Jewell, California

Coordinates: 38°02′12″N 122°44′45″W / 38.03667°N 122.74583°W / 38.03667; -122.74583
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jewell
Former Settlement
Jewell is located in California
Jewell
Jewell
Location in California
Jewell is located in the United States
Jewell
Jewell
Jewell (the United States)
Coordinates: 38°02′12″N 122°44′45″W / 38.03667°N 122.74583°W / 38.03667; -122.74583
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyMarin County
Elevation79 ft (24 m)

Jewell was an unincorporated community in Marin County, California.[1] It was located 11 miles (18 km) west-southwest of Novato.[2]

In the 1860s, the site was a dairy and pig farm owned by Omar Jewell. When the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was built nearby, Jewell sold a right-of-way across his land and a flagstop called Jewells was set up on the ranch. In the 1930s, a strip of land between Lagunitas Creek and the Sir Francis Drake Highway was subdivided into small lots where city dwellers built weekend cottages. The settlement became known as Jewell because it lay opposite of the Jewell train flagstop.[3][2]

The National Park Service bought the community alongside the creek and removed the few remaining residents. In 2018 an environmental group tore down the cluster of houses and began to restore the creek to improve the habitat for endangered coho salmon.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jewell, California
  2. ^ a b Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 647. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
  3. ^ Livingston, Dewey (2019). "The Two Jewells of Marin County". Marin County Library.
  4. ^ Rosato, Joe (September 11, 2019). "Marin County Environmentalists Remove Ghost Town to Save Salmon". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 17 August 2020.