There are two types of Gold Rush towns in California...those there gold was actively mined and pulled out of the ground, then there were those that sprung up to provide goods and services to the miners in those towns...and, although gold was not found in all of them...they can be just as historic and interesting to visit.
Knights Ferry is an example of the latter. As the name suggests, it grew up during the Gold Rush not as a mining town but a convenient spot to cross the Stanislaus River where gold and the supplies needed for mining it to be shipped back and forth.
William Knight was a physician and fur trader. Seeing all the gold being pulled out of the ground in the foothills to the east, and a bottleneck of transportation down below, the doctor and his partner James Vantine found a good spot on the river that would be ideal for a ferry crossing.
An old whaling boat was procured and the business venture was a big hit, raking in over $500 a day ($12,000 in today's money). The success would be short-lived for Dr. Knight, however. He was murdered within a year.
Vantine continued the business with new partners, John and Lewis Dent. The Dents took over Dr. Knight's house and property. It is said that Dr. Knight is buried near the front gate of the Dent house.
Within a short, few years, a toll bridge was built by David Locke. Locke built a flour mill in town (ruins are still there to explore) and his bridge opened in 1857. It wasn't too long before the bridge was destroyed in a flood.
A year later, a new bridge was built higher above the waterline. A 330 foot, covered wooden bridge.
Until 1985, you could still drive across that wooden bridge. Today, you can still walk over it. It's the longest wooden bridge west of the Mississippi.
Knights Ferry is located east of Modesto, just across the Stanislaus River from highway 108, about halfway between Oakdale and Sonora. A modern replacement bridge now provides car access to the town from the highway.
In town, you find a couple of restaurants and bars.
The food is good and the river view outstanding at The River's Edge restaurant, which also has accessible restrooms.
Once fed, you'll want to explore the history here. A couple of doors down from the restaurant is the old fire station, the Knights Ferry Hook and Ladder Company, dating from 1871. The general store and saloon across the street has been open over 100 years.
On the street behind the general store, at 17679 Ellen Street, you can find the Dent house. It's now a private residence, so no tours, but you can stand at the front gate and try to guess where Dr. Knight might be buried.
At the other end of town, you find the ruins of David Locke's flour mill. The area around them, managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, is mostly wheelchair accessible.
When electricity came to the region in the late 1800s, the penstocks that turned the mill's wheels were converted to turn turbines instead. The mill became a power plant that powered the area for the next three decades.
The star of the show, however, is the 379 foot long wooden bridge just beyond. Wheelchair users will want to go to the other side of the river and navigate across it from there as the north end is just too chewed up to be of any use to wheelers.
Closed to traffic, the bridge still hosts pedestrians.
Halfway between the cities of the Central Valley and the gold mines of the foothills, Knight's Ferry is a great stop to spend a few hours in between.
Darryl Musick
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