Agua Fria

Agua Fria is a ghost town in Mariposa County, California, with roots in the California Gold Rush. Sonoran miners working under Alexander Godey — a fur trapper and explorer employed by John C. Frémont — discovered gold along Agua Fria Creek in 1849, and a mining camp took shape almost immediately within the boundaries of Rancho Las Mariposas, a large Mexican-era land grant originally issued to Juan Bautista Alvarado. That early momentum gave the settlement enough standing to be designated the first county seat of Mariposa County, a status it held from February 18, 1850, until November 10, 1851.

Today Agua Fria is a true ghost town, and visitors should arrive with modest expectations. The historical record documents its founding and governmental role clearly, but little infrastructure remains to greet a modern traveler. The site rewards those drawn to Gold Rush history and the quiet atmosphere of a place that briefly mattered enormously to a newly forming county, then faded just as quickly.