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| Landmark #245 | Kings County | Visited: February 18, 2013 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A plaque on the edge of an orchard! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: Here on May 11, 1880, during a dispute over land titles between settlers and railroad, a fight broke out in which seven men—two deputy U.S. marshals and five ranchers—lost their lives. The legal struggle over titles was finally settled by a compromise.
OTHER TIDBITS: After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, the Central Pacific Railroad Company turned its sights toward a second railway running north to south in California’s San Joaquin Valley! Construction started in 1869 near Stockton and reached the bottom of Fresno County within three years. That’s where the trouble started! See, President Lincoln had signed a series of homesteading acts in 1862, and folks flocked to this part of the state to take advantage of the cheap prices ($2.50/acre). But in 1870, Congress ordered that land back into the public domain so the Southern Pacific Railroad could take over where the Central Pacific stopped! The Southern Pacific Railroad then offered to sell parts of the land back to the settlers at $10-45/acre. The settlers were furious! The railroad started evicting settlers in 1880, and the newly formed Settlers League did what they could to interfere with those evictions. It all came to a head when a group of angry ranchers who had gathered to hear a speech by David S. Terry, received word that the railroad was about to evict one of their neighbors up the road! So they loaded up and headed to the rescue! They faced off against Deputy US Marshal, Alonzo Poole; Mills Hartt, a former SP agent; William Clark, a railroad land appraiser, and Walter Crow, who had purchased the land from which they were about to evict Mr. W.B. Braden! As the argument heated up, a shot rang out, likely fired by Mr. Hartt the SP agent! Just 45 seconds later, 20-30 shots had been fired, and seven people were killed! In the aftermath of the Mussel Slough fight, five settlers were sent to jail, but received lighter sentences and lots of privileges because they had fought the government. Unfortunately, the SP Railroad made no changes to their routes and only slightly lowered their land prices. The settlers were still forced to buy back their land at the higher rates! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: 5833 14th Ave, between Everett and Elder Aves 1.5 mi SE of Hardwick, CA 93230 ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~204mi (329km) — 3.4hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |