Cuddy Valley is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

in the San Andreas Rift Zone south of the

San Emigdio Mountains The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the southe ...

west of

Tejon Pass The Tejon Pass , previously known as ''Portezuelo de Cortes'', ''Portezuela de Castac'', and Fort Tejon Pass is a mountain pass between the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains and northeastern San Emigdio Mountains, linking Southern Calif ...

, part of the Mountain Communities. It lies at an elevation of 5,282 feet 1610 m).

History

What is now the Cuddy Valley was a water and grazing place along

El Camino Viejo El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles (), also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta California (1822–1848), present d ...

(18th-19th century). The Old Road came over what is now the

from what would become Gorman then turned west up Cuddy Creek to Cuddy Valley its spring. Afterward the road descended to the north, through the San Emigdio Mountains, via San Emigdio Canyon along San Emigdio Creek to the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

. At the foot of the mountains and at the creek's mouth was the next stop, that became the 1842 Mexican land grant of '' Rancho San Emidio''.

John Fletcher Cuddy

Cuddy Valley, Cuddy Creek and Cuddy Canyon are named for John Fletcher Cuddy, who came to the United States from Ireland during the Great Famine. He joined the United States Army and after being discharged in 1853, followed his former unit, the 1st Dragoon Regiment, to

Fort Tejon Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the San Emigdio Mountains and ...

in 1854 as a civilian teamster. He became the herdsman for the fort and found meadow in a valley some miles west of the fort that was ideal for grazing its stock. Cuddy eventually built a log cabin west of the fort in the small valley just southwest of modern

Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods (; ) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,552 islands and of shoreline. It is fed by t ...

, and laid claim to land in what became known at the time as Cuddy's Valley, (later Little Cuddy Valley), and raised cattle there. John Cuddy married Margaret Gale in 1858 and by 1861 had moved his family into a larger log cabin that still stands, west of the present community of Lake of the Woods. The Cuddy Ranch acquired much of the surrounding area as Cuddy's children became eligible, homesteading nearby land until their holdings included most of the land, to the southwest in Lockwood Valley, to the west in what is now known as Cuddy Valley, and east to the present

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

. Bonnie Kane, RRCM, The Beautiful Valley Without a Name, August 6, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise, accessed November 7, 2011
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References

External links

Pine Mountain Club real estate.com - Cuddy Valley
{{authority control Valleys of Kern County, California San Emigdio Mountains El Camino Viejo Valleys of California

History

John Fletcher Cuddy

See also

References

External links