Grub Gulch (also, Grubgulch) is a former settlement in

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The town's name was earned by its lucky reputation that prospectors could count on panning enough gold to "grubstake themselves into better times." It was located northeast of

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

on present day Road 600.

History

Grub Gulch developed after the Gambetta Mine opened in 1880. Other local mines included the Mammoth Mine, the Enterprise Mine, and the Josephine Mine. The Grubgulch post office operated from 1883 to 1918. Up to five thousand people lived in Grub Gulch from the mid-1880s to the late 1890s making it the mountain area's largest mining community at the time. In 1900, Grub Gulch had a general store, two hotels and five saloons, but never a church. There were twenty-four mines within a five mile radius. President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

visited Grub Gulch in 1903 and said, "this is a bully town". A combination of factors let to Grub Gulch's demise in the early twentieth century. Development was hampered by lack of water. In 1906, the final mine closed. And the opening of the

Yosemite Valley Railroad The Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) was a short-line railroad operating from 1907 to 1945 in the state of California, mostly following the Merced River from Merced to Yosemite National Park, carrying a mixture of passenger and freight traffic. ...

in 1907 ended the stagecoach route to Yosemite through Grub Gulch. The town burned down in 1920. Today, a cemetery and historical marker are all that remain.

References

Former settlements in Madera County, California Former populated places in California {{California-ghost-town-stub