BASS LAKE key to Central California's first hydroelectric generating project, has developed into a major resort and water sports facility. The reservoir was created in 1895. Popular for power boaters and fishermaen, the lake and the U.S. Forest Service Recreation Area surrounding it offers a wealth of camping and picnicking opportunities. Resorts on both sides of the lake feature a wide range of dining and lodging facilities.
The area is a popular place for production of movies and video commercials.
COARSEGOLD is where gold first was discovered in Eastern Madera County. In about 1850, the creek which now bears the town's name, was the site of the first discovery made by a group of Texas miners. First called Coarse Gold Gulch, and for a while Texas Flat, the first deep lode mine was here.
Cattle ranching still is prominet in Coarsegold's economy. Early each May, the Coarsegold Rodeo celebrates the western frontier which still may be felt in the community.
OAKHURST's original name, Fresno Flats, marked an area just below where Nelder, Lewis and Redwood Creeks merge to create the headwaters of the Fresno River. It was this river that gave its name to the County of Fresno when it was carved out of Mariposa County and subsequently to the City of Fresno.
The "Flats" were settled not by gold seekers, but by families who came early in the 1850's to raise their childern and make their living as farmers, lumbermen and merchants. Fresno Flats Historical Park recaptures the late 1800's.
Today a community of some 13,000 people, Oakhurst is the hub for economic and social activitity for much of Eastern Madera County and portions of Mariposa County.
It is a mecca for those who may wish to be involved in a variety of community activites ranging from melodrama and repertoire theater to vocal and instrumental musical groups, childrens museums to sport and other activities for youth, book clubs to service organizations.
FISH CAMP was named in 1881 when Albert Philip filed a timber claim in that name on property in the area. In 1883, the town included the two-story Summerdale Hotel, a store, post office, saloon, barns and a dance hall which held dances seven days a week.
The town was a center for logging and summer ranges for cattle, and a place to change horses on the road from the railroad in Raymond to Wawona. The Summerdale Post Office was established in 1893, the name later changed to Fish Camp.
Fish Camp is located just two miles from the entrance to Yosemite National Park.
NIPINNAWASEE an Indian site, was homesteaded in 1908 by a man from Michigan who gave thet town its name, meaning "home of the deer" in a Midwestern Indian language.
NORTH FORK located on the North Fork of Willow Creek, is a town which pulls itself up by its boot straps. It's a 134 year old mill town whose pepole depended for decades on the timber industry and refused to lie down and die with the closure of its lumber mill . Today its people have united, through the efforts of the North Fork Community Development Council, Inc., the town's umbrella organization, to put the old mill site to work for the town's economy. Its re-use project is a model for other such communities in the State. The spirit of the mill is preserved in the North Fork Boosters' traditional Fourth of July Loggers' Jamboree.
North Fork is the headquarters of the Mariposa/Minarets Ranger Districts of the US Forest Service. It is also the traditional home of the Mono people who have lived in this area for centuries. The Sierra Mono Muzeum displays the traditions of the Mono people and their crafts. Also headquartered in North Fork is the Coarsegold Resource Conservation District, whose main current project is creation of fuel breaks in our forested area.
North Fork is the Exact Center of California, the Gateway to the Sierra National Forest and to the Sierra Vista National Scenic Byway, and the Scenic Route ot Yosemite.
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