Friday, October 30, 2026

October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough

 



Title: October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough and Stone Corral 
Hike Info : Description : Background 


Hike Info:
Type:Touring
 GPS Tracks - Note: The GPS Dropped the tracks from Fresno State to the first site, the Mussel Slough Tragedy Landmark.
 


Description:

Sherri pondering
OSHER Catalog Description: Presenter: Dan Carrion Historian Dan Carrion, a former Fresno State Theater Department staffer, will guide this adventure, which begins with a bus trip from campus to the Hanford area for the 1880 Mussel Slough shootout site and the cemetery where three people who died there are buried. Next, it’s Hanford's Courthouse Park to explore some sites of interest and have lunch (on our own), possibly enjoying a cold treat from Superior Dairy’s pink truck that’s open while the cafe is being renovated. After a visit to Stone Corral, site of the final shootout of Sontag and Evans, the trip’s historical aspect ends in Reedley, visiting several historical sites, before returning to campus . [Notr: Permission could not be obtained to visit the private property which the Stone Corral is located at. So this did not take place.]

Also see the Background  section for more detail on the various markers.

I got up at 6:00 and did not move very fast, then had breakfast before Sherri got up. I then put the finishing touches on what I am taking. We got to Fresno State by 7:40 and joined the rest of the group going on this trip. The trip is through OSHER. Dan has led these trips to explore the different parts of the Central Valley through the eyes of the area’s history.

 

Mussel Slough plaque

Grangeville Cemetery


Dan at Grangeville Cemetery
Hanford Cemetery
We will be chauffeured on a bus. The “we: is 38 of us. As we go along, Dan starts to give us a background on what we will be seeing and hearing. The theme is, in the 1880’s the railroads were powerful and corrupt. Laws which encouraged them to develop lines through the Valley and throughout California-that would be the Railroad Acts of 1864 and 1868-allowed railroads to have up to 10 square miles of area within 20 miles of the track they laid down. This meant that each mile which was laid down they got about 20 square miles. Consequently, they were huge land owners in the Central Valley.
 
 
Hanford Cemetery

That was a legit incentive I think. What got twisted is the intention was that the companies could then turn around and have people rent or buy these parcels. The problem is the railroads would change the terms, increasing the rent and sale price by 10 times or more in some cases. This created outrage by some of the settlers, leading to a violent confrontation at Mussel Slough when the railroad tried to evict a settler from his home.

Old Hanford-1926

After learning the details of the Mussel Slough Tragedy, we went on to the Grangeville Cemetery. We got our first bit of excitement as the bus driver tried to maneuver the narrow lanes of the cemetery without going onto the grass or worse, over a grave. He did not, but decided he was not going to go further-the groundskeeper came out to make sure he had not left the pavement. So he let us off while we explored and he worked on getting out of the cemetery-he was successful.

 

 

The reason why we stopped at the cemetery is that five of the eight people who died at Mussel Slough are buried here: Iver Knutsen, Daniel Kelly, Miles Hart, Edward Haymaker and Acrhibald McGregor. The groundskeeper mentioned another person or two which are buried here as well, but not connected to Mussel Slough. The grounds do show the pride of being well taken care of.

We get back on the bus and head to the Hanford cemetery. You guessed it, two more of the Mussel Slough deaths are buried here: JE Henderson and James Harris. We looked around a bit more before moving on.

We are up ahead of Dan’s schedule, so he takes us to old downtown Hanford. I am thinking that around the park and the old jail is the old downtown. But there is an area even older, at West 6th and South Irwin Streets. He shows us where the old railroad station-right beside the tracks. Not where Amtrak runs, but the older freight tracks. Some of the history of Hanford is having its downtown burnt twice as all of the buildings were made of wood. The third time Hanford was built was with brick. He points out an old brick building which fronts 7th St as one of the older buildings in Hanford. This is also one of the favorite watering holes of E Clampus Vitus, the Sequoia Club.


Superior ice cream




We are still up ahead of schedule, but this is a good lunch break, so we head to a local strip mall which has three restaurants close by: Pho Wynn, La Taqueria Pata Salada, or Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Sherri and I chose the Mexican place-did you expect anything else? (I suspect Sherri left alone would have gone to the Pho place.) The meal was hearty, not spicy at all. We will be content for the rest of the day.

Then it is on the Hanford Civic Center Park. You have the old jail there, a replica of the Bastille. Also the Hanford Civic Auditorium, complete with an old World War I canon in front. About 30 years ago, Hanford brought in things to make it more kid friendly, such as a carousel. But what we all flock too, and flock is not an exaggeration is the Superior Diary pink trailer. Sherri and I share a small mint ice cream dish-which is two good sized scoops with some fudge syrup. It tastes good, but I will be glad when the brick and mortar opens up. Somehow, it tastes better over there.

 

Poole Ferry
Sherri had waited in line behind Anita, Dan’s wife. Each shares a love of sourdough baking. Consequently, they both enjoyed each other’s company and promised each other recipes.

Dan gathers us while we are savoring the ice cream and talks about Major James Savage and his relationships with the Indians and settlers of the area. Savage knew how to get along with the natives and would broker when disturbances happened between the two. What he could not remedy was the greed of certain folks who thought that they could take whatever they wanted. This was how the demise of Savage came about as he was shot dead by a judge which he helped get appointed. We will learn more about this later on.

Smith Ferry
Now it is time to reboard our bus and head to the final three spots for this afternoon. The first being in southern Reedley. Here Dan talks about two ferries: Poole and Smith. In our age of dams, bridges and highways, we forget how important and challenging river crossings would be. There is a wide variance in the depth and swiftness of water in the Central Valley. In the late 1800’s a wagon would easily get swept away with all of your goods in an ill-fated river crossing.

There were two crossings close together. One would be pretty accessible during certain times of the year and one was pretty much all year. These were Poole and Smith Ferries. They were competitors with each other, within a mile or two. It was here that Savage was killed. The monument the E Clampus Vitus people put up is a single large granite block with information on each ferry; one on one side of the block and the other on the other side.

After the ferry monument, we went on to a bridge crossing, which substantially replaced the ferries over the King’s River. The bridge was called the Wagon Bridge. This bridge was wooden, but survived several floods until it was replaced in 1929 with a concrete bridge.

Our last stop is at Hillcrest Farms. On the southeast corner, outside of the fence is an E Clampus Vitus memorial to Major James Savage. It has a biography of him on it. I am not sure that this is a special place for Savage. Still he deserves his own place away from other remembrances. He was a man with flaws and of his times-aren’t we all. But he did die while defending a people who were trying to live in peace away from the encroaching white man. He does deserve his own place. [It is noted that there is a second James Savage about half a mile away on private property.]

We got back to Fresno State about 5:15. Derek, our bus driver is appreciated by all 38 of us as he has done a good job of driving us around, sometimes in places which I would guess he wonders why he signup for this. All of us also appreciate the work which Dan did in preparing for this trip.

Sherri and I get back home about a quarter to six, just glad to rest for awhile. Who knew that riding around in a bus all day could be so tiring?





Background

Headstone Symbols: There are common symbols used on many headstones. Sherri and I first came across this when we saw a bookmark at the gift shop at the Atlanta Oakland Cemetery, There are websites which also give an explanation. Here are three of them:



Monument References:





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