United States bank. Money orders must be drawn on a United States bank or issued by the United States Postal Service. Do not send cash. If no record is found, they will issue a Certificate of No Public Record and retain the fee for the search according to State law. Before submitting your application to the Office of Vital Records, please view the processing times to make sure they are acceptable for your needs.
Order On-Line: To obtain a certified copy of a vital record by on-line purchase with a credit card, please link to VitalChek
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
California Birth Index, 1905-1995: This database is an index to over 24.5 million births occurring in California between 1905 and 1995.
California Death Index, 1940-1997: his database is an index to the death records in State of California, USA, from 1940 through 1997. The database provides such valuable information as first, last and middle names of the descendants, birth dates, mother's maiden name, father's last name, sex, birth place, death place, residence at time of death, death date, social security number (when available), and the age of the individual when they died.
California Divorce Index, 1966-1984: This database is an index to over 3.5 million divorces that were filed in California (U.S.A.) from 1966-1984. Information that may be found in this database includes spouses' names, divorce date, and divorce county or city.
California Marriage Index, 1960-1985: This database contains a statewide index to over 4.8 million marriages that were performed in California between 1960 and 1985. Information that may be found in this database includes the bride's and groom's names, their ages, the marriage county, and the marriage date.
California Marriages, 1850-1877: This database contains information on individuals who were married in select areas of California between 1850 and 1960. Note that not all counties are included in this index and within the counties that are included not all years within the date range...
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Census Records by clicking the link below:
California Census, 1790-1890: This collection contains the following indexes: 1790 Census Substitute; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1870 Federal Census Index (excluding San Francisco County); 1870 San Francisco County Census Index; 1834 Census Index of Santa Barbara; 1890 Veterans Schedule; 1890 Naval Veterans Schedule.
California Antique Maps & Atlases has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for California and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for California showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
You can view rotating animated maps for California showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries . You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Maps. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search California Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design. A list of Wars fought on American.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Military Records by clicking the link below:
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service Assessment List for California, 1862–66, is available on thirty-three microfilm rolls at the California State Library in Sacramento. The lists include names, location and description of business, and tax rate for individuals taxed.
Similar to tax records in their yearly listing of residents are the “Great Register” of California, which are miscellaneous county voting registers that exist from the mid-nineteenth century. The registers were compiled and printed about every two years. Before 1900, they show name, address, and age (but the age may remain the same after a man's first entry). From about the mid-1800s, physical descriptions are included, but after the 1898 register, only the name, address, party affiliation, and sometimes occupation are listed.
Before 1892, the lists are county-wide, but usually alphabetical only by first letter or surname. They are particularly valuable for foreign-born voters, as the date and court of naturalization are listed. Copies of the "Great Registers," (1866–1944) are at the California State Library, which also has alphabetical card file abstracts for some of the earlier registers for San Francisco. Records from 1946 are with the individual county registrars of voters.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
The California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, California 94105; 415-357-1848 — voice; 415-357-1850 — fax; info@calhist.org — e-mail
California State Genealogical Alliance, 19765 Grand Avenue, Lake Elsinore, CA 92330
One way to access many local and county genealogical and historical societies is through the Alliance, which publishes its own newsletter.
California State Archives, Office of Secretary of State, 1020 O Street, Room 130, Sacramento, CA 95814; Reference Desk: (916) 653-2246; General Information: (916) 653-7715; FAX: (916) 653-7363; E-Mail:ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov
California Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search California Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
There are no centralized repositories dealing with church records in California. Scattered records can be found in genealogical publications, the DAR compilations, and on microfilm. The Spanish missions have played a central role in California's religious history.
Printed secondary sources of transcribed cemeteries exist for most California counties. The California State Society of the DAR has collected hundreds of such records. Transcripts are housed both at the national DAR and with some local chapters and libraries.
Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search Califonia Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.
When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Mariposa County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Mariposa County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
California Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
California Pioneer Project - The California Pioneer List (CPL) is a list of settlers to California who migrated to or were born in California prior to 1880 (included in the 1880 California Census) and obtained from those sent (e-mailed) directly from individuals doing genealogical research.
Mariposa's landmark remains the state's oldest county courthouse in continuous use. One of the best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the Gold Country, the courthouse still contains many of the original, hand-planed furnishings, and a pot-bellied stove sits in the courtroom. Since there is no jury room, jurors deliberate in the jury box. Among the alterations to the original structure was the addition of the clock tower in 1866. While one newspaper at the time questioned the need "to distinguish the exact time from a mile," the clock, shipped from England around Cape Horn, is today a popular fixture in Mariposa and continues to sound on the quarter-hour. The courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Chapter 15 of the California Statutes of 1850 was “ An Act Subdividing the State into Counties and establishing the Seats of Justice therein.” It was approved February 18, 1850. Section 1 read: “The following shall be the boundaries and seats of justice of the several Counties of the State of California until otherwise determined by law”:
Section 28 was as follows: “County of Mariposa.— Beginning on the summit of the coast Range at the southwest corner of Tuolumne County, and running thence along the southern boundary of said county, to the summit of the Sierra Nevada; thence along the summit of the Sierra Nevada to the parallel of thirty-eight degrees of north latitude; thence due east, on the said parallel, to the boundary of the State; thence in a southeasterly direction, following said boundary, to the northwest corner of San Diego County; thence due south, along the boundary of San Diego County, to the northeast corner of Los Angeles County; and thence in a northwesterly direction along the summit of the Coast Range to the place of beginning. The seat of justice shall be Agua Fria.”
There were twenty-seven counties established under that act. Mariposa, as will be seen, stretched from the Coast Range to the State’s eastern boundary, and from substantially the northern boundary of Mariposa and Merced Counties as they are at present to San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. More than a dozen of the counties of to-day have taken all or a part of their territory from the original Mariposa.
To understand how the line could hit the northwest corner of San Diego by following southeast along the eastern boundary of the State, we need to remember that there was than [sic] no San Bernardino County, and to read the first clause of the description of the boundary of San Diego County in the same Act___ “Commencing on the coast of the Pacific, at the mouth of the creek called San Mateo, and running up said creek to its source; thence due north to the northeast boundary of the State ....” San Diego County took in all of the State south and east of that line. San Mateo Creek, mentioned in the description, is not far from the present Orange-San Diego Border; it is a short creek, and its head is between 117 degrees 20' and 117 degrees 30' west. The line passing due north from its head would apparently have passed about two miles west of the city of San Bernardino, or about twenty three miles west of the San Bernardino meridian.
South of Mariposa there were only San Diego and Los Angeles; up along the coast came Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Clara, Branciforte (soon to become Santa Cruz) Contra Costa and San Francisco. Seventeen of the original twenty-seven counties lay north of Mariposa and the Bay, and perhaps as graphic an illustration of the distribution of population in the State at that time is found in the fact that in the vote upon the question of adopting the State constitution of 1849, Mokelumne Hill cast more than twice as many ballots as Los Angeles.
By an act passed April 25, 1851, the early act and the acts amendatory of it were repealed, after redividing the State into counties and providing for seats of government. This act made some slight changes in the description of the boundary of Mariposa County in its southern part, and provided: “The seat of government shall be at such place as may be chosen by the qualified electors of the County at the next general election.”
Agua Fria, the first county seat, has vanished almost completely of the face of the earth. It was situated well up towards the head of Agua Fria Creek, which the State highway to Mariposa now crosses on the fine concrete bridge at Bridgeport, four miles below Mormon Bar. Some five miles up the creek from the bridge was the former county seat. Mariposa soon succeeded it as the seat of justice, but Agua Fria flourished during the mining days.
Carson City, another town which is no more, was a flourishing Mariposa County town of the mining days.
If we look a the original counties lying north of this huge Mariposa of 1850 in the Sierra Nevada– Tuolumne, Calaveras, El Dorado, with Nevada and Placer added in 1851, Sierra in 1852, and Amador and Plumas in 1854—we shall realize, from Mariposa’s large extent southward along, that this was near the limit of the Southern Mines.
Population had flowed into the Sierra foothills in thousands in 1849 and 1850. Sonora’s population, Hittell says, was 5000 before the end of 1849; sometimes up to 10,000 on Sundays—a statement which gives us a pretty clear idea of both the amount of population in the mining camps and its transitory character.
“Hornitos,” we quote Hittell again, “twelve or fifteen miles west of Mariposa, was one of the richest localities for placer mining as well as one of the largest and most attractive towns in the southern mines . . . One spot, . . . Horseshoe Bend, . . . had . . . four hundred miners in 1850.”
North of the Merced River, Coulterville flourished. Below Horseshoe Bend on the river, a few miles above Merced Falls, there was a rich camp below Barrett’s, the ruins of which the hawker of the Yosemite Valley train now points out, and tells tourists about through his Megaphone. You may judge that it was rich from the depth to which the ground was worked back into the steep canyon sides, and you may see the dry-laid walls of the old ditch along the south side of the river across from the railroad. A portion of this old ditch wall has recently been torn out in the work of stripping the side hills preparatory to pouring the concrete of the big Exchequer Dam of the Merced Irrigation District.
Just above Hornitos, which originally was largely Mexican in population, was the American town of Quartzberg. It was later abandoned and the population moved to Hornitos. S. L. Givens, now over eighty and a resident on his ranch on Bear Creek a few miles below the Mariposa County line since pioneer days, states that two present residents of Merced County attended school as children at Quartzberg—himself, and Mrs. J. J. Stevinson of the Merced River, who was a daughter of that Cox who gave his name to Cox’s Ferry and the Cox Ferry bridge on the Merced.
A rather vivid idea of early Mariposa County in some of its aspects is to be had from Dr. Lafayette Houghton Bunnell’s book on “The Discovery of the Yosemite and the Indian War of 1851.” Bunnell begins with an account of how he first saw El Capitan during the winter of 1849-1850, “while ascending the old Bear Valley trail from Ridley’s ferry, on the Merced River.”
James D. Savage, a trader, in 1849-1850 was located in the mountains near the mouth of the South Fork of the Merced, Bunnell tells us, some fifteen miles below Yosemite Valley. He was engaged in mining for gold and had a party of native Indians working for him. Early in 1850 a band of Yosemite Indians attacked his trading post and mining camp. They claimed the land in the vicinity and tried to drive Savage off. Bunnell says their real object was plunder. Savage and his Indians repulsed them, but he came to regard the neighborhood as dangerous, and “removed to Mariposa Creek, not far from the junction of the Aqua (sic) Fria, and near the site of the old stone fort.”
Bunnell wrote his book about 1880, and whether he meant that the “stone fort” was old in 1850 or not until 1880 is not altogether clear. If it was old in 1850, we have no account of how it had come to be there long enough at that early date to merit such a description. This location would be perhaps two miles south of the highway bridge across Agua Fria Creek already referred to.
Savage soon built up a prosperous business. He had a branch further south, in what is now Madera County, in charge of a man named Greeley. Savage had several Indian wives. From them he learned that the Indians were planning a general uprising to drive the whites from the diggings. Savage went to the Bay to purchase a stock of goods and took along two of his wives and a chief called Jose Juarez, to show him how many whites there were, with the idea of convincing him and the other Indians of the hopelessness of their plans.
But they were not convinced and rose against the miners as they had planned. The war extended far south. A battalion of two hundred mounted men was formed at Agua Fria, what was lacked to make the quota being made up by a party which Major Savage brought over from Cassady’s Bar on the San Joaquin. Another battalion was organized for Los Angeles. These bodies were organized in response to a proclamation by Governor McDougal, occasioned by the growing depredations of the Indians. The Agua Fria portion of the Mariposa Battalion had already fought a battle in the mountains with the Indians.
The outbreak began after a conference immediately following the return of Savage and Jose Juarez from San Francisco. One of Savage’s men, known as “Long Haired Brown,” brought him word at Agua Fria shortly after that his trading post on the Fresno had been attacked and all the inmates killed except Brown himself. Shortly afterwards a report was circulated that Savage’s post on Mariposa Creek had been attacked and everybody there killed; Savage himself soon appeared at Quartzberg, however, and corrected this rumor. He sough aid from personal friends at Horseshoe Bend. At Quartzberg, Mariposa, and Agua Fria the miners were little moved by the reports. However, besides Greeley, two other men of Savage’s, Stiffner and Kennedy, were killed. Shortly after came the news of the murder of Cassady and four other on the San Joaquin. From another attack an immigrant who had just arrived escaped to Cassady’s Bar with a broken arm, and this and his hard-ridden and panting horse excited some sympathy among the settlers, and roused the community.
After the attack of the Yosemite Indians upon Savage’s camp on the lower South Fork, Col. Adam Johnston, a special agent representing Governor Peter H. Burnett, came into the county to look the situation over, and upon his return to San Jose, then the capital of the State, reported to the Governor on January 2, 1851, as follows:
“Sir: I have the honor to submit to you, as executive of the State of California, some facts connected with the recent depredations committed by the Indians, withing the bounds of the State, upon the persons and property of her citizens. The immediate scenes of their hostile movements are at and in the vicinity of the Mariposa and Fresno. The Indians in that portion of your State have, for some time past , exhibited disaffection and restless feeling towards the whites. Thefts were continually being perpetrated by them, but no act of hostility had been committed by them on the person of any individual which indicated general enmity on the part of the Indians, until the night of the 17th December last. I was then at the camp of Mr. James D. Savage, on the Mariposa, where I had gone for the purpose of reconciling any difficulty that might exist between the Indians and the whites in that vicinity. From various conversations which I had held with different chiefs, I concluded there was no immediate danger to be apprehended. One the evening of the 17th of December, we were, however, surprised by the sudden disappearance of the Indians. They left in a body, but no one knew why, or where they had gone. From the fact that Mr. Savage’s domestic Indians had forsaken him and gone with those of the rancheria or village, he immediately suspected that something of a serious nature was in contemplation, or had already been committed by them.
“ The manner of their leaving, in the night, and by stealth, induced Mr. Savage to believe that whatever act they had committed or intended to commit, might by connected with himself. Believing that he could overhaul his Indians before others could join them, and defeat any depredations on their part, he, with sixteen men, started in pursuit. He continued upon their traces for about thirty miles, when he came upon their encampment. The Indians had discovered his approach, and fled to an adjacent mountain, leaving behind them two small boys asleep, and the remains of an aged female, who had died, no doubt from fatigue. Near to the encampment Mr. Savage ascended a mountain in pursuit of the Indians, from which he discovered them upon another mountain at a distance. From these two mountain tops, conversation was commenced and kept up for some time between Mr. Savage and the chief, who told him that they had murdered the men on the Fresno, and robbed the camp. The chief had formerly been on the most friendly terms whit Savage, but would not now permit him to approach him. Savage said to them it would be better for them to return to their village—that with very little labor daily, they could procure sufficient gold to purchase them clothing and food. To this the chief replied it was a hard way to get a living, and that they could more easily supply their wants by stealing from the whites. He also said to Savage he must not deceive the white by telling them lies, he must not tell them that the Indians were friendly; they were not, but on the contrary were their deadly enemies, and that they intended killing and plundering them so long as a white face was seen in the country. Finding all efforts to induce them to return, or to otherwise reach them, had failed, Mr. Savage and his company concluded to return.. When about leaving, they discovered a body of Indians, numbering about two hundred, on a distant mountain, who seemed to be approaching those with whom he had been talking.
“Mr. Savage and company arrived at his camp in the night of Thursday in safety. In the meantime, as news had reached us of murders committed on the Fresno, we had determined to proceed to the Fresno, where the men had been murdered. Accordingly on the day following, Friday, the 20th, I left the Mariposa camp with thirty-five men, for the camp on the Fresno, to see the situation of things there, and to bury the dead. I also dispatched couriers to Agua Fria, Mariposa, and several other mining sections, hoping to concentrate a sufficient force on the Fresno to pursue the Indians into the mountains. Several small companies of men left their respective places of residence to join us, but being unacquainted with the country they were unable to meet us. We reached the camp on the Fresno a short time after daylight. It presented a horrid scene of savage cruelty. The Indians had destroyed everything they could not use or carry with them. The store was stripped of blankets, clothing, flour, and everything of value; the safe was broken open and rifled of its contents; the murdered men had been stripped of their clothing, and lay before us filled with arrows; one of them had yet twenty perfect arrows sticking in him. A grave was prepared and the unfortunate persons interred. Our force being small, we thought it not prudent to pursue the Indians father into the mountains, and determined to return. The Indians in that part of the country are quite numerous, and have been uniting other tribes with them for some time. On reaching our camp on the Mariposa, we learned that most of the Indians in the valley had left their villages and taken their women and children to the mountains. This is generally looked upon as a sure indication of their hostile intentions. It is feared that many of the miners in the more remote regions have already been cut off, and Agua Fria and Mariposa are hourly threatened.
“Under this state of things, I come here at the earnest solicitations of the people of that region, to ask such aid from the State government as will enable them to protect their persons and property. I submit these facts for your consideration, and have the honor to remain,
“Yours very respectfully,
“Adam Johnston.
“To His Excellency, Peter H. Burnett.”
Colonel Johnston’s report had the desired effect; as a result, it was, that Burnett’s successor, Governor McDougal, issued the proclamation already mentioned, which led to the mustering in of the Mariposa Rangers.
The men on the Fresno had been killed on December 17, 1850, and buried on December 20, assembled a strong posse to go in pursuit of the Indians whom Colonel Johnston had thought too strong for his small party. He caught up with them on January 11. Major Burney had been elected captain of a company formed the previous May, with J. W. Riley as first lieutenant and E. Skeane as second lieutenant, and numbering seventy-four men. In a letter to Governor McDougal on January 13, 1851, Burney describes his pursuit of the Indians on the 11th. They had but few provisions, and not enough pack horses. But they marched, and the day after starting “struck a large trail of horses,” writes Burney, “that had been stolen by the Indians. I sent forward James D. Savage with a small spy force, and I followed the trail with my company.”
They came upon an Indian sentinel, and being discovered, rushed to the village and arrived almost as soon as the sentinel. Burney ordered the Indians to surrender; some seemed disposed to do so, but others fired on the whites. Burney’s men fired and charged into the village. “We killed from forty to fifty,” he says, and burned the village. Six of Burney’s company were wounded, two mortally, Lieutenant Skeane and a Mr. Little. This fight seems to have been in the vicinity of Fresno Flats in the present Madera County.
The campaign was completed with a battle at “Battle Mountain,” which Burney describes as “a watershed of the San Joaquin,” where the whites stormed a stockade of the Indians and dispersed them.
The campaign was carried on through the early months of 1851. Major Savage, with leaders like Boling, Kuykendall, Chandler, and with Dr. Bunnell as a member of the expedition, proceeded against Chief Tenaya and chased him into Yosemite in March. His band, seemingly made up of outlaws from several tribes from both sides of the Sierras, was dispersed; and after a hard campaign, the greater part of them were brought out to a reservation which had been set aside in the lower foothills near the Fresno. A campaign was waged against the Chowchillas in the region where Burney had fought this battles, and they were finally pretty well rounded up and brought in.
Dr. Bunnell does not seem to mention what is now Merced County beyond the statement that the Indians had removed their women and children from the Valley, and the further statement that he and someone else, when the pursuit was being organized, went to Snelling’s Ranch for horses, which seemingly they had a pasture there. This was in 1851. As we shall see later, the Snelling family did not arrive on the Merced River until the fall of that year. Dr. Bunnell is evidently applying a name which he knew in 1880, when he wrote, to the place they visited in 1851.
The number of Indians involved in these fights in not a thing that can be determined very exactly; but where the number involved in any one fight is given, it does not exceed a few hundred.
We have not found where the Americans as settlers or miners came in contact with any large number of Indians. It is said, though, that previous to 1833 they were very numerous. The author of a history of Merced County published in 1881 by Elliott & Moore quotes Kit Carson as saying that in 1829 the valleys of California were full of Indians, but that when he again visited the State in 1839 they had mostly disappeared. He also quotes a Colonel Warner (Walker?) As saying “I have never read of such a general destruction of a people by any angel, good or bad, or by plague or pestilence, as that which swept the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin in the summer of 1833.”
Warner (?) Is quoted as saying that he traveled through the valleys in 1832 and that the Indians were much more numerous than he had ever seen on a similar area elsewhere. He describes another trip the following year, when they found whole villages wiped out or deserted by their few remaining survivors, when the dead come so far to out number the living that the latter could not either burn or bury the corpses. Cholera, it is said, was the terrible scourge which thus reduced the Indians population to a small remnant of its former number.
County Auditor S. E. Acker, who lived most of his life on the West Side of the county, informs us that there are in the vicinity of Los Banos a number of rather shallow circular excavations several yards across, which are attributed to the Indians. Whether they were perhaps where their temescals, or sweat-houses, were erected, or served some other purpose, they seem to indicate an Indian population there. Whether the population was permanent, or moved between the valley and the mountains as cold weather in the later or floods made desirable, we can only conjecture. It is to be noticed that in the passage from Fremont’s journal referring to his passage through the county in 1844, he does not mention seeing any Indians in what is now Merced County.
We have digressed from Mariposa County. The space available will not permit us to go into the history of mining in that county. Mining, with the exception of recent dredging along the Merced between snelling and Merced Falls, hardly touches Merced County, except in the secondary sense that it was overflow from the population of miners and those who served them in the Mariposa hills who peopled early Merced.
The two counties are closely connected by several interests. Yosemite and the roads and the railroad which lead to it furnish one of the chief. Another is the fact that within Mariposa County lies the watershed—some thousand square miles—from which the water is collected into the Merced River, and which will shortly be impounded at the Exchequer Dam to irrigate Merced County lands. In the power developed from the streams in Mariposa County is found a third. Cattle and sheep men who ranged their stock in the Valley in Merced in the winter time drive it to the mountains, many of them in Mariposa County, in the summer. In the mariposa mountains many inhabitants of Merced find summer recreation. The logs for the Yosemite Lumber Company’s mill at Merced Falls come from the Mariposa County mountains. And in addition to these bonds of union, many of the people who have helped to make Merced came originally from Mariposa. Such names as Kocher, Olcese, Barcroft, Givens, Garibaldi, and a lot of others will readily occur to anyone who knows the two counties.
It is with reluctance that we turn from Merced’s mother county with no more than such brief and inadequate mention, for it is a story by itself worthy of a volume.
The following companies are currently offering free trials on their subscriptions from 7 to 14 days. You can receive more information by clicking the links below:
California 
