Gordon's Ferry is both a

geographical location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

and a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is located where China Grade Loop crosses the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...

and meets with Alfred Harrell Highway in

Northeast Bakersfield Northeast Bakersfield (commonly known as simply The Northeast) is the northeast region of Bakersfield, California. It is roughly bounded by Panorama Drive and the Kern River to the north, Alfred Harrell Highway/Comanche Drive to the east, Edison ...

. It is named after a ferry that used to cross the river near the existing bridge. It was one of the only eastern crossings, until 1877, when the Jewett Avenue bridge was constructed farther west.History
Panorama Vista Preserve. Accessed: 04-11-2011. It is California Historical Landmark #137.

History

The 49ers, on their way to the gold fields during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

, used this place as a ford crossing. In 1853, as the Kern River Gold Rush began, Major Aneas Gordon begin operating a ferry at the crossing of the

Stockton - Los Angeles Road Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand * Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom *Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk *Stockton, Chir ...

. It was an overhead cable type, with a flat bottom boat. With a growing number of settlers coming to the region, the ferry experienced much traffic.

Butterfield Overland Mail

In 1857, the Butterfield Overland Mail 1st Division was established and used the ferry on its

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

postal route. The stage company would establish a station at that location (one of six in Kern County), which was called the Kern River Station.

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

continued to use the ferry until the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in 1861. Because the original route crossed into the Confederacy, the U.S. postmaster directed Butterfield to change to the

Central Overland Route The Central Overland Route (also known as the "Central Overland Trail", "Central Route", "Simpson's Route", or the "Egan Trail") was a transportation route from Salt Lake City, Utah south of the Great Salt Lake through the mountains of central Ne ...

. Kern River Station would continue to be used by other stagecoach companies until the railroad made them obsolete. The ferry would continue to be used by settlers and residents until 1877, when the Jewett Avenue bridge was constructed to the west.

Oilfield and bridges

As a river crossing, Gordon's Ferry sat empty for many years. However, oil was discovered in the

Kern River Oil Field The Kern River Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County in the San Joaquin Valley of California, north-northeast of Bakersfield in the lower Sierra foothills. Yielding a cumulative production of close to of oil by the end of 2006, it is ...

in 1899 (the first oil discovery in Kern County). The oilfield was just north of Gordon's Ferry. Oil was hauled out by trains, which were located in

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, seaside sub ...

and

, which is south of the river. As a result, in 1901 a wooden bridge was constructed at the previous ferry crossing. It would later be replaced with the concrete bridge that exists today. In 1937, the site would be declared a California Historical Landmark--the first in

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

.Kern County Historical Chronology
. Kern County Museum. Accessed: 04-11-2011. The California Historical Landmark reads: :''NO. 137 GORDON'S FERRY ON THE KERN RIVER - Gordon's Ferry was an overhead cable-type of ferry operated during the 1850s by Major Gordon. An adobe station house was located on the south bank of the Kern River, just a few yards to the west of this marker, which also served as a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route from 1856 to 1860.'' Registred June 6, 1934. The marker is located near the Kern River bridge, on China Loop, 1,000 ft South of Round Mountain Road, Bakersfield.

References

External links

Panorama Vista PreserveHistoric Bakersfield and Kern County, California, Gordon's Ferry And Other Crossings Of The Kern River, 1852-1937. By Gilbert Gia, Copyright © Gilbert Gia, 2010, Bakersfield, California
{{Butterfield1 Geography of Bakersfield, California History of Bakersfield, California Butterfield Overland Mail in California Stagecoach stops in the United States California Historical Landmarks

History

Butterfield Overland Mail

Oilfield and bridges

See also

References

External links