Morgan Territory

Morgan Territory is a region in California on the east side of Mount Diablo in the San Francisco East Bay's Contra Costa County. The area is named for settler Jeremiah Morgan (earliest published Munro 1882 and USGS 1898).

The “Territory” and “Road” were named for Jeremiah “Jerry” Morgan (1819-1906) and his descendants. Morgan hunted in the area in 1856 then moved there in 1857 "because the grizzly bear hunting was so good". Morgan had seventeen children. A one room school house and school district provided the first official name for the region (Munro-1882) which was later cemented by Morgan Territory Road. Morgan, however, called it the "Morning Side of the Mountain."

Jeremiah was born in the Cherokee Nation, Alabama, near the Tennessee River. He came to California in 1849, and claimed 10,000 acres (40 km²) of unsurveyed land on “the morning side of Mount Diablo” in 1856. After the official first survey by the U.S. government in 1862, Jeremiah's land claims were reduced to 2,000 acres (8 km²). Jeremiah had 17 children by his first wife, Sarah Ellis Morgan, who died in 1869 and his second, Louisa Riggs. ”Morgan Territory Road” was officially designated by Contra Costa County in 1892. The road is 14.5 miles (23.3 km) long and passes through four townships.

In 2004 Save Mount Diablo memorialized Jeremiah Morgan with a historic monument at its Morgan Red Corral property on Morgan Territory Road, with text prepared by Morgan Territory historian Anne Homan.

The 14.5-mile (23.3 km) Morgan Territory Road stretches from Manning Road north of Livermore to Marsh Creek Road east of Clayton, at times a single lane wide—for ten miles (16 km) there is no center line—and with no intersecting through roads. It began as a muddy wagon track linking ranches in the Black Hills and east of Mount Diablo. The northern slope of the road largely follows Marsh Creek. The northern part of the road was officially accepted by Contra Costa County in 1886 and designated “Morgan Road” in 1892.

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