Kyburz (formerly, Slippery Ford and Slipperyford) is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

El Dorado County El Dorado County (; ''El Dorado'', Spanish language, Spanish for "The Golden ne), officially the County of El Dorado, is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

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 ...

. It is located along the South Fork of the

American River The American River is a List of rivers of California, river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it ...

and

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

, and is surrounded by the

Eldorado National Forest Eldorado National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range, in eastern California. Geography Most of the forest (72.8%) lies in El Dorado County. In descending order of land area the others countie ...

. Its

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

is 4058 feet (1237 m)

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Settlement began a mile west at Webster’s Sugar Loaf House as a remount station for the

pony express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. During its 18 months of opera ...

on April 3, 1860. The route ran through where

US 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

locally is today. The Slippery Ford post office opened in 1861. The name was changed to Slipperyford in 1896, and to Kyburz in 1911, by its Postmaster Albert Kyburz, in memory of his father Samuel Kyburz, who was an early California pioneer with John Sutter. The locale was along the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

Sierra Nevada Southern Route by 1916. Ski racer

Spider Sabich Vladimir Peter Sabich Jr. (January 10, 1945 – March 21, 1976) was an American alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team on the World Cup circuit in the late 1960s. He competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics and was the pro ski racing cham ...

grew up in Kyburz, where his father, Vladimir Sr., was stationed with the

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is the principal state police agency for the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary jurisdiction, including patrol and Criminal investigation, investigations, over all California Controlled-access highw ...

. Spider and his younger brother Steve raced at the Edelweiss ski area, which closed in the 1960s, and is now known as Camp Sacramento.

Demographics

As of the 2000 Census the population was 167, although the road sign on Highway 50 stated 139 as of 2008. This included 86 males and 81 females, 65 males age 18 and older, 66 females age 18 and older, 11 males age 65 or older, and 16 females age 65 or older.Relocation Now
Gender, retrieved 2008-02-19
Age Groups, retrieved 2008-02-19 The median age was 45.5, and people age 18 and older numbered 131, age 21 and over 128, and age 65 and over 27.

Notes

External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in the Sacramento metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in California Pony Express stations Unincorporated communities in El Dorado County, California Populated places established in 1861 1861 establishments in California Lincoln Highway