Willow Springs

Two plaques stand a fifth of a mile apart here and both carry landmark number 130. The older one, cast in 1937, is the more useful: it explains that traffic did not just stop at this water, it sorted itself. Light loads went through Oak Creek Pass to Havilah and Kernville. Heavy freight turned northeast for the Inyo mines, or took Jawbone Canyon to the South Fork of the Kern. The springs were a junction that separated wagons by what they were carrying.

What the plaque says

CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL LANDMARK WILLOW SPRINGS WILLOW SPRINGS WAS A STAGE STATION ON THE LOS ANGELES-HAVILAH STAGE LINES, 1864-1872. FROM HERE LIGHT TRAFFIC WENT THROUGH OAK CREEK PASS VIA TEHACHAPI VALLEY TO HAVILAH AND KERNVILLE; HEAVY TRAFFIC WENT NORTHEAST TO THE INYO MINES, OR VIA JAWBONE CANYON TO THE SOUTH FORK OF THE KERN; THENCE TO THE KERN MINES. DEDICATED JUNE 6, 1937 BAKERSFIELD PARLOR No 42 N.S.G.W. EL TEJON PARLOR No 239 N.D.G.W. KERN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY KERN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES REG. No 130 STATE OF CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL LANDMARK WILLOW SPRINGS VISITED BY PADRE GARCES (1776) WHILE FOLLOWING OLD HORSE-THIEF TRACE, LATER KNOWN AS JOE WALKER TRAIL. FREMONT STOPPED HERE (1844). THE FAMISHED JAYHAWK PARTY (1850) FOUND WATER HERE WHILE STRUGGLING FROM DEATH VALLEY TO LOS ANGELES. STILL LATER WAS STATION ON LOS ANGELES-HAVILAH AND INYO STAGE LINES. DEDICATED APRIL 1, 1951 MARKER PLACED BY KERN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND KERN COUNTY MUSEUM STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO. 130

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• St. Francis Dam Disaster Site — 27 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

• Oak Creek Pass — 14 mi
• Mojave 20-Mule-Team Borax Terminus — 14 mi
• Western Hotel — 15 mi
• Tomo-Kahni — 19 mi