This series of articles began with the December 1974 issue of the PML News and ran for quite a few months.
December 9, 1974
WANDERING ALONG HIGHWAY 120
By Jean McClish
Turn south from the Big Oak Flat Road just east of the 3,000-foot elevation signpost between Big Oak Flat and Groveland. The road wanders several hundred yards to a rock-pillared gate, which stands open. This is the Oak Grove Cemetery, resting place for inhabitants of Groveland and Big Oak Flat and surrounding area since the 1880's.
 Generations of local families lay here - Reid, Gray, Scofield. Familiar names of bygone years - Mueller, Tannahill. Priest, mark marble or granite headstones.
Some of the earliest marble slabs lean into the years, the carved legend difficult to decipher. Poignant moments in the life of a family is revealed - carved forever in marble epitaph:
CHARLES L. HARPER
Died Jan 23, 1891
Aged 68 years
Loved one we have laid thee in the quiet graves embrace.
Thy memory will be cherished until we see thy heavenly face.
Four Drew children who died in the 1879 diphtheria epidemic lie together, the obelisk gravestone reading: Earth counts 4 mortals 1's Heaven 4 angels more. Ornate wrought iron fences surround graves of generations of a family. Others are bound together by cement curbings. An occasional single grave is outlined by a wrought iron or a wooden post fence. Some are marked by quartz or their rock, head and foot - no headstone to tell the passerby who lies here.
 The remote grounds are oak studded. The crunch of acorns underfoot and the shuffling of oak leaves as one passes from grave to grave break the quiet dignity and the birds scold. Memorial Drive was named Graveyard Road for a time. The residents objected to that designation. The road had been referred to simply as "the cemetery road" for many years and no signpost marked the turnoff - everyone knew where the cemetery was.
Back toward Big Oak Flat and on the opposite side of Highway 120 is the Catholic cemetery flanking the hill in front of Mt. Carmel Church. We will visit here another day.
The Big Oak flat Road (Highway 120) from Pine Mountain Lake to Yosemite traverses scenic countryside. Vistas range from quaint to spectacular. It passes landmarks of the southern mines of the Mother Lode and the ranches, mills, and hostelries of Tuolumne County's earlier days.
The drive from Groveland to the Big Oak Flat Entrance to Yosemite National Park is twenty-six miles and can be made in little more than half an hour. If getting to Yosemite is the traveler's only goal, then God's speed. However, a leisurely investigative trip can fill pleasurable hours. It is those who ride with a spirit of adventure that we set forth the following:
Leaving Groveland, the road quickly passes the Tenaya School and in less than two miles comes to the site of Second Garrotte, (Old Hwy 120 Road) marked by a plaque reading, "Sizable settlement established at this rich placer location in 1849 by miners spreading eastward from Big Oak Flat and Groveland.". At this location only ashes remain where once notorious **Hangman's Tree stood.
Nearby is the Bret Harte cabin, a house within a house, reasonable preserved but seldom visited in its out-of-the-way seclusion.
The gold mines of Second Garrotte, the eastern most along the Big Oak Flat Road, were not as prosperous as those in many other areas, but the settlement was the home for a small community of settlers for many years with almost none remaining today. There had been homes, gardens, a flour mill, store, barns and in the earliest lusty days, the inevitable fandango houses.
Eastward, the road climbs abruptly for a mile or so and emerges into a wider valley. On the left is the Sugar Pine Ranch. The first settler here built a cabin in 1860's. The present white house was built shortly after the turn of the century. In 1946 the Wesley Osborne's bought the property, added cabins and operated a ranch-motel. They run the motel to this day, but no longer serve the meals for which they enjoyed a wide reputation for excellence.
A mile further is the first turn off to Shanahan Flat and Hells Hollow. Less than a dozen families live along this intriguing byway. A second turn off in two miles is a more direct route, and is the one recommended for an easier investigation.
Smith Station, just ahead, was a change station for horses pulling the stage and freight wagons and a stopping place for passengers and drivers.
John B. Smith came to California from Maine in 1854 and homesteaded the meadow, first known as Sprague's Ranch. Smith provided overnight lodgings for stage passengers and hostlers and served meals, family style, which included venison or mountain trout or beef which Smith butchered himself. Vegetables came from the garden planted beside the two-story house. Meals cost 25 cents and a bed could be had for 75 cents to $1.00.
The first tollgate of the Big Oak Flat Road Company was temporarily located here. Smith Station Road turns south, heading toward Wagner Valley and connecting with other roads going to Greeley Hill, Coulterville or Bower Cave.
Continuing along the Big Oak Flat Road, Casa Loma passes by on the left near where Ferretti Road joins the highway. The Groveland Ranger Station is next, and then the road passes into Mariposa County for several miles.
Within this Mariposa County stretch the road reaches Buck Meadows. Turning off here to the right, a narrow road wanders back to the old cabins and an operating sand and gravel quarry.
In the early days Buck Meadows was known as Hamilton's. Alva Hamilton and his wife, Johannah, built their farmhouse here and ran a hotel for travelers. It was a favorite stopping place for cattlemen herding cattle up country to pasture or back down again. The Hamilton's remained open all year around, although there was little business in the winter.
They farmed here, raising their own beef and pork. They planted orchards of apples, peaches and Bartlett pears, which thrived, protected from the wind. In the valley over the hill they grew again.
On the other side of the highway beyond Buck Meadows is Yosemite Meadows, offering gasoline, groceries, and a bar and restaurant serving Italian food all year around.
Rim of the World Vista Point is ahead with a splendid panoramic view of Jawbone Ridge and the Tuolumne River Canyon.
Two miles further is the bridge crossing the South Fork of the Tuolumne River. Until 1870 the crossing here was made over logs felled across the river. The Big Oak Flat-Yosemite Road Company built a covered bridge and this became the toll gate sometime after 1894. John Cox, the toll collector, built his cabin on a rock overlooking the pool. The Cliff House later occupied this site.
A road turns off at the near end of the bridge and leads to a waterfall and Rainbow Pool. This is an excellent picnic and swimming spot. The old road continues past the pool, crosses lower bridge and rejoins Highway 120 several hundred yards to the east.
Almost immediately a road turns off to the left to San Jose Camp. The roof tops can be seen from the highway. The road leads to Early Intake and Cherry Lake and is the long wayto Mather.
Within five miles there is a turn off to Hardin Flat leading to Yosemite Lakes and Berkeley Camp. The road is a section of Old Big Oak Flat Road.
Yosemite Lakes is a private picnic and camping park with accommodations for over 300 vacationers. There is trout fishing in the lake, a swimming beach and playground. The old Harry Guinn Bridge, now closed to vehicles, crosses the river into Ponderosa Campground. The old road continues onto the Berkeley Camp. Another connects with Highway 120.
Hardin Flat was the site of James Hardin's sawmill. Hardin's was a stopping place for tourists, and for a time was as far as travelers could go by stage. The rest of the trip into the Yosemite Valley was accomplished on horseback down precarious zig-zag trails. In 1855 a traveler could ride by stage from Chinese Camp to Hardin's for $13.00 with no extra charge for the horseback trip to the valley.
The present highway to Yosemite bypasses Crocker Station, once one of the most important stopping places for stages, and later for horseless carriages, on the Big Oak Flat Road. Henry Crocker and his wife Ellen served family style meals on tables with white cloths and featured roasts of venison or mutton or beef, trout or chicken. There were fifteen buildings: a hotel, cottages and housekeeping cabins made out of logs, finished inside with lumber.
The Big Oak Flat Entrance to Yosemite Park is five miles from Yosemite Lakes.
The road began as a trail to the mines in 1849 and became a full-fledged highway in 1874 when it was opened all the way to the valley floor.
The advent of the automobile in the Park in 1913 signaled the beginning of the end of the stage stations. They played a vital role in the early days, and they lived until they died. *
* Primary source of information: THE BIG OAK FLAT ROAD TO YOSEMITE, Irene Paden & Margaret Schlichtman, 1959.
**Several years ago the new Highway 120 bypassed a section of old Highway 120. It's now called Old Highway 120 Road, which is found just past Tenaya Grammar School on the right. This is where you will find "Hangman's Tree."
December 9, 1974
A little about the author:
WHERE DOES THAT ROAD GO is the result of Jean McClish simply "getting involved" in the heritage of this area. Jean was the official photographer for the PML NEWS. In her spare time she goes to school three days a week at the Columbia College, spends hours in the library going over books that might give her a key to some exciting memory, and then she can be spotted with camera, pencil, and paper heading down a "wayside" road such as Memorial Drive.
Because of her interest and "getting involved," Jean this month begins a series of articles that deals with the names of roads in and around our area where they go, and what past and future resides along their roadside.
In the next issue of Pine Mountain Lake NEWS, Jean is going to tour us thru a "DOUBLE LOOP"; starting with the Groveland Deer Flat Road to Wards Ferry to Big Oak Flat, then down Harper Road to Merrill Road and ending our tour in Groveland.
PINE MOUNTAIN LAKE NEWS EDITOR 1974 | 
