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Ridleys Ferry, later Benton Mills, is a former settlement in Mariposa County, California.[1]

It was located on the south bank of the Merced River, opposite the settlement of Bagby.[1]

History

It was on the Rancho Las Mariposas, an 1844 Mexican land grant acquired in 1847 by John C. Frémont. During the California Gold Rush Frémont built a stamp mill at Ridleys Ferry, and renamed it Benton Mills in honor of his father-in-law Senator Thomas Hart Benton.[1]

Thomas E. Ridley operated a ferry across the Merced River at the site from 1850 to 1852.[1]

The settlement endured during the 1850s and 1860s.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 742. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.


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