Widow Smith's Station
Widow Smith's Station, also known as Major Gordon's Station and Clayton's Station, was a stagecoach station of the Butterfield Overland Mail 1st Division from 1858 to 1861 in southern California. Geography The station was on the Stockton - Los Angeles Road in upper San Francisquito Canyon of the Sierra Pelona Mountains, southwest of Elizabeth Lake. It was located near San Francisquito Pass, about south of present-day Green Valley, at 38839 San Francisquito Canyon Road in northern Los Angeles County. History A building may have existed here in the summer of 1856, when Harris Newmark said he stayed at Gordon's Station overnight when returning to Los Angeles from a business meeting at Fort Tejon. The final adobe station building was erected around 1859 by Aneas Gordon. In October 1860, a correspondent of the Daily Alta California wrote an account of his travel by stage to Los Angeles from San Francisco. He mentions that the Butterfield Overland Mail (1857-1861) had a Clayton's Station operating at the former location of Widow Smith's Station. King's Station was located south in lower San Francisquito Canyon. Mud Spring Station was north, in the western Antelope Valley. After 1861 the station was used by other long haul