Fort Tejón

The Army held this post for ten years and gave its name to something much larger. Dragoons garrisoned it from June 1854, posted to police the reservation and the desert passes, and the flag came down on September 11, 1864. Seven years earlier, on the morning of January 9, 1857, the San Andreas tore open for 225 miles between Parkfield and Wrightwood. The shaking was worst here, so the fort's name went on the whole rupture. It is still the standard against which southern California measures the next one.

What the plaque says

FORT TEJON THIS MILITARY POST WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE UNITED STATES ARMY ON JUNE 24, 1854, TO SUPPRESS STOCK RUSTLING AND FOR THE PROTECTION OF INDIANS IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. AS REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE FIRST DRAGOONS, FORT TEJON WAS AN IMPORTANT MILITARY, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL CENTER. CAMELS FOR TRANSPORTATION WERE INTRODUCED HERE IN 1858. THE FORT WAS ABANDONED SEPTEMBER 11, 1864. HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 129 MARKER PLACED BY CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH KERN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, EL TEJON PARLOR NO. 289 N.D.G.W., BAKERSFIELD PARLOR NO. 42 N.S.G.W. AND KERN COUNTY MUSEUM. DEDICATED OCTOBER 10, 1954

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. Francis Dam Disaster Site — 31 mi
  The dam failed just before midnight on March 12, 1928, and the flood ran fifty miles down the canyon to the sea.

More markers nearby

• Top of Grapevine Pass — 3.2 mi
• Sebastian Indian Reservation — 5.1 mi
• Rose Station — 5.1 mi
• Sinks of the Tejón — 15 mi