By Dan Carrion, E Clampus Vitus Historian One of the Valley’s most famous landmarks was located on Highway 99 at Fairmead. The “Mammoth Orange,” and its sister across the highway the “Whoa Boy Giant Orange,” served voyagers on Highway 99 for over 50 years. The Whoa Boy was built in 1941 on the west side of Highway 99 near the ...

By Don Grove We have had several folks visiting the Raymond Museum lately that have been interested in the lumber flumes in our area. This photograph is labeled “Lumber Flume on Madera Road to Yosemite.” We would love to know exactly where this flume crossed the road and exactly which road it is — and if anyone still has pieces ...

By Don Grove This is a photograph of the teepee burner at the North Fork lumber mill. Sawdust and scraps of wood from the milling process were burned in the teepee burner. In the June 1951 newsletter of the Associated Lumber & Box Company sawmill — The American Eagle — the teepee burner and mill pond were operational. On what ...

By Karen Morris (with thanks to Don Grove) This building has been home to many families since its service as a way station. Our records begin with the McGinity family. They lived here beginning in 1904. We are not sure how long they stayed. The Hanningan Family moved in about 1942 and stayed until 1947. Hazel Kennedy and her family ...

NORTH FORK — This photo is courtesy of Rose Davis-Cobb, board member of the Sierra Mono Museum & Cultural Center, and features two Mono women who are extras in the movie “Deer Slayer.” Can anyone provide information on where the filming took place in the area of North Fork, Madera County? What were the names of other local extras? What ...

Article submitted by Don Grove This photograph of a lumber mill was in the collection of Jesse Love, which is housed in the archive library of the Sierra Historical Sites Association. He was a long-time resident of the area, and once worked at the Sugar Pine lumber mill. He noted on the photo that this was not Sugar Pine, but ...

By Don Grove In the late 1800s, Narbo was a mining town located on Quartz Mountain. As the stories go, it was created by a French company, with a French orphanage as one of their biggest investors. Some stories say that the town had fine homes and a mansion residence for the company president. Others say that there was one ...

This month we have two questions for our History Mystery viewers. The first picture is an item found in their yard by one of the young visitors to the Raymond Museum. It is about 4 1/2 inches long. We had blacksmiths, railroad workers, stone carvers, etc. in Raymond so we have had many guesses but not sure exactly what this ...

Near Road 233/Teaford Saddle Road there is a small natural lake known as Lake Moic. Near the lake is a street named Moic Drive. The lake is shown as private property on maps, but is shown as open to the public on other websites. Our History Mystery contains several questions: Is the lake private? Or open to the public? What ...

The North Fork History Group heard a story about a young local girl in the 1950’s that regularly swam at a public swimming pool (possibly in the Bass Lake Annex). One day her mother gave her a nickel to buy goodies. The girl decided to put it in her mouth to keep it safe until she got to the pool. ...