Hornitos, Mariposa Co., California

Hornitos, Mariposa Co.,  California

Home of the Davis & Augusta Rosenthal Family Birthplace of Aaron A., Samuel Henry  & Henrietta Kate Rosenthal.  The Rosenthals were merchants and hoteliers who moved from here to Bodie, California to Hawthorne, Nevada following their customers, the miners.

Hornitos is located on Burns Creek 14 miles south of Coulterville at an elevation of 843 feet.  Hornitos is located on CR-J16, 11 miles west of Bear Valley, and about 15 AIR miles west-northwest of Mariposa.

The Hornitos district is in the Sierra Nevada west gold belt in western Mariposa County about 15 miles west of the town of Mariposa (see fig. 4, Bulletin 193). The district contains a several-mile wide belt of lode-gold mines that extends from the vicinity of the Exchequer Reservoir SSE through Hornitos to the Indian Gulch area.

Originally, the nameless community was established by Mexican Miners in 1848. Mexican miners  who were kicked out of the nearby town of Quartzburg founded Hornitos on Burns Creek, in the western edge of Mariposa County. It was quickly populated by“less desirable elements” evicted from the booming mining town of Quartzburg about two miles away.  These evictees changed the character of the mining camp and Hornitos quickly became known as a rough community.

Hornitos went on to become one of the most prosperous towns of the Southern Motherload.  Meanwhile, the placers at Quartzburg soon played out and that camp died away. Later it settled down and grew respectable as Quartzburg faded and the folks moved to nearby Hornitos.  It was the center for both placer and hard rock mining.

The ground in the area of Hornitos is very hard and rocky so the Mexican towns folks  preferred to bury their dead in above ground tombs built of rock and adobe. These small dome-shaped mounds resembled the outdoor ovens used for baking bread in Mexico so the graves were known as "hornitos", which meant  “little ovens” in Spanish.

The Hornitas post office opened in 1856, and changed its name to Hornitos in 1877.

Hornitos Hotel, ready to receive an ex-President.

Hornitos Hotel today.

By the mid-late 1850s Hornitos was a small city with some 6000 people.  It was well known for its fiestas, fandangos, gambling and violence. The mining camp grew quickly around a central plaza, rock and adobe buildings lined the narrow streets running out from the center of town. During its heyday, Hornitos is said to have had a population of less than 8,000. The town had 4 hotels, 6 fraternal lodges and organizations, a post office, 6 general merchandise stores, a Wells Fargo Express, and several saloons and fandango halls. Many of the fandangos were built underground and lined the road leading to the plaza. These subterranean saloons were all connected by doors so patrons could roam from one to another without the inconvenience of having go outside, where they might be seen.

Pacific Saloon, built in 1851 of adobe construction, in 1862 the brick trim was added.

Old adobe ruins with only the entry way and it's iron doors remaining. Photo courtesy of Lewis Shorb, Ghost Town Explorers

The Ghirardelli Store

 

The Ghirardelli Store (1859) was operated by D. Ghirardelli & Co., the well-known chocolate maker of San Francisco. (Courtesy Dolores Steele)

Pacific Saloon, built in 1851 of adobe construction, in 1862 the brick trim was added.

Outlaws, Jail & Dead Man's Gulch

Jail -- Granite walls 2 feet thick (Courtesy Dolores Steele)

But the town has a dark history to it as well. The town was so notorious for its daily gunfights that the dead outlaws were simply dumped into a deep gully called Dead Man's Gulch. Famed Mexican bandit, Joaquin Murieta, was said to frequent the fandango halls and was rumored to have been almost captured in the town in the 1850's.

Joaquin Murieta

The infamous bandit/folk hero, Joaquin Murieta was almost captured here in the early 1850’s but slipped away. Though the official line is that Murieta was eventually caught, killed, and his severed head paraded about the state, many people thought it was faked and that he retired from his Robin Hood’ish ways to live off riches he’d stashed away. One version of that story puts Hornitos as the place he buried his gold. Joaquin Murieta was the basis for the fictional character of Zorro. It is claimed that the infamous bandit Joaquin MURIETTA is said to have frequented the dance halls and saloons here, and is said to have had a secret escape tunnel from his favorite hangouts. However much of what was written about this outlaw has almost reached legendary proportions and it is difficult to separate fact from fancy.  (Kind of like the Earp clan and James Brothers.

Masonic Lodge built sometime in the 1850's.

Photo courtesy of Lewis Shorb, Ghost Town Explorers

Hornitos Cemetery & St Catherine's Church

Gold & Mining

Gold Quartzburg, Hornitos District, West Belt, Mariposa Co., California, USA

Golf History

The streams around Hornitos were rich in gold, with reports of nuggets weighing up to 34 pounds being found in the area. When the placers began to give out, the miners started digging shafts and tunnels to reach the quartz gold lying below the rocky surface.

In 1858 the first quartz mill was installed.  It was a machine-powered arrastra.  By 1860 it had been replaced by a 20-stamp mill. In 1900 there were four operating stamp mills in the community. It is claimed that some $40,000 in gold was shipped out on a daily basis.

The streams in the area were first worked in 1849, and lode mining began in 1850 at the Washington Mine. activity was great from the 1860's through the 1880's, lesser from the 1890's to the 1920's. The Mt. Gaines Mine was worked on a major scale during the 1930s. Since World War II the area has been prospected, but there has been very little recorded production. Historically, this is the most productive district of the Sierra Nevada West gold belt. By 1870 the population is said to have reached 15,000, and the town incorporated as Mariposa County’s only incorporated city.

Hornitos was in the center of the HORNITOS MINING DISTRICT. Some of the mines in that district include: BADGER MINE, BARCROFT MINE, CHITTENDEN’S MINE, DOSS MINE, DUNCAN MINE, EUREKA MINE (#1), GAINES MINE, JENNY LIND MINE, LONDON MINE, LOST DOUGLAS, MARTINEZ, MOUNT GAINES MINE, NUMBER 1 MINE, NUMBER 4 MINE, NUMBER 5 MINE, NUMBER 7 MINE, NUMBER 8 MINE, NUMBER 9 MINE, PRESCOTT VEIN , QUARTZ MOUNTAIN MINE, RUTH PIERCE MINE, WASHINGTON MINE (#1), YOSEMITE MILL

Chinese in Hornitos & China John

Chinese Section: Off to the east side of town a thriving Chinese section grew to house some 2000 folks.

There is one story that is often remembered of the old stone jail and it is a tragic tale. During the 1860’s Hornitos was home to a large Chinese population, many of whom were engaged in reworking the abandoned claims in the area.

Tradition has it that one such miner was known as China John. While working on his claim one morning, a group of young boys gathered about him, teasing him and making a nuisance of themselves as young boys will do. This annoying bedevilment continued for several days until China John finally snapped. Reaching into his pocket, he drew a battered pistol and fired into the side of a hill to frighten the boys away. Unfortunately, the shot struck a stone in the hill, ricocheted and hit one of the boys in the leg. The boys scattered, screaming, and China John was glued to the spot, horrified by what he had done. Nearby miners raced to the scene, grabbed China John and dragged him back towards the plaza. An angry mob, infuriated by the news that a Chinaman had shot a white boy, quickly gathered and men began looking for a rope. The boy was little more than scratched by the bullet, but no one bothered to find this out. Just as the unruly crowd was about to string China John up, several town officials appeared and were able to quiet down the vocal mob.

Assured that there would be a trail the following day (and that a hanging would certainly follow), the mob began to break up and the prisoner was taken to the stone jail to await the coming morrow. As he was not considered dangerous, China John was not shackled to the floor. Late that night, a quiet group of men stealthily approached the jail. Drawing their guns, several men entered the guardhouse, surprising and tying up the guard; but the keys were nowhere to be found. Even though there was no way into the jail, they had their hangman’s noose ready and it would be used that night.

     The next morning they found China John, lying broken on the floor in a pool of blood, beneath the small, barred window, the hangman’s noose knotted around his neck. Somehow the men had lured him to the window, perhaps with the offer of drugs or tobacco. Once there, he was grabbed and held as the noose was slipped over his head and pulled tight against his throat. Then with repeated jerks and pulls on the rope, China John’s brains were bashed out against the rock wall. Even for Hornitos, this was a wanton, brutal murder which shocked the citizens upon its discovery. Those responsible were never brought to justice. The evidence of this vicious crime remained visible for many years in the form of bloodstains on the wall of the jail. But in 1902 a coating of lime was applied to the inside walls and the tell-tale marks were covered from view.

Businesses

Some of the early businesses included a blacksmith shop, brewery (1860), butcher, several dance halls, adobe-walled jail (1853), six lodges, general stores, post office (est. June 18, 1856) and a Wells Fargo & Company Express Office (1853).  

At the time of ots incorporation Hornitos had a dozen hotels and 36 saloons along with many other businesses. Some of the many businesses that existed here include:  

         Butchers: George REEB’s Butcher shop. Reeb’s butcher shop, at corner of Plaza, Hornitos

        

Dance-hall of 1850 at Hornitos, with an underground passage for escape when things grew too hot. Rosie Martinez built Hornitos’ only two-story

     dance hall in 1851.

        

Cassaretto Store built in 1851 The Cassaretto Store was built in 1851 of stone and adobe, the outer walls were later coated with a lime mortar. Originally a Mexican store.

C.B. Cavagnaro's General Store, Hornitos, California

The Gagliardo & Co. Store

      

Entertainment: Many of the businesses were interconnected with underground tunnels, and for entertainment besides the Fandango Dance Halls there were always chicken races, bull & bear fights and cock-fights. .  Life was NOT boring!  

Decline

But good things don’t always last forever, and mining slowed and the people began to move on.  By the mid 1880s Hornitos was much quieter, and it didn’t take a lot to get the folks excited.  The following information came from an unidentified 1884 newspaper clipping.  Contributed to the Mariposa County Discussion List by William Disbro.

Hornitos, Aug. 13th, 1884

“The monotony of our existence was rudely disturbed last Sunday evening by the cry of "fire." Towards nine o'clock, while everyone was calmly enjoying the cool evening, after a day when the thermometer was among the hundreds, when people were sitting quietly before their doors, chatting on various topics, discussing the mysterious origin of the numerous fires and the burning done on the GRIFFITHS Ranch, some one startled us with the announcement that ‘George REEB’S house burning.’ In a instant the whole town was in commotion. Men were running with hoses, tubs and buckets; some pumping, others shouting, children crying and women, scared by the reminiscences of early day fires, when the whole of our town was swept clean out in a few hours, were packing their household goods, making ready to move in case of need. For a moment the wind blew south and the whole northern part of town was enveloped in a thick cloud of dense, black smoke that compelled everyone to close windows and doors. Then it veered again. A pile of fifty tons of baled hay was ablaze and one single glance sufficed to reveal the fact that it was past redemption, and that our efforts must be concentrated in keeping the fire from spreading. A difficult task indeed, with old tumble down buildings, built in the prosperous days of Hornitos, abutting right smack against the fire, roof made as dry as tinder by the summer heat and ready to blaze up at the least spark!

           “Luckily, the wind fell to a dead calm. The moon rose and we were working in the dark no more. The tin roof gradually giving us a show to keep down flames and sparks and thus confining the conflagration to one building. Everyone worked with a will, even the ladies, carrying water and pumping like good fellows and by two o'clock in the morning the town was saved.

“As I write, three days after the fire, it is still smoldering with prospects of keeping it up a few days unless some charitable soul turns on a stream of water, and I would suggest to our butcher, whose property it is, to kill a few of his hogs and smoke a few hams. In hard times let us be saving and make the best we can of a calamity.

“Yesterday, we had another narrow escape. By some means, a mosquito bar (netting) caught fire, and of course, the women were nearby, dropped it and yelled. But a few kicks and stamps and drops of water put that fire out.  Otherwise our town is dull. Not even a dogfight or foot race. The infernal mluing (sic) of a band of tom cats is the only thing that disturbs the silence of the night. The solitary " drunk" I've seen for month of Sundays sang himself to sleep in jail, and the place has resumed its wonted calm and folks go indoors during the heat of the day, leaving the street in full possession of a few emaciated pigs, who solemnly perambulate the length and breath of Hornitos.

“The BARCROFT mine is turning out very well and the outlook for it is very promising. As yet, no clean up has been made, and therefore no decisive opinion can be formed, but it is the general impression of all experienced miners that it will be fully equal to anything yet found around this part of the county.”

By 1896 the calm deepened, and two saloons remained open to assuage the thirst of the residents.  Hornitos has continued to fade until the 1980s, but then it was more of a rural refuge for disenfranchised urban dwellers looking for a little quiet.  Hornitos disincorporated in 1953.

Today standing and ruined buildings remain, making Hornitos one of the most picturesque of the old mining towns.  

Once the gold was exhausted the miners moved on to richer claims and Hornitos quietly died. There are a few residents found here today living among the gold rush era ruins.  Eventually the gold ran out and the miners who populated the town moved onto other places in search of riches. From a population of around 15,000 in 1879 it quickly dwindled down and around 1932 there were roughly 60 people living in Hornitos. Today the population is 75 people and Hornitos is considered one of the best preserved ghost towns in the Mother Lode country

Ghosts of Prostitutes

Near the town square the ghosts of two prostitutes, who using knives and fought to the death over a miner, can still be felt to this day. The fight was over whose client he was and before the fight was over the miner had snuck off When the proverbial dust had settled, one of the women lay dead on the street and the was other badly injured. It's said if you stand still in the town square and listen you can still hear the screams of the women as they fought and the cheers of the miners who stood around and watched.

Sign Reads: One of the Nations Most Famous Ghost Towns early population 15,000. Here was the first Wells Fargo Express Office in county. $40000 in gold sent to Mint daily by armed stagecoach. Joaquin Murietta’s playground. California’s most colorful bandit. Mariposa County biggest county in the world during greatest Gold Rush of all time. Hornitos Spanish for “Little Ovens,” so named because of the Mexican burial tombs were shaped like square ovens – Hornitos Oldest Landmark Hornitos is registered as California Historical Landmark #333.

A Mexican-style plaza. It was built in 1851. The left end was a saloon. The right end was a saddle shop (Henning Olesen of Denmark & Florin's book.)

A street in Hornitos just catches, along the left side, the plaza building (April 11, 1993.)

Hornitos buildings, including the General Merchandise store (Carter's book 1971).

Today Hornitos lives on as one of the best preserved ghost towns in the Mother Lode with the ruins of the old Wells Fargo office, the stone Masonic Hall, the jailhouse, the store where the firm of D. Ghirardelli got its start in the 1850s and others.

The population was 75 at the 2010 census.

POPULATION FIGURES

·        1860:   6000 (not verified)

·        1870:  15,000 (not verified)

·        1930 – 62

·        1970 - 73

·        1980 - 200

·        1990 - 260

·        2000 - 260