Hiram Leavitt (1824–1901) was an early settler, innkeeper, and judge in Mono County, California, in the eastern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. Leavitt left his mark in the area and is the namesake of features such as

Leavitt Peak Leavitt Peak is located in the Emigrant Wilderness near Sonora Pass in the eastern Sierra Nevada range of California. Leavitt Peak is located on the Tuolumne County - Mono County line. The Pacific Crest Trail runs close to the east of Leavitt Pea ...

, Leavitt Meadow, Leavitt Creek and Leavitt Lake.

History

Hiram Lewis Leavitt was born in

Grantham, New Hampshire Grantham is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,404 at the 2020 census, up from 2,985 at the 2010 census. The planned community of Eastman is in the eastern part of the town. History Incorporated in 17 ...

, on 2 April 1824.Noyes, Emily Leavitt (1941). ''The Descendants of John Leavitt Through His Son Moses''. Tilton, NH: self published. Pg. 135 When he was in his late 20s, Leavitt responded to the news of 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 ...

and headed west to

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 ...

. His wife Eliza and their infant daughter remained behind in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

until November 1856, when he returned for them, collected their belongings, and made the sea voyage back to California. Following the end of the gold rush, the family travelled to the rugged Sierra Nevada of northeastern

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 ...

. There, he built a home in what then was known as Indian Valley but today is called

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

, a town not far from the

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

border. Many well-known explorers and pioneers passed through Bridgeport Valley and Mono County, including

Jedediah Strong Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, and ...

John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...

, Kit Carson and others. Mono County was created by the California Legislature in 1861. Bridgeport is the seat of Mono County; its dominant architectural feature is the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

Bridgeport Courthouse, built in 1881, and it belies the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

origins of many of the county's early citizens, including Granite State native Leavitt. Road to Mt Morgan

Mono County's Bridgeport was a growing town, and Leavitt operated a stage stop business at what is called Leavitt Station, and later an inn. He also served as a judge. When it was determined in 1863 that Aurora, the county seat of Mono County, actually was located in Nevada rather than California, Bridgeport became the designated county seat of Mono County. In that same year, Leavitt built his hostelry at the east end of

Sonora Pass Sonora Pass (el. 9,624 ft. / 2,933 m.) is a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada in California. It is the second-highest in California and in the Sierra Nevada. lower by 321 ft. (about 98 m.) than Tioga Pass to the south. State Route 108 ...

to serve the growing traffic, primarily miners, traveling between Sonora and today's Aurora, Nevada. By 1867 Leavitt was living in Sonora, California, and later moved to the road linking Sonora with Mono County. At the end of the nineteenth century,

, Leavitt Meadow, Leavitt Creek and Leavitt Lake appear on California maps. Hiram and his wife Eliza Leavitt continued to live in the family home – which he had hired builder Sam Hopkins to construct – until Hiram died in 1901 at age 77. (Builder Hopkins later married Leavitt's daughter Ida.) The old Leavitt House is today known as the Bridgeport Inn.

References

External links

Bridgeport Inn
formerly the Hiram Leavitt House, Bridgeport, Mono County, California, The Historical Marker Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Leavitt, Hiram 1824 births 1901 deaths People from Grantham, New Hampshire Leavitt family American pioneers People from Mono County, California California state court judges 19th-century American judges

History

See also

References

External links