When you look at a map of U.S. one of the most striking things you’ll notice is the size of counties. East of the Rockies – counties are generally small. West of the Rockies, they get much larger. But 175 years ago in California, there was a behemoth that makes even today’s counties look tiny. On this edition of KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of how Mariposa County became Central California’s “Mother County.”
With the Mexican-American War over and the Gold Rush officially under way, California became a state on September 9th 1850. California originally had 27 counties. Mariposa was the largest, covering over 30,000 square miles, or roughly one fifth of the state.
But within just a few years, that began to change and state lawmakers began to carve up this giant. Mariposa County wound up giving up its territory, bit by bit, to other existing and new counties.
In 1851, the lines were redrawn for the first time, with Los Angeles County taking some of Mariposa’s southernmost territory. The first new county came in 1852, when Tulare County was born. It was followed by Merced County in 1855, and Fresno County in 1856. That left move Mariposa with a map close to boundaries it has today. But the lines continued to change. In 1866 Kern County broke away from Tulare; in 1893 Madera County broke away from Fresno, and Kings County broke away from Tulare, giving us the map we all know today. As for Mariposa County of the present day, it’s now just 1,400 square miles, just 5 percent of its original size.