Andrew Davidson Fierbaugh

Firebaugh's Ferry  - Firebaugh is named for Andrew Davidson Fierbaugh. The settlement was first called Firebaugh's Ferry as buildings sprang up around the ferry location. Andrew Firebaugh is buried in the foothills on his homestead less than a mile from Humphreys Station and about 10 miles above the pioneer town of Academy, named for The Academy that he helped to found.

 firebaughphoto1.jpg  Andrew Davidson Firebaugh Marker image. Click for full size.  firebaughgravestone1.jpg

Photographed By Lester J Letson, June 2006

Erected 1968 by Jim Savage Chapter, E Clampus Vitus. (Marker Number 10)      

Andrew Davidson Firebaugh Marker Inscription:

Andrew Davidson Firebaugh was born in Virginia in 1823. He served with the Texas Mounted Riflemen in the Mexican War. Coming to Californian in 1849, he fought in the Mariposa Indian War under Major James D. Savage on the expedition that discovered Yosemite in 1854. He established a trading post and ferry on the San Joaquin River one quarter mile due north of here. Known as Firebaugh's Ferry, it was a station on the great Butterfield Overland Stage Route. He built the first road over Pacheco Pass. In 1872 he was one of the founders of "The Academy", Fresno County's first secondary school. When he died in 1875, he was buried on his homestead some ten miles above there on the Tollhouse Road.
                                             Andrew Davidson Firebaugh Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Lester J Letson, June 2006

Andrew Davidson Firebaugh Marker

Granite plaque is mounted on an even larger slab of granite and set into a base of concrete. 
The marker is located at Dunkle Park. 15th Street East deadends less than a block from the San Joaquin River near where Firebaugh's Ferry was located. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1510 Q Street, Firebaugh CA 93622, United States of America.

 Dunkle Park - Location of Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Lester J Letson, Feb 2010

Bell Station – CA 152

 

Bell Station Marker image. Click for full size.Rededication of the Bell Station Marker image. Click for full size.

Bell Station Marker – photos by Barry Swackhamer, March 30, 2012

Inscription:  A toll road was built over Pacheco Pass in 1857 by Andrew D. Firebaugh. Later in that same year he built a tavern near this site, which became a Butterfield transcontinental stage stop. In 1859 the Pacific and Atlantic Company built a telegraph line over the pass and a telegraph station was established here.
                            Bell Station Restaurant, closed image. Click for full size.  Bell Station Marker image. Click for full size.
The marker is located next to the Bell Station Restaurant. The entrance to the restaurant is off of Kaiser Aetna Road (unsigned), which leads to an entrance of Henry Coe State Park. The Bell Station Restaurant has been closed for several years. A 'pepper' tree next to the building has over grown and obscured the marker.