A View from the Porch

I enjoy sitting on my porch looking over downtown Mariposa. I think
about all the folks who have sat here and enjoyed the view. What a
beautiful little valley this is, land of the Mariposa River. I have
often thought about the mistake that CalTrans made in the way that
they took Hwy 140 North up through the middle of the rolling hills of
the eastern side. The Old Highway would have been just enough
following the base of the hill past the High School. People don't
have to go so fast. When Hwy 49 was first built it came down Jones
St. to the corner of 8th and ended there when it intersected the
original Hwy 140. Charles St. was the street that went north to 8th
St, and is still there below the highway. The state designer had no
artistic sense.
I look at the view of the newly restored Pizza Factory building
which has served Mariposa as many things, and pine for the
restoration of the Fremont Adobe. The basic adobe building under the
brick was started by John C. Fremont in l849 as the office for his
agents and Palmer Cooke and Co., who held the lease on the Mariposa
Mine. They brought surveyors and engineers to town to lay it out,
unusual for a Mother Lode town as it did not follow the curving banks
of the creek. Somebody, maybe Fremont, had a sense of design having
been involved in the exploration and surveying of the west. So the
town was laid out in a grid with the streets running north and south
having a 60 foot width and those running east and west, a 50 foot
easement. The 60 foot streets carried names of Fremont's family such
as Jessie, Charles, Bullion (after his father-in-law), and Jones
(after a lawyer brother-in-law that he probably owed money to).
The east-west streets were to be numbered 2 through 8, with Number 1
called Quartz St., because it was the access to the Mariposa Mine.
The various mining companies that owned the Fremont Grant, did not
sell the streets to the county until l956. In the meantime many
folks built on the Grant Property, both in town and out in the
country.
The Fremont Adobe office building had a three story section attached
to the north half of the building. That portion is still to be seen
but looks like it is partially underground only because at some point
dirt was piled against the back of the building. After the 1863
fire when the adobe walls were damaged, the south and east face of
the building was given a brick veneer. Thus what seems to be a
stucco brick building is also adobe. No doubt the mortar is lime and
sand, the building is still sound. For all of my life in Mariposa
the south space in the building was the Gold Coin Club, but it has
had many other uses and configurations. The Gordon Hotel occupied
much of the building in the late 1800's and early 20th century.
Peter Gordon was wise in advertising his hotel as having fine cigars
and cordials, not large rooms and soft beds. No AAA rating for this
establishment.
But I see a lot more from my porch. My connection to the Fremont
Adobe is that George Bertken, who built my house from the lumber
salvaged from the l852 Methodist Church next door, had a butcher shop
there. His ice house still stands to the rear of my home. He was
Constable for most of his adult life, holding the keys to the l858
jail next door. I have a photograph of my house when it was brand
new with George and wife, two small children, standing on my porch of
the 900 square foot structure. In the background stands the Trabucco
Barn which was involved in the burning of the Opera House and Larue
Building around l916. Versions vary as to the cause of the fire. The
Gazette reported that the Old Opera House burned due to faulty
wiring. (Building was roughly 13 years old, no permit I would
suspect). Others, and here is where you have to believe me because
no eye witnesses survive and I was the researcher, felt that the fire
started in the Trabucco Barn and spread to the Opera House and
beyond. The Schlageter house survived but not the roof. Ralph
"Baldy" (who was not bald) Gallison
testified that as an 8 year old, Fred Schlageter put him on the roof
with blankets and buckets of water to wet it down. Baldy told me
that holes were burned in the roof but I could find no evidence of
such when we lived there and worked on the house. Then, by chance,
after Juanita Moore passed, going through her pictures I discovered a
photograph of Fred Schlageter, wife and children standing on the
porch with enough of the house showing indicating that the original
roof line ran roughly north and south as shown in the confusing l857
picture of downtown Mariposa showing the house through a gap between
buildings. So, what happened was after the fire, Fred being a fine
carpenter, rebuilt the roof to its present configuration and the
mystery was solved. I may have some value around here yet.
From my porch I can see all or most of the buildings constructed
after the l866 fire. I cannot see the Bogan, but as an amateur
historian, I know it is there. It is interesting that all of the so
called fire proof buildings constructed in the years after l866 were
of brick, lime and sand, a bit of stucco, iron doors and on most, if
not all, sod roofs. The last of the sod roofs was removed while I
was in grammar school. Late one afternoon, because I no doubt was
kept after school by Alice Ellingham for some infraction or another,
I started down 6th St. to notice a cloud of what looked like smoke
along side our Drug Store which at that time was in the IOOF
building. (Fremont House today). As I grew closer I saw men with
scoop shovels throwing dirt off the roof. It was the original sod
roof. I circled around and entered the Drug Store to find my father
at the terminal edge of apoplexy. Dust was seeping in through every
crack He had tried to pack papers and rags everywhere but nothing
stopped the fine dirt from coating the interior of the store.
Needless to say that we were wiping merchandise for a month.
We can swing around and appreciate the new Parish Hall of the
Methodist Church. Great addition to our community. Then back to the
Schlageter Hotel building, built in l868 after the big fire. Mr.
Schlageter, who had just purchased the wood frame Pine Tree Hotel
which disappeared in the conflagration, borrowed a sum of money from
John Hite for the construction of a brick building with a flat roof
and French Iron grillwork balconies front and side. The level of
Charles St. was still just below the walkway of the hotel, not like
today. Sometime before 1900 either the state or the county began
grading Charles St., to lower the steep hill at 5th St. A single
story annex of the hotel on 5th St. contained various additions to
the hotel including, it is said, a small bowling alley. Mostly,
however, was a kitchen and storeroom for the dining room of the
hotel. During the early 1900 hundreds, Schlageter and Stoddard Bud Line of
Merced tried to promote a weekend in Yosemite after the highway
reached Mariposa, with passengers spending Friday night at the hotel,
and then taking the trip over Chowchilla Mountain on Saturday,
visiting Yosemite Valley on Sunday, and back to Merced. They
promoted Indian Field Days in Yosemite Valley to attempt to lure
travelers. Stoddard's also ran the first buses from the end of the
Railroad in El Portal after 1913 into Yosemite Valley until the
Yosemite Park and Curry Company received exclusive rights after the
completion of Hwy 140 in l926.
I see the back of the Coast Hardware, where, when the Butterfly
Market, Coffee Shop and Restaurant, Beer Garden, and Telephone Co.,
rooms were added to the back facing the parking lot today, where
visitors could stay overnight. Jim Dulcich the father was a modern
enterpriser even in the l930's. Redecorated the front of his
buildings in the Art Deco style of the days. Still that way.
I ate many lunches at their counter, with the specialty being
Chicken Fried Steak. Come to think of it, that was the specialty of
all of the restaurants at that time, and still is on the menu, thank
God, at Pops Café.

To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
Radanovich Galleria & Books






This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books










Mariposa in 1920

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books









Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
Radanovich Galleria & Books








Mariposa in 1860


This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books