Editing Felton, California (section)

==History==
[[Image:Locomotive -7 - 'Sonora' - Roaring Camp Railroad - Santa Cruz, CA.JPG|thumb|[[Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad|Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad]]]]
Felton is part of the traditional territory of the Sayant, an [[Awaswas]]-speaking group considered part of the [[Ohlone]] people. Most of the Sayant were sent to [[Mission Santa Cruz]] and the area of the [[San Lorenzo Valley]] remained unpopulated except for occasional travelers. In 1833, [[Rancho Zayante]] was established at the confluence of the [[San Lorenzo River]] and [[Zayante Creek]] and granted to Joaquín Buelna.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slvpost.com/streetwise-the-community-of-zayante/|title=Streetwise: The Community of Zayante|publisher=[[San Lorenzo Valley Post]]|date=February 21, 2022|author=Lisa Robinson|access-date=31 January 2024}}</ref> The rancho subsequently passed to Francisco Moss in 1839,{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} then Joseph L. Majors on April 22, 1841. Majors acquired it on behalf of [[Isaac Graham]], who operated a lumber mill on the property.<ref>{{cite book|title=Santa Cruz County Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary|author=Donald T. Clark|publisher=Kestrel Press|date=2008|page=274}}</ref>

In the aftermath of California statehood in 1850, the [[California Gold Rush]] expanded outward, eventually reaching the San Lorenzo Valley. Gold was struck along western tributaries of the San Lorenzo River such as Gold Gulch.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Golden Boulder of the Santa Cruz Bonanza|author=Ross Eric Gibson|publisher=[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]]|date=February 21, 2021}}</ref> These miners, combined with lumbermen and their families, began a community known in early days as "San Lorenzo." After Graham died in 1863, his lawyer Edward Stanly oversaw the subdivision of his estate. In 1868, he hired Horace Gushee to subdivide the property and [[Frederick A. Hihn]] to promote it. Gushee was a director of the failed San Lorenzo Railroad scheme and planned to make the community into the terminus for the railroad. In 1868, he or Stanly named the town Felton, probably after former [[Oakland, California|Oakland]] mayor [[John B. Felton]], who may have been an investor.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[Santa Cruz Sentinel]]|title=Railroad|date=May 23, 1868|page=3}}</ref>

Although the railroad was never built, Felton continued to grow as a town focused on the lumber, [[quicklime|lime]], and mining industries. In 1875, it became the southern terminus of the San Lorenzo Valley Logging Flume from [[Boulder Creek, California|Boulder Creek]], and the northern terminus of the [[Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad]] to Santa Cruz.<ref name="flume">{{cite web
  | title = Sheriffs of Santa Clara
  | publisher = Sheriff Lauri Smith
  | url = http://www.sherifflauriesmith.com/sheriff%27sofsanta.html
  | access-date = 2012-08-18
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120306063313/http://sherifflauriesmith.com/sheriff'sofsanta.html
  | archive-date = 2012-03-06
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref> and when formally opened in October 1875 was augmented by a new rail line to transport logs to the wharf in Santa Cruz.<ref name="flume2">{{cite book
  | title = The San Lorenzo Valley, p. 20
  | year = 2012 
 | publisher = Acadia Publishing, Charleston, SC 
  | isbn = 9780738592299 
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cxFqY-ZNXHIC&q=san+lorenzo+valley+flume&pg=PA20}}</ref> To enable it to negotiate on better terms with the [[South Pacific Coast Railroad]], Felton was incorporated as a town by the [[California State Legislature|Legislature]] on March 8, 1878.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1917/17Vol1_Chapters.pdf|title=Stats. 1917, Ch. 109, Sec. 1.|publisher=[[California Secretary of State]]|access-date=17 October 2020}}</ref> This gamble did not pay off and the new railroad established a depot across the San Lorenzo River at a site nicknamed "New Felton" by locals. In 1917, Felton was disincorporated, relinquishing corporate responsibilities to the county of Santa Cruz.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1917/17Vol1_Chapters.pdf|title=Stats. 1917, Ch. 109, Sec. 1.|publisher=[[California Secretary of State]]|access-date=17 October 2020}}</ref>

In 1927, the Felton community of [[Lompico, California]], was established.<ref>{{cite web | author = Lompico.org | url = http://www.lompico.org/history.html | title = Lompico History | access-date = 2009-05-24 | archive-date = 2009-04-06 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090406060020/http://lompico.org/history.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

In 1963, the steam-powered Roaring Camp Railroad began tourist operations on the Big Trees Ranch out of the Old Felton Depot.<ref name="rcr">{{cite web
  | title = A Roaring Ride Through Redwoods
  | date = 20 August 1989
 | publisher = LA Times,August 20, 1989, Michelle and Tom Grimm
  | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-20-tr-1061-story.html}}</ref> The company later constructed a replica logging camp and another depot farther down the property, and in 1985, took over operations on the old SPC/Southern Pacific standard gauge line to Santa Cruz.  Roaring Camp is a re-creation of an 1880s logging camp and home to the original South Pacific Coast (later Southern Pacific) Felton depot and freight shed, as well as two unique railroads&nbsp;— the [[Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad]], a steam-powered line up Bear Mountain, and the [[Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway]].

Felton is home to the [[Felton Covered Bridge]], an 80-foot-long [[covered bridge]] over the [[San Lorenzo River]] built in 1892 and placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1973.

Scenes from the 1975 Disney movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" were filmed in Felton.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-21 |title=Escape To Witch Mountain (1975) |url=https://www.set-jetter.com/ontheset/escapetowitchmountain |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Set-Jetter |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Trout Farm Inn was located in Felton. It burned down on June 5, 2016. It reopened in 2022.<ref>{{cite web | author = Santa Cruz Sentinel | url = http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20160605/NEWS/160609882 | title = Kitchen fire burns Felton Trout Farm Inn to the ground | access-date = 2018-02-24}}</ref>

The local high school is San Lorenzo Valley High School. The 2007 boys basketball team won the only Boys Basketball SCCAL Championship in school history. Led by five players who all went to elementary school at the now closed Quail Hollow School. Scott Krueger, Josh Payne, Kyle Morris, Clint Gorman and Taylor West were known as the “Quail Hollow 5.” Their success was helped by the students who would regularly attend their games and called themselves, “The Red Sea.”

On August 20, 2020 at 8:00 AM Pacific Time, due to the [[CZU Lightning Complex fires|CZU Lightning Incident fires of 2020]], Felton was ordered to evacuate by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=CALFIRECZU |number=1296467128464310273|date=August 20, 2020|title=CZU Lightning Incident NEW Evacuation Orders for Santa Cruz county}}</ref>