Leavitt’s Station

Leavitt Meadows is known for its beautiful river, lush trees, and snow-capped mountains. It is a popular destination, especially in fall, when quaking aspens put on a magical show of yellow and red leaves. Hiram Leavitt settled the area in 1865 with a stage stop and a small hotel. Emigrants used the meadows as early as 1852 as part of the Walker River Sonora Emigrant Route.

Walker River-Sonora Route

In 1852, Columbia, California, merchants wanted to improve access to their towns and mines. They sent a survey crew headed by General Joseph C. Morehead eastward over the Sierra in search of a better route connecting the California Emigrant Trail. The survey party eventually reached the Carson River Route and convinced the Clark-Skidmore Party that their route was the shorter, easier and faster.

Unfortunately, the new route was neither shorter, nor easier… or developed or even marked. With 75 men and a dozen wagons, the Clark-Skidmore Party ran out of supplies at what was later named Leavitt Meadows, east of the peak. Moorhead headed a rescue party but got lost for a week before reaching Columbia. By this time, the emigrants abandoned their wagons and headed west, running into the rescue party at what is now known as Relief Valley.

Many members of the Clark-Skidmore Party continued to the gold mines, leaving their supplies at Leavitt Meadows. Some returned for their wagons, eventually reaching Columbia, where the town held a parade for the newly arrived group.

In 1853, a second party, led by George Washington Patrick, departed from Columbia. Washington was meeting his wife and children and waited for them at what would later be Buckland’s Station and Fort Churchill.

While waiting, they convinced the groups to take the Walker River-Sonora Route. Emigrant parties running into late fall abandoned much of the wagon’s contents at Leavitt Meadows to lighten the load over the crest.

Between 1852 and 1854, over 2,000 emigrants traveled the Walker River-Sonora Route. By 1855, the trail was all but abandoned for easier routes.

Rush to the eastern Sierra

In 1857, German prospector Cord Norst and his wife Mary, a native American, set up camp along the confluence of the Virginia and Dog Creeks. They built a dugout house with rock walls on the hillside and panned gold for a living. Hearing of their discovery, prospectors came to stake claims along the creeks. Dog Town soon became a “bustling little community” of 100 miners.

On July 4, 1859, Dog Town held Independence Day celebrations. A town resident left the festivities and wandered the hills east of Dog Town. He rested, picked up some dirt and found it contained gold.

Word of his discovery spread like wildfire and it was rumored that gold was on the ground for the taking. Most of Dog Town picked up their tents and moved them northeast one mile to the new town of Monoville. Soon came miners from Mono Pass, Carson Valley, and Sonora via Leavitt Meadows. The find became the first gold rush east of the Sierra.

Sonora & Mono Toll Road

The rush to the eastern Sierra was on. The Sonora & Mono Toll Road survey started in 1860 and was completed in 1864. With a six-horse covered wagon, the round trip took three weeks.

Sonora Pass is the second-highest pass connecting California’s gold country to the eastern Sierra. Today, it is California Highway 108. It has a grade of up to 26% and is closed from the start of winter till spring melt.

Hiram Leavitt & Leavitt’s Station

Hiram Leavitt was born in 1845 in New Hampshire. In his 20s, Leavitt heard the call of the Gold Rush and headed west, leaving his wife and daughter in Boston. In 1856, he returned for his family and emigrated to California via ship. The 1860 US Census places Hiram, his wife Eliza, 8-year-old daughter Ida and one-year-old son in Township #1 in Tuolumne County, now Sonora, California. The couple had a third child around 1861.

In 1865, the Leavitts headed east and settled in Indian Valley, later named Leavitt Meadows in their honor as the first white settlers. The Leavitts operated a way station and a small hotel along the bank of the river.

In 1877, Leavitt had Sam Hopkins build a two-story inn and stage stop in Bridgeport. The family moved, and their daughter Ida married Hopkins. Leavitt Station served travelers for many years and is now known as the Bridgeport Inn.

On October 20, 1869, Hiram Leavitt was elected a Mono County, California judge and served for several years.

Leavitt Station now

Little remains of the once important Leavitt Station. A dugout foundation with rocks, old tin cans and broken pottery marks the site.

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References

• Bridgeport Inn: History
• Calhoun, Margaret. Pioneers of the Mono Basin. Artemisa Press. 1984.
• California-Nevada Oregon California Trail Association Walker River-Sonora Route
• California Office of Historic Preservation: Sonora Mono Road
• Historical Marker Database: Sonora Mono Toll Road
• Leavitt: Descendants of John, the immigrant, through his son Moses
• Minedat
• Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union Sep 9, 1882
• Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union Dec 9, 1882
• Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union Jul 13, 1895
• Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union Jul 18, 1896
• Mono Herald and Bridgeport Chronicle-Union Mar 31, 1900
• Prairie Publications: Leavitt House
• Sonora Pass Vacations
• Trails West Walker River-Sonora Trail Driving Guide, Bob Black, Editor. 2019
• Wedertz, Frank S. Mono Diggings: Historical Sketches of Old Bridgeport Big Meadows and Vicinity. 1978.
• Wikipedia: Hiram Leavitt
• Wikipiedia: Sonora Pass

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