Mariposa Creek, originally called the Mariposa River, is a creek that has its source in Mariposa

Mariposa County, California

Mariposa County is a county in the U.S. state of California, located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It lies north of Fresno, east of Merced, and southeast of Stockton. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,251 up from 17,130 at the 2000 census...

 near the town of Mariposa, California

Mariposa, California

Mariposa is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Mariposa County, California, United States. The population was 2,173 at the 2010 census, up from 1,373 at the 2000 census. Its name is Spanish for "butterfly", after the flocks of Monarchs seen overwintering there by early...

 that flows through that town southwest through the Sierra foothills, into and across the San Joaquin Valley

San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...

 in Merced County

Merced County, California

Merced County , is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of Fresno and southeast of San Jose. As of the 2010 census, the population was 255,793, up from 210,554 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Merced...

, into the sloughs of the San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River

The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...

 south of Merced, California

Merced, California

Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California in the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 78,958. Incorporated in 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government...

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During the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, the Mariposa River was a rich gold-bearing creek and the site of several mining camps, including Logtown

Logtown, California

Logtown, California is a ghost town, the original site of the gold camp that became Mariposa, California. It was a small mining camp along the west side of Mariposa Creek, about a half mile below the present town. After floods wiped out the camp, the citizens moved to higher ground and rebuilt...

, Mariposa and Mariposita

Mariposita, California

Mariposita, California was a small California Gold Rush mining camp, populated mostly by Mexican and French miners in the early 1850s. It was located at an as yet undertermined place along Mariposa Creek. Possibly destroyed in the anti-foreign miner violence of the time or abandoned due to the...

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