Swanton is a small community in an
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
of
Santa Cruz County on the
Pacific coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas
Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
, situated about north of the town of
Davenport
Davenport may refer to:
Places Australia
*Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality
* Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia
**Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta
**District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
, to the east of
State Route 1 on Swanton Road. The
US Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...
designates Swanton as a populated place located at latitude and longitude with an elevation of . The
ZIP Code is 95017 and the community is inside
area code 831
Area code 831 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for a small region of the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises Monterey County, San Benito County, and Santa Cruz County. The area cod ...
.
The community has numerous small residences and two big occupants – Big Creek Lumber Company and the
Swanton Pacific Ranch
Swanton Pacific Ranch is a ranch in Santa Cruz County, California, outside the town of Davenport. The ranch is owned and operated by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) for educational and research in sustainable agriculture. The ...
campus of
California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...
. Swanton is home to
Swanton Pacific Railroad, a one-third-scale small-gauge railroad that runs on of track through the
Scott Creek valley using locomotives and cars from the San Francisco
Panama Pacific Exposition
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...
of 1915.
History
Ranched with dairy cattle since 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 ...
, the area was named after
Fred Swanton, builder of the
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.
Description
...
. It was the ''northern terminus'' of the southern branch of the
Ocean Shore Railroad
The Ocean Shore Railroad was a railroad built between San Francisco and Tunitas Glen, and Swanton and Santa Cruz that operated along the Pacific coastline from 1905 until 1921. The route was originally conceived to be a continuous line betwee ...
until it closed in 1922. Swanton had its own post office from 1897 to 1930, and its own elementary, Seaside School, until 1960.
In 2009, Swanton was heavily impacted by the
Lockheed Fire
The Lockheed Fire was a wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the Swanton and Bonny Doon areas of Santa Cruz County, California. The fire was started on August 12, 2009 at 7:16 PM PDT.
A Red Cross shelter was established at Vintage Fa ...
that burned for two weeks and consumed nearly , forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
It was the first major fire since 1948, $26 million was spent fighting it and it destroyed 13 structures and many millions of dollars of prime
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
land, but no houses.
In August 2020, Swanton suffered major damage from the
CZU Lightning Complex fires
The CZU Lightning Complex fires were wildfires that burned in Northern California starting in August 2020. The fire complex consisted of fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, including fires that had previously been separately tracked as ...
.
Further information
* ''Davenport oral history,'' (video-recording, series), Community Action Board, (Santa Cruz: Community Television of Santa Cruz County, 1998).
References
Further reading
*
External links
Oral History of Swanton Pacific Ranch
Unincorporated communities in California
Unincorporated communities in Santa Cruz County, California
Populated coastal places in California
{{SantaCruzCountyCA-geo-stub