Bear Valley (formerly Haydenville, Biddle's Camp, Biddleville, Simpsonville, and Johnsonville)
is a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in
Mariposa County,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States.
[ It is located south-southeast of Coulterville,] at an elevation of .[ Bear Valley has been designated ]California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meetin ...
#331. The population was 156 at the 2020 census.
History
The place was originally called "Haydenville" in honor of David, Charles, and William Hayden, gold miners. The place later bore the names "Biddle's Camp" and "Biddleville" in honor of William C. Biddle. It later was named "Simpsonville" in honor of Robert Simpson, local merchant. The name "Johnsonville" honored John F. Johnson. The name became Bear Valley in 1858.
The Haydenville post office opened before January 21, 1851, and closed in 1852. The Bear Valley post office operated from 1858 to 1912, from 1914 to 1919, and from 1933 to 1955.
In 1847, John C. Frémont
Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...
, a veteran of the Bear Flag Revolt
The California Republic, or Bear Flag Republic, was an List of historical unrecognized states#Americas, unrecognized breakaway state from Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico, that existed from June 14, 1846 to July 9, 1846. It milita ...
, decided to settle down in the San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
. Desiring a ranch near San Jose, he sent $3,000 to the American consul Thomas O. Larkin. Instead of his intended purchase, he was sold Rancho Las Mariposas, consisting of in the southern 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 primari ...
foothills around Bear Valley.[John C. Frémont]
sierrafoothillmagazine.com, Accessed August 2, 2009. The original Mexican grant was a "floating grant", a grant of land for which the area was precisely given but the actual boundaries were left unspecified (usually due to inadequate surveys of the areas involved). After the beginning of the California Gold Rush
The California gold rush (1848–1855) 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 from the rest of the U ...
in 1848, Fremont moved his grant's borders into the hills. Those hills proved to be lucrative, and his mining operations centered in Bear Valley.
At its peak, Bear Valley had a population of 3,000. During 1850-60 when Frémont's Pine Tree and Josephine Mines were producing, Frémont built an elegant hotel, Oso House; the structure, like many in the area, burned in the late 19th century.[ Frémont lived and worked in the city, and his large home was nicknamed the Little ]White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
, coincidentally built two years after he was the first Republican Party candidate for US president; the home burned in 1866.
Geography
Bear Valley is in west-central Mariposa County in the foothills of the 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 primari ...
. California State Route 49
State Route 49 (SR 49) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush and it is known as the Golden Chain Highway. The road was initial ...
passes through the community, leading southeast to Mariposa, the county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
, and northwest through the Merced River
The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...
canyon to Coulterville. According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP covers , of which , or 0.04%, are water.
Demographics
The 2020 United States census reported that Bear Valley had a population of 156. The population density was . The racial makeup of Bear Valley was 113 (72%) White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0 (0%) African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 7 (4%) Native American, 0 (0%) Asian, 0 (0%) Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 9 (6%) from other races, and 27 (17%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 34 persons (22%).
The whole population lived in households. There were 49 households, out of which 16 (33%) included children under the age of 18, 29 (59%) were married-couple households, 1 (2%) was a cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
couple household, 14 (29%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 5 (10%) had a male householder with no partner present. 10 households (20%) were one person, and 7 (14%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.18. There were 39 families
Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(80% of all households).
The age distribution was as follows: 56 people (36%) under the age of 18, 64 people (41%) aged 18 to 64, and 36 people (23%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 33.0years. There were 77 males and 79 females.
There were 62 housing units at an average density of , of which 49 (79%) were occupied. Of these, 100% were owner-occupied.
References
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Census-designated places in Mariposa County, California
California Historical Landmarks
Census-designated places in California