Freeman Junction, California
| Freeman Junction | |
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| — Former settlement — | |
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 Freeman Junction
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| Coordinates: 35°36′06″N 117°54′11″W / 35.60166°N 117.90295°WCoordinates: 35°36′06″N 117°54′11″W / 35.60166°N 117.90295°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Kern County |
| Reference No. | 766 |
Freeman Junction, a ghost town in Kern County, California, USA, was first homesteaded in the 1920s by Clare C. Miley, who was born in 1900. By the 1930s a restaurant, gas station and mining activities dominated the site. By June 1976 the town had died and the remains of the town have been removed by passersby.
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History [edit]
Bedrock mortars near the original spring indicate that this area was regularly used as a campsite by Native Americans.
In 1834 explorer Joseph R. Walker passed this junction of Indian trails after crossing the Sierra Nevada via Walker Pass. Death Valley 49er parties, en route to the California gold fields, diverged here to the west and south after their escape from Death Valley.
In 1873 or early 1874, Freeman S. Raymond, an original Forty-niner, bought or built a stagecoach station here, at the junction of the Walker Pass road (the route of modern California 178) and the road to Los Angeles (now replaced by California State Route 14). The Walker Pass road gave access to the Kern River mines, while the Los Angeles road continued further north and east to the mines at Cerro Gordo, the Panamints, and later Darwin, California.
On February 25, 1874, Tiburcio Vasquez and his gang robbed several freight wagon crews at Raymond's station (then called Coyote Holes). They had apparently scouted the location from a nearby rock formation, now known as Robber's Roost. Vasquez and the gang also ambushed and robbed an arriving stagecoach before making their escape. One of the robbery victims was shot in the leg.
Raymond continued operating the stagecoach stop, which after 1889 or 1890 included a post office, until his death in August, 1909. The station burned down a few years later. The Los Angeles Aqueduct now passes through the site.
California Historical Landmark #766[1] is located nearby, beside California 178 within sight of the junction with California 14.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "Freeman Junction". Office of Historical Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
Bibliography [edit]
- Edwards, E.I. (1964). Freeman's, a Stage Stop on the Mojave. Glendale, CA: La Siesta Press.
- Mitchell, Roger; Mitchell, Loris (2004). Southern California SUV Trails: Volume I, the Western Mojave Desert. Oakhurst, CA: Track & Trail Publications. ISBN 0-9707115-6-5.
- Palazzo, Robert P. (2009). Darwin, California. Lake Grove, OR: Western Places. ISBN 0-943645-37-9.
External links [edit]
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