San Joaquin
NO. 149 BENSON'S FERRY - This river ferry, established in 1849, was purchased by John A. Benson in 1850. In 1852, Benson laid out the then-principal wagon road between Sacramento and Stockton. Following Benson's murder in 1859, the ferry was operated by his son-in-law, Ed Gayetty.
Location: S bank of N Fork Mokelumne River 100 ft W of County Rd J8, 3 mi N of Thornton
NO. 155 LONE STAR MILL - A sawmill built in 1852 on the Mokelumne River was removed to Hodge and (David S.) Terry's ranch in 1854 and a flour mill attached the following year. The mill burned in 1856 and was rebuilt on its present site as the Lone Star Mill.
Location: Entrance to Stillman L. Magee Park, Mackville Rd, 1 mi N of Clements
NO. 162 SITE OF MOKELUMNE CITY - Established in 1850, its prospects were bright. The second largest town in the county, it had deep water communication with San Francisco all year round, an advantage not possessed by any other town in the county except Stockton. The floods of 1862 destroyed the town.
Location: 200 ft N of intersection of Cameron Rd and Thornton Rd, 3 mi N of Thornton
NO. 163 SITE OF WOOD'S FERRY AND WOOD'S BRIDGE - In 1852, immediately after his arrival and completion of his cabin, Wood proceeded to build a ferryboat and establish the crossing known as Wood's Ferry. In 1858, he built a toll bridge at the old ferry crossing, charging $1 for a pair of animals and wagon, and .50 extra for every additional pair of animals with the wagon.
Location: Present bridge is approx location of original ferry and bridge, County Hwy Jl0, Woodbridge
NO. 165 WEBER POINT - Site of a two-story adobe-and-redwood house built in 1850 by Charles M. Weber, founder and pioneer developer of Stockton. One of the first elaborate residences and landscaped gardens in the San Joaquin Valley, it remained Captain Weber's home until his death in 1881.
Location: On Center St between Channel and Miner Sts, Stockton
NO. 178 SITE OF FIRST BUILDING IN PRESENT CITY OF STOCKTON - In August 1844, the first settlers arrived at Rancho del Campo de los Franceses. One of the company, Thomas Lindsay, built the first dwelling, a tule hut, on this site. He was later murdered by Indians and buried here by travelers. The Point was formed by the junction of McLeod's Lake and Miner's Channel.
Location: City Hall, on Civic St between Miner and El Dorado Sts, Stockton
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: STOCKTON WEST
NO. 214 SITE OF BATTLE BETWEEN FORCES UNDER GENERAL VALLEJO AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY INDIANS - In 1829, the Governor-General of California directed Vallejo to punish the Cosumnes Indians for their raids on local ranches. The battle is one of the few fought in California in which cannons were actually used.
Location: l0 mi S of Manteca on Two Rivers Rd, take S Manteca Rd to Trahern, turn right 1/4 mi, left on Two Rivers Rd to Indian Valley Resort, 200 yards SE of confluence of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Rivers on N bank of Stanislaus
NO. 358 TOWN OF WOODBRIDGE - In 1852 Jeremiah H. Woods and Alexander McQueen established a ferry across the Mokelumne River at this point. As a result, a new road from Stockton to Sacramento by way of Wood's Ferry was established. In 1858 Woods built a bridge at the site of the ferry from which the town, laid out in April 1859, took its name.
Location: On County Hwy Jl0, Woodbridge
NO. 365 LOCKEFORD (LOCKE'S FORD) - It was on this hill that Dr. Dean Jewett Locke and his brother Elmer H. Locke built the first cabin on this section in 1851. Disturbed by grizzly bears, they spent their first nights in the oak trees. Dr. Locke, physician for the Boston and Newton Joint Stock Company, left Boston on April 16, 1849 to cross the plains and arrive at Sacramento on September 16, 1849. Because he built and maintained a ford across the Mokelumne River, his wife, Delia Hammond Locke, in 1859 named the town he laid out on his ranch Lockeford.
Location: 0.6 mi N on Elliotte Rd, Lockeford
NO. 436 NEW HOPE - Approximately six miles west of this spot, 20 Mormon pioneers from thes hip Brooklyn founded the first known agricultural colony in San Joaquin Valley, planting the first wheat and crops that they irrigated by the pole and bucket method. They erected three log houses and operated a sawmill and a ferry across Stanislaus. Their settlement later became known as Stanislaus City.
Location: Ripon City Park, Fourth and Locust Sts, Ripon
NO. 437 FIRST LANDING PLACE OF SAILING LAUNCH COMET - First known sail launch to ascend San Joaquin River from San Francisco landed here autumn, 1846. It carried 20 Mormon pioneers who founded New Hope Agricultural Project on Stanislaus. A yoke of oxen and span of mules were driven from Marsh's Landing (Antioch) by two men who followed a crude map drawn by Merritt the trapper. Two years later Doak and Bonsell operated here the first ferry on San Joaquin River.
Location: From I-5 take Manthey Rd interchange, take W side frontage rd, go N 1 mi to N bank of San Joaquin River, plaque located at entrance to Mossdale Crossing Park and Ramp, 2.0 mi N of intersection of I-5 and I-205, Tracy
NO. 513 BURIAL PLACE OF JOHN BROWN (JUAN FLACO) - In 1846, during American conquest of California, John Brown -nicknamed Juan Flaco - rode from Los Angeles to San Francisco in four days to warn Commodore Stockton of the siege of Los Angeles, and troops were sent to secure the city. This 'Paul Revere of California,' who lived in Stockton from 1851 to 1859, is buried in the former Citizen's Cemetery near this site.
Location: 1100 E Weber St at N Union St, Stockton
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: STOCKTON 15
NO. 520 SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY COLLEGE - Built through subscription by the residents of Woodbridge and dedicated as Woodbridge Seminary in 1879 by the United Brethren Church, this was the site of SanJoaquin Valley College from 1882 to 1897. It was then used as Woods Grammar School until 1922, when the building was dismantled.
Location: 18500 N Lilac St, Woodbridge
NO. 668 FRENCH CAMP - Here was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used from about 1832 to 1845 by the French-Canadian trappers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. Every year Michel La Framboise, among others, met fur hunters camped with their families here. In 1844 Charles M. Weber and William Gulnac promoted the first white settlers' colony on Rancho del Campo de los Franceses, which included French Camp and the site of Stockton.
Location: On Elm St at French Camp School, French Camp
NO. 740 CARNEGIE - A city of 3,500 population from 1895-1912, the town had a post office, company store, hotels, saloons, bandstand, and hundreds of homes. The Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company had 45 kilns and 13 tall smokestacks, clay came from the famous Tesla Coal Mine, four miles to the west. Town and plant were served by the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad.
Location: Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area, 5.9 mi W of I-580 on Corral Hollow Rd, 9 mi SW of Tracy
NO. 755 CORRAL HOLLOW - The Edward B. Carrell home was built here at the site of an Indian village on El Camino Viejo, an old Spanish trail. Through here passed the '49ers and the first mail to the Tuolumne mines, men and animals received food and drink at Wright's Zink House five hundred yards north of here.
Location: 1.5 mi W of I-580 on Corral Hollow Rd, 6.5 mi SW of Tracy
NO. 765 TEMPLE ISRAEL CEMETERY - Donated by Captain Charles M. Weber in 1851 for use as a cemetery by the Jewish community of Stockton, this is the oldest Jewish cemetery in continuous use in California and west of the Rocky Mountains.
Location: On E Acacia St between N Pilgrim and N Union Sts, Stockton
NO. 777 SITE OF SAN JOAQUIN CITY - This river town was established in 1849. Pioneers and freight wagons following post roads to the southern mines crossed the river nearby at Durham's Ferry, and as a terminal for riverboats, the town played an important part in development of west side grain farming and cattle raising.
Location: 1.4 mi N of county line on County Hwy J3, SE of Tracy
NO. 780-7 FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD-SITE OF COMPLETION OF PACIFIC RAILROAD - The construction of the San Joaquin River bridge completed the last link of the transcontinental railroad. Building has proceeded simultaneously from the bay area and Sacramento to meet at the San Joaquin River. The first train crossed the bridge on September 8, 1869.
Location: From I-5 take Manthey Rd interchange, take W side frontage rd and go N 1.9 mi to N bank of San Joaquin River, plaque located at entrance to Mossdale Crossing Park and Ramp, 2.0 mi N of intersection of I-5 and I-205, Tracy
NO. 801 REUEL COLT GRIDLEY MONUMENT - Erected in honor of the soldier's friend, Reuel Colt Gridley, by Rawlins Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and the citizens of Stockton in gratitude for services rendered Union soldiers during the War of the Rebellion, when he collected $275,000 for the Sanitary Commission by selling and reselling a sack of flour.
Location: Stockton Rural Cemetery near Memory Chapel, Cemetery Ln and E Pine St, Stockton
NO. 931 LODI ARCH - Designed by architect E. B. Brown and built in 1907 for the Lodi Tokay Carnival, the arch served as an entrance into Lodi and a symbol of agricultural and commercial growth. Essentially unaltered since construction, the structure is one of few remaining Mission Revival ceremonial arches left within California.
Location: SE corner of E Pine and S Sacramento Sts, Lodi
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LODI NORTH
NO. 934 TEMPORARY DETENTION CAMPS FOR JAPANESE AMERICANS-STOCKTON ASSEMBLY CENTER - Here, within the confines of San Joaquin County Fairgrounds, enclosed by barbed wire and housed in temporary barracks, 4,217 San Joaquin County residents of Japanese ancestry, predominately American citizens, were interned from May 10 to October 17, 1942 under Executive Order 9066. May such usurpation of civil, social, and economic rights, without specific charges or trial, never again occur.
Location: Administration Bldg, San Joaquin County Fairgrounds, Airport Way, Stockton
NO. 935 CALIFORNIA CHICORY WORKS - The partnership of C. A. Bachmann and Charles H. W. Brandt, formed in 1885, was the largest chicory supplier in America while operating at this site during the 1890s. Chicory roots are roasted, ground, and used as a mixture with or substitute for coffee. Using its own ship, The Dora, and the finest German equipment to process the chicory, the company shipped its product to market until about 1911.
Location: 1672 W Bowman Rd, 2.2 mi W of I-5, French Camp
NO. 995 TRAIL OF THE JOHN C. FRÉMONT 1844 EXPEDITION - Frémont's historic second overland expedition of 1843-44 was the first in which he reached California. He and his companions entered California in the dead of winter, camped across the snowbound Sierra, spent a month at Sutter's Fort in the Sacramento Valley, and then continued south through the San Joaquin Valley. Frémont's report added to the growing American interest in the Far West and California, making this 1844 expedition one of the most influential events in American westward expansion. Frémont camped at this site on March 26, 1844.
Location: NW corner of junction of Hwy 88 and Calaveras River
NO. 1016 STOCKTON DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER - The Stockton Developmental Center began in 1853 as the Insane Asylum of California at Stockton. It was founded on 100 acres with ready access to the goldfields on land donated by Captain Charles Weber, founder of Stockton. California's Legislature was convinced that the turbulence of the Gold Rush had caused many to suffer from mental problems, and that the existing hospitals were inadequate to cope with large numbers of people with mental and emotional conditions. Consequently it authorized the establishment of the Stockton Hospital, the first public hospital in California to serve the mentally ill. California's mental hospital is one of the oldest in the west, and early on was recognized for its progressive forms of treatment.
Location: 510 E Magnolia St, Stockton
NO. 1039 Sikh Temple Site - The Sikhs-from the Punjab region of India-are an important immigrant group in California since about 1900. Most were drawn to agriculture in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, since those flat expanses were similar to the Punjab. The 1915 temple was one of the first religious centers for Indians in the United States. A replacement temple was constructed in 1930 and the 1915 building is used as the temple library. The temple helped maintain Punjabi traditions and to establish better understanding of the Sikh people by the community at large. Many events at the temple, and the temple’s charity kitchen, were open to all, regardless of religion or nationality. Stockton’s Sikh Temple is still an important institution for many Sikhs that remain in the region.
Location: 1930 S. Grant Street, Stockton