Patchen | |
---|---|
ghost town | |
California Historic Marker 448, for Patchen, California.
|
|
Country | United States |
State | California |
County | Santa Clara County |
Reference no. | 448 |
Patchen is a ghost town nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in unincorporated west Santa Clara County, California. It is located along the Old Santa Cruz Highway, east of State Route 17.
California became an American territory in 1846. The earliest known permanent white settler in what became Patchen was Charles Henry "Mountain Charley" McKiernan. In the 1850s and 1860s, McKiernan built roads throughout his property on the summit of the mountains and operated a toll road down an old Indian trail near the site. In 1850, McKiernan settled near the lagoon about one mile south. On May 8, 1854, McKiernan and John Taylor, a neighbor, were hunting with Taylor's dog. They both shot at a grizzly bear and McKiernan hit the bear but only dazed it. Not having time to reload his gun, McKiernan hit the bear over the head with his rifle until it broke. The enraged bear rose up and made a snap at Charley, catching him over the left eye and forehead, crushing his skull and tearing out a piece about five by three inches. Three San Jose doctors crafted a silver plate from two Mexican pesos and patched the hole in Charley's head without the benefit of anesthetics. Grizzly bears were reportedly hunted into extinction in California; the last reported sighting of a grizzly in the Santa Cruz Mountains was in November 1885 near Bonny Doon. McKiernan lived until January 16, 1892.
Directly across the road from the town's site is California Historical Landmark marker #448 commemorating the town and the legend of "Mountain Charley." This was the first settlement in the area and centered on the Post Office, called Patchen.
The origins of the name Patchen may go back to ancient times in what is now Patching Parish in Sussex, England. People by the name Patching, Patchen, and Patchin have been listed in that area since the 800 A.D. In 1634, Joseph Patching came to the U.S. and most of the Patchens in America can be traced to him. The name reached the San Francisco Bay Area by way of a famous race horse named "George M. Patchen" and his son, "Smith Patchen," nicknamed "California Patchen," because of his good showing in California in 1862 and again in 1867 in San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento.