Melones (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Melons") is a former settlement in

Calaveras County Calaveras County (), officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,292. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels C ...

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 ...

, now submerged beneath a

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

named

New Melones Lake New Melones Lake is a reservoir on the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada foothills, within Calaveras County and Tuolumne County, California. The New Melones Dam and reservoir are a water collection and transfer unit of the Central V ...

. It lay at an elevation of 955 feet (291 m). Melones was founded on the site of a ferry operated from 1848 by John W. Robinson and Stephen Mead. The town initially took its name from the ferry.

History

The first post office opened in Robinsons Ferry in 1879, the name was changed to Robinson's in 1895, and to Melones in 1902. The post office was closed in 1932, re-established in 1933 and closed for good in 1942. In January 1923 Paramount Pictures chose Melones to construct a complete 1849 mining camp set there for the motion picture ''The Covered Wagon''. The studio sent an authentic

Sierra Railroad The Sierra Railroad Corporation is a privately owned common carrier. Its Sierra Northern Railway freight division handles all freight operations for all branches owned by the Sierra Railroad. The company's Mendocino Railway group operates th ...

train built in 1897 to the location via the Angels Branch line to Melones. The site was submerged under

when the

New Melones Dam New Melones Dam is an earth and rock filled embankment dam on the Stanislaus River, about west of Jamestown, California, United States, on the border of Calaveras County and Tuolumne County. The water impounded by the dam forms New Melone ...

finished construction and began to fill in April 1, 1978.

References

External links

Robinson's Ferry, Angels Camp, Cal., In E. F. Mueller Postcard Collection. "The Goodloe & Barden Drug Co."-on front. View of Robinson's Ferry on the Stanislaus River in Calaveras County.
from calisphere.org California State Library, accessed September 22, 2018.
View of Robinson's Ferry landing at the Stanislaus River in Melones, ca.1930, Photographer: Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946
from cdm15799.contentdm.oclc.org Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California, accessed September 22, 2018. Photograph of a view of Robinson's Ferry landing at the Stanislaus River in Melones, ca.1930. A wooden bridge extends from the dirt bank in the foreground to the other side of the riverbed. At the edge of the plank in center a staircase leads down to the ground through a wooden frame. At the bottom of the stairs there is a small trail of sunshine that is allowed through the shade that the tall trees on the right provide. A bend of the river can be seen on the left with banks of dirt and weeds. A hillside covered in trees and bushes can be seen in the background. "Ferry began operation in 1849 but is no longer used as the river has changed its course and a bridge has been built."
Robinson's Ferry
from hmdb.org THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE, accessed September 22, 2018. Former settlements in Calaveras County, California Former populated places in California Destroyed towns Submerged settlements in the United States 1879 establishments in California {{CalaverasCountyCA-geo-stub