Cuddy Valley is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

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 southern ...

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 Californ ...

, 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 ( en, the Old Road to Los Angeles), 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 Cali ...

(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 Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

. Afterward the road descended to the north, through the San Emigdio Mountains, via San Emigdio Canyon along

San Emigdio Creek San Emigdio Creek, formerly Arroyo de San Emigdio (Spanish for Saint Emygdius Creek), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed September 7, 2011 northward-flowing stream in w ...

to the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

. At the foot of the mountains at the creek's mouth was the next stop, that became the 1842

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

of ''

Rancho San Emidio Rancho San Emidio was a Mexican land grant in present-day Kern County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Antonio Dominguez. The grant was located along San Emigdio Creek in the northeastern foothills of the San Emigdio ...

''.

John Fletcher Cuddy

Cuddy Valley, Cuddy Creek and

Cuddy Canyon Cuddy Canyon is a canyon running along the boundary line between Kern County and Ventura County, California. It lies inside the Los Padres National Forest and southern San Emigdio Mountains. The canyon includes the Tejon Pass mountain communiti ...

are named for John Fletcher Cuddy, who came to the United States from Ireland during the Great Famine. He joined the

U. S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

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 (french: Lac des Bois, oj, Pikwedina Sagainan) 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 14,55 ...

, 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 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 through the states of Califor ...

. 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