View source for Mud Spring (Antelope Valley)

{{Infobox spring
|name = Mud Spring
|location =[[Antelope Valley]],<br/>[[Mojave Desert]],<br/>[[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]],<br/>[[California]],<br/>United States
|coordinates={{coord|34|42|36|N|118|25|04|W|region:US-CA_type:waterbody}}
|elevation = {{convert|2871|ft|m|0}} above [[sea level]]
}}
'''Mud Spring''', formerly called '''''Aquaje Lodoso''''' (muddy watering place), is a [[spring (hydrology)|spring]] and historic site in the western [[Antelope Valley]], within northern [[Los Angeles County]], southern California.
It is located the western [[Mojave Desert]] at an elevation of {{convert|2871|ft|m|0}}, north of [[Lake Hughes]] and east of the [[Tehachapi Mountains]].<ref name="gnis">{{gnis|246327|Mud Spring}}</ref>
==History==
===El Camino Viejo===
'''Aquaje Lodoso''' was an [[Aguaje (geographic locale)|aguaje]], a watering place on the Spanish and Mexican [[El Camino Viejo]] inland north–south route in colonial [[Alta California]]. It was located between [[Elizabeth Lake (Los Angeles County, California)|Elizabeth Lake]] and [[Neenach, California#Cow Springs and French John.27s Station|Cow Spring]] water sources.
It was also a watering place on the [[Tejon Pass (Kern County)|Old Tejon Pass]] road between the Antelope and San Joaquin Valleys in the 1840s and early 1850s until that road was replaced by the [[Stockton–Los Angeles Road]], a  new and easier road through [[Tejon Pass|Fort Tejon Pass]].<ref>Frank F. Latta, "EL CAMINO VIEJO á LOS ANGELES" - The Oldest Road of the San Joaquin Valley]; Bear State Books, Exeter, 2006. p.21</ref>
===Stockton - Los Angeles Road===
The [[Butterfield Overland Mail in California|Butterfield Overland Mail 1st Division]] had a station operating at '''Mud Springs''', on the [[Stockton - Los Angeles Road]].
In 1860, a correspondent of the [[Daily Alta California]] wrote an account of his travel by [[stagecoach]] to Los Angeles from San Francisco.  He mentions that the [[Butterfield Overland Mail]] (1857-1861) had a station operating at Mud Springs in 1860.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1858/10/14/78877651.pdf  List of Butterfield Overland Mail Stations, from the New York Times, October 14 1858, "Itinerary of the Route"]</ref>
It was {{convert|14|mi|km}} east from [[Neenach, California#Cow Springs and French John's Station|French John's Station]], and {{convert|13|mi|km}} north from Clayton's—[[Widow Smith's Station]] near [[San Francisquito Pass]] in the [[Sierra Pelona Mountains]].<ref>[http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18601005.1.1&cl=CL2.1860.10&srpos=0&dliv=none&st=1&e=-------en-logical-20--1-----all---  Notes  of a Trip to Los Angeles No. 1, Daily Alta California, Volume 12, Number 3888, 5 October 1860 — Page 1]</ref>
Another account of the Butterfield Stage reports, "Mud Springs, a camping place and the site of a stage station from 1861 to 1871, operated by a Mr. Clancy, was located just east of where the Santa Fé railroad crosses Ciénega Avenue, southeast of San Dimas. From Mud Springs to Los Angeles the stages and freight teams usually went by way of El Monte."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fryer |first=Roy M. |date=1935 |title=The Butterfield Stage Route: And other Historic Routes Eastward from Los Angeles |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41167851 |journal=Quarterly Publication (Historical Society of Southern California) |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=14–22 |doi=10.2307/41167851 |issn=2162-9331}}</ref>{{Rp|page=21}}
==See also==
*[[Butterfield Overland Mail in California]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Clear}}
{{Butterfield1}}
{{Former settlements of Los Angeles County, California}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Antelope Valley]]
[[Category:Springs of Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Former settlements in Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:El Camino Viejo]]
[[Category:Butterfield Overland Mail in California]]
[[Category:Stagecoach stops in the United States]]
{{LosAngelesCountyCA-geo-stub}}