Manchester
The settlement the marker calls the “Capitol” of Monterey County’s Los Burros Mining District. It grew a few hundred yards downhill from the Last Chance Mine at the head of Alder Creek, and it is now the district’s central location puzzle.
Approximate position
Two candidate points are shown: the placeholder townsite and the hmdb.org-listed coordinate (~200 m apart). Circles show the uncertainty. Turn on the 1921 USGS map to compare against the historic district — Manchester sat at the head of Alder Creek, just downhill from the Last Chance / Buclimo.
What the marker says
Manchester was considered the “Capitol” of Monterey County’s Los Burros Mining District. The Last Chance Mine was discovered in spring 1887 by W. D. Cruikshank … the settlement included hotels, stores, and seven saloons, and was served by the Mansfield Post Office from 1889 through 1897. — Manchester marker, Monterey Viejo Chapter No. 1846, E Clampus Vitus, dedicated October 12, 1991 (paraphrased)
What the family remembers
Mabel Plaskett’s articles preserve details the official record loses: a population that ran “somewhere between 125 and 350, depending on who counted and when,” a one-room school, a small cemetery, and the post office first opening as Mansfield (postmaster Pete Gillis) before it became Manchester. By the time Margaret Krenkel arrived in 1902, only one saloon was left standing.
A genuine conflict: the marker records seven saloons; two family articles say thirteen. We show both — see the research notes. The count almost certainly changed over the town’s short, loud life.
The location problem
Manchester is not a settled dot to be copied from one website. Several nearby-but-different coordinates exist, none of them surveyed:
| Point | Coordinates | What it means | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | 35.88111, -121.39250 | Approximate townsite | Approximate |
| Manchester — hmdb.org listed coordinate | 35.88292, -121.39448 | Placeholder — position not yet established | Unverified |
| Mansfield Post Office | — | Placeholder — position not yet established | Unverified |
The coordinate 35.88292, −121.39448, often quoted for “Manchester,” is not confirmed to be the monument, the townsite center, a viewpoint, or a marker-database road pin. Until we georeference the 1921 district map and USGS Bulletin 735-J and ideally visit with a GPS, the responsible answer is a confidence area, not a false-precision point.
What we can say with more confidence
- Manchester stood downhill from the Last Chance Mine, at the head of Alder Creek. Strongly supported
- It was up the grade from Willow Creek, where most of the district’s placer gold came out of the gravel. Strongly supported
- The town was destroyed by fires between 1889 and 1897; most mining had ceased by about 1895. Strongly supported
- Today “nothing is left of Manchester but a marker, some level ground, and photographs.” Family tradition
- Manchester, Monterey Viejo Chapter No. 1846, E Clampus Vitus, dedicated October 12, 1991. The Historical Marker Database, hmdb.org marker no. 68653. historical marker
- “The Los Burros Mining District and the Lost Town of Manchester,” plaskett.family. family history
- Mabel Plaskett, “Mother Krenkel: A Coast Legend,” The Land, March 1961. family history
- Mabel Plaskett, “Willey Cruikshank — Mining Was His Life,” The Land, January 1960. family history