Chapter 3: Who Lived Here Before Me?

Picture of Merced River taken from bridge.
 http://campingsierra.com/2007/05/

 Approximately 20 miles east of Merced is a mall town called Snelling. Snelling was settled around 1850 by two men named Dr. Joshua Griffith and Dr. David Wallace Lewis. The Merced River ran directly through the town making it easily accesible for gold-mining. Griffith and Lewis set up camp along the Merced River beaneath an old Oak tree. After there was word of gold being discovered in the Merced river, many people flocked to the town. However, they did not settle in snelling, but 20 miles east in the town of Merced.

Miners from Merced and Mariposa County.
 http://home.comcast.net/~davesmeds/alvinbranson.htm

 Therefore, Merced was settled by people from the United States that migrated to the East during the gold rush of 1849. This greatly boosted the population of Merced. The miners that migrated to Merced established small businesses in what is to day considered to be downtown Merced. The trip from Merced to snelling and back is on a two lane, flat road, cutting its way through the rolling hills.

 The process of dredging was used throughout Snelling to mine for gold. After this had occured, the idea was to bury the mounds of rocks that resulted from this process, but as of today the tailings on the side of the road can still be seen.
To learn more about the settlement of Merced County, click here.