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Hornitos is a bit off the beaten path, being off of California State Route 49
about 15 miles west of Mariposa in Mariposa County. My map labels the highway it's on as
"J16."
According to Carter, Hornitos was one of the rowdiest of the early "whoopee"
towns, being frequented by outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. It was founded by
Sonorans, and their influence is seen in the Mexican-style plaza with buildings
clustered around it shown in the lower set of photos.
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This photo of the Catholic Church in Hornitos appears on
page 221 in Florin's book (1971). Note the stone buttresses. |
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This photo of the church was taken by me on April 11, 1993.
That's my rental Dodge Dynasty that you can just see the front of at left. |
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Close-up view of the church taken by me. |
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This photo was taken from behind the church. |
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This photo of a Mexican-style plaza appears on page 220 of
Florin's book. It was built in 1851. The left end was a saloon.
The right end, which was not identified in Florin's book, was a saddle shop
according to a fellow (Henning Olesen of Denmark, who worked in central
California in the late 1950s) who saw this website and contacted me. |
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Here is another photo of these structures taken in the late
1950s by Henning Olesen of Denmark |
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This photo of a street in Hornitos just catches, along the
left side, the plaza
building shown in the photo above. Photo taken April 11, 1993. |
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This photo of some Hornitos buildings, including the General
Merchandise store, appears on page 60 of
Carter's book (1971). |
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This photo of the General Merchandise store was sent in by
Henning Olesen of Denmark. He worked in this area of California in the
late 1950s, which is when this photo was taken. |
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