Fourth Crossing

The name is a tally. This was the fourth place the Stockton to Murphys road forded the Calaveras River, and the settlement took its position in the count rather than a name of its own; before that it was Foremans. The register drops the word fourth and calls it a crossing, which deletes the only thing that explains the name. The water here is now San Antonio Creek, which in the 1850s was reckoned part of the Calaveras.

What the plaque says

FOURTH CROSSING LOCATED ON THE STOCKTON-MURPHYS ROAD AT THE FOURTH CROSSING OF THE CALAVERAS RIVER, THIS EARLY MINING SETTLEMENT, ONCE CALLED FOREMANS, WAS FAMOUS IN THE 1850'S FOR ITS RICH PLACER ORES. LATER, IT BECAME AN IMPORTANT STAGE AND FREIGHTING DEPOT AND SERVED THE SOUTHERN MINES UNTIL AFTER THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 258 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARK COMMISSION IN COOPERATION WITH THE CALAVERAS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER 23, 1965.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 14 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Calaveritas — 2.2 mi
• Altaville Grammar School — 5.1 mi
• San Andreas — 5.2 mi
• Altaville — 5.6 mi