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The History Mystery #45

Willow Creek School?

Located on Road 415 between Coarsegold and Raymond stands an adobe wall. Nearby is an old foundation believed to be part of the Willow Creek School.

The Grub Gulch Clampers are asking if anyone can share information about the school and the adobe wall which is thought to have been the school’s storage building. What time frame was the school in use? How many students attended the school, and who would have taught there?

Submitted by Rob Stapleton, Grub Gulch ECV 41-49 Historian

Follow-up on History Mystery #44

HM #44 PhotoRaymond Museum had so much fun with this “old sign” mystery. So many folks looked at maps and read up on the history of the area and guessed at what was on the sign. We were even measuring letter size to see what might be in the rusted areas.

A big thank you to Neal Burns who brought in an old Yosemite map from the 1930s that helped solve the question, and Debra Kroon sent a wonderful email that explained the hidden words probably said “Big Trees Lodge.” Please read her email below for the awesome information.

We also received info on SNO Facebook page. See John Wardell’s Facebook response below. We so appreciate everyone’s thoughts and interest, and look forward to the next mystery!

Raymond Museum

From Debra Kroon:

Easy answer as to which lodge – it was the old Big Trees Lodge, which was located in the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. This was destroyed by heavy snows in 1931. The replacement was built in 1932 and offered lodging until 1972; it was removed in 1983 with ground restored ‘to nature’. As of last March, Wawona Hotel in Wawona now bears the name of Big Trees Lodge.

Could have been 22 miles from Oakhurst to the Big Trees Lodge – and the old sign, having been replaced/discarded, could have been used by someone either needing a piece of metal or, from its appearance, for target shooting.

Interesting that the sign was provided by the California State Automobile Association (and not Caltrans); likely it was on a route somewhat different from what we use today.

From Facebook:

John Wardell – Spend some time on Google Earth. Looked at the sign again. The letter to the left of the bare spot in the center resembles the “R” in Grove. Big Trees Lodge is just of few miles northwest of Mariposa Grove. I agree with Lynn Talbot. The sign says Mariposa Grove 2X, Big Trees Lodge 22.

history-mystery-44-map

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