Cazadero (Spanish for "Hunting ground") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in western Sonoma County, California, United States with a population of 354 in 2010. The downtown of Cazadero consists of two churches, a general store, a post office, a hardware store, an auto repair garage, private office space, and the Cazadero Volunteer Fire Department. Cazadero is the general area from the confluence of Austin Creek and the Russian River at the intersection of California State Route 116 and Cazadero Highway running north to the small town of the same name. The town is approximately 6 miles from Route 116. Cazadero Highway parallels Austin Creek which is a principal tributary of the lower Russian River. Located in the Sonoma Coast AVA, Cazadero can also be considered part of Wine Country. [1]
Cazedero
California Home Page
. . . Link
Cazadero History Learning Center [Russian River Historical Society]. . . Link . . . Gr. Opening
RRHS Events: Cazadero Events [has archives] . . . Link
Cazadero Historical Society [Facebook] . . . Link
David Abram RODGERS Genealogy . . . Link
GenealogyOnline: About the Town Cazedero . . . Link
Surnames: Hare, Peter, Schuman
Roadside Thoughts: Cazadero California . . . Link
Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link
The web site "The Cockrill Family of Sonoma County" [Link] has a wonderful collection of
local genealogy including the following with ties to Cazadero:
John William
HOPPER
Cazadero was the northern terminus of the North Pacific Coast Railroad, originally laid as narrow-gauge track in the 1870s. This railhead was fed by several smaller-gauge systems dedicated to logging and networks of logging roads and trails which brought trees to Duncans Mill for processing and shipment south to San Francisco. Local legend holds that much of San Francisco was rebuilt after the disastrous April 1906 earthquake and fire using redwood and other lumber from the Cazadero area. Cazadero timbers are also known to have been used in pilings sunk to support the old eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (which was replaced by a new span in 2013; the old eastern span was subsequently demolished.) [1]
Cazadero
The
town of Cazadero has also been called Elim Grove and
Ingram, after Silas D. Ingram, who came here in 1869 and
built a resort hotel on Bei Road, just west of the present
town. He entertained many folk from the S. F. area until
the hotel burned down in 1874. He also built the first
road between Cazadero and Guernville, hiring Chinese
workers to do the job. A post office opened in 1881,
giving the resort the status of a town. Ingram was able to
convince the railroad to extend it's tracts to his place
from Duncan's Mills in 1885. George S. Montgomery, a
wealthy businessman from San Francisco, purchased the town
in January 1888 and changed its name to Cazadero. . .
. [Archived Website.
Link ]
American Towns . . . Link
"Austin Creek Train Tragedy" of January 14, 1894. . . . Link
Camp Cazadero . . . Link . . . Link (Q.11)
Cazadero, California History . . . Link (1) . . . Link (2)
Cazadero, California Mining Claims And Mines . . . Link
Cazadero Music Camp History. . . Link
Cazadero Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link
Cazadero Community Services District Page . . . Link
"Cazadero, yesterday and today" [Article] . . . Link
Cazadero Wikipedia Page . . . Link
City-Data.com . . . Link
Expedia: Cazadero, Ca . . . Link
Russian River Getaways . . . Link
Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Cazadero . . . Link
WikiVoyage: Guerneville & Monte Rio both mention Cazadero
Berry’s Saw Mill . . . Link
Recall Cazadero’s past as a vibrant lumber town by watching redwoods being processed through Berry’s Saw Mill, a family-owned operation that cuts sustainably-managed timber. "Merrill Berry, son-in-law of George Montgomery, and his son Loren began the downtown mill in 1941 on the former NWP railroad depot site. This Berry family and mill had no lineage or business connection with the Berry family saw mill that was established in 1894 on Freezeout Creek near Duncans Mills. Cazadero's milling operations were moved to the current site on HWY 116 (adjacent to Cazadero Highway) in 1983. (NOTE: Redwood and Douglas fir logs are hauled to the mill from many producing areas in the state.) Link to Berry's Saw Mill web site: About the Mill." [Source: Link]
Bill Britton's "Bills Place" bar & store ("Sky Room")
Cazadero Circa 1948. Berrys sawmill in right background. Bill Britton's "Bills Place" bar & store to left (future site of the Cazadero Community Center & museum). In the 1950s Bill renamed his bar the "Sky Room".
Cazadero General Store (est. 1899) . . . Link . . . Pic Here
Step back in time on the beautifully worn wooden floors of the 100-year-old Cazadero General Store, which stocks an array of everyday and luxury items.
David A. Rodgers . . . Link
D.H. McEwen Lumber Company . . . Link (Q14)
McEwen Lumber Company had a 50,000 board foot sawmill on the upper reaches of the South Fork of the Gualala River at Niestrath & Fort Ross Roads from 1906 to 1917. The company had a Cazadero post office address and had a six-mile 3 foot gauge logging railroad running up the Gualala logging slopes on what is now the Bohan-Dillon Road for which a small geared Shay locomotive was built.
Frank Hart (A proprietor of the Cazadero Hotel). He disappeared in the "Austin Creek Train Tragedy" of January 14, 1894.
George Simpson Montgomery . . . Link
George Simpson Montgomery, a wealthy businessman from San Francisco, purchased the town in January 1888 and changed its name to "Cazadero" (Spanish for "The Hunting Place").
Harold F. Rodgers . . . Link
Harold F. Rodgers was Cazadero's postmaster from April 29, 1915 to June 17, 1918. Harold's wife Sarah was his clerk and was locally known as "Red Sadie" because of her flaming red hair. She was given the name to distinguish her from her sister-in-law, Sarah Nobles-Rodgers (Harold's brother Bill's wife), who was known as "Black Sadie" for her coal black hair.
Ingrams' Chateau resort . . . In 1890 Fred [Ingram] began his Ingrams' Chateau resort on Austin Creek north of town.
Lion's Head Ranch. . . .Link
Silas also kept his Cazadero ranch which is currently known as the "Lion's Head Ranch."
Joseph Sabin (Cazadero's station agent). He Died in the "Austin Creek Train Tragedy" of January 14, 1894.
North Pacific Coast narrow gauge railroad . . . Link
When Cazadero was the site of the North Pacific Coast narrow gauge railroad line's northern most terminus Montgomery's temperance helped to precipitate the "Austin Creek Train Tragedy" of January 14, 1894. A filing by the NWP to abandon the Cazadero rail line was approved by the California Railroad Commission on May 13, 1933 and the last train to leave Cazadero was on July 31, 1933. Engine No. 23 carried a funeral wreath placed on its headlight by the Cazaderans all the way to its Sausalito yards.
Rufus Chapman . . . Link
As part of a George Montgomery sales agreement to sell his entire Cazadero holdings to Samuel Break and Rufus Chapman, made on February 26, 1907, Break and Chapman had to remove or inventory for removal 7.5 million board feet of redwood timber by January 1, 1910.
Samuel Break. . . Link
Silas Deras Ingram (1821 - 1900). wife Sarah Ann Rolston . . . Link
The town was originally a hunting resort called "Ingrams" begun by Silas Deras Ingram in 1869. When Silas successfully negotiated a post office for his resort in 1881 it gained status as a town site. Silas was the postmaster of his resort town Ingrams from 1881 until it became Cazadero in 1888.
Children: Frederick Silas Ingram (-1947) , Charles W. Ingram and George B. Ingram
The Blue Heron . . .
a turn-of-the-century restored tavern with great food and live music Tuesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and some Wednesdays. The bar is where Cazadero locals hang out—and an interesting, eclectic bunch are they.
The Bottling Works . . .
Link
. . . Q12 by AB: Who are the oldest resident families
living in Cazadero today?
A: Trosper lineage (1866); Then in the 1880s Parmeters and Rodgers; Touradys in the 1890s.
Maps
Bing Map of Cazedero . . . Link
Cazadero, California 7.5 Minute Topo Map . . . . Link
Mapcarta of Cazedero. . . Link
Russian River H.S. Photos: Cazedero Photos . . . Link
[1] Wikipedia contributors. "Bodega, California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Aug. 2022. Web. 28 Sep. 2022. . . . Link
Book: John McCarty, entitled ‘Hunting Ground: the forgotten story of Cazadero'. Link
[2] Historical and Descriptive Sketch Book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino: Comprising Sketches of Their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions, C.A. Menefee, 1873 . . . Link
[3] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California" Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [Bodega pp 100-101] . . . Link
[4]
An Illustrated History of Sonoma County,
California: Containing a History of the County of Sonoma
from the Earliest Period of Its Occupancy to the Present
Time, Lewis Publishing, 1889
. . . Link