Mill Creek
Creek along the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road from King City to the Big Sur coast. Site of Edward Sans’ saw mill where Mabel Sans (later Plaskett) was raised. Lion Creek is a small tributary.
place history
The Schoolteacher Brides of Pacific Valley
The county kept sending young women to teach the coast's children — and the Plaskett boys kept marrying them. How two brothers married two sisters, and the schoolhouse became the town.
place history
Return to Mill Creek: Walking Mabel's Childhood Home
A hike up the Mill Creek Trail toward the old Sans sawmill site — the canyon where Mabel Sans Plaskett grew up.
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Linwood Mitchell Brings Luther Burbank Plants to Coast
In 1898 Linwood Mitchell packed Luther Burbank's cuttings down the coast and planted a legend.
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Few Drives as Scenic as Coast’s Cabrillo Highway
Where does Big Sur begin and end? Mabel settles it, then takes you the whole way — San Simeon to Point Lobos, stop by stop. Now with our interactive map and free PDF drive guide.
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History of Coast Schools Concluded
Part two: Pacific Valley School — kept since 1880 on the east side of the highway at Plaskett Creek — and the teachers who came to the edge of the world.
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History of Early Orchards Linked to Luther Burbank
Luther Burbank's cuttings came down the coast in 1898 with Linwood Mitchell — and the mountain orchards still bear the evidence.
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Lumber Mills Once Buzzed in the Lucias
Where the Nacimiento road tops the divide, Mill Creek springs to life — and once powered the sawmills of the Lucias, including her father's.
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Mabel Relives Days of Her Youth Spent on Mill Creek
'Mill Creek is my favorite, filled with memories of my childhood' — Mabel returns to her father's sawmill country. Companion to our Return to Mill Creek photo story.
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Mailmen Are Important Link In Coast Country History
Before 1890 the mail came by horseback from Jolon. Seventy years of coast mail carriers — including the Plaskett boys swimming icy rivers with the pack mule.
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Mansfields Were Pacific Valley Pioneers
From Indian shell beds to a 4,000-acre cattle empire — the Mansfields, who came to Pacific Valley when the lilac grew as tall as trees.
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Nacimiento Homesteaders Picked Real “Beauty Spot”
Up the Nacimiento from the old McKern place, the homesteaders of the 1890s picked the prettiest valley in the Lucias.
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One of Few Remaining Jolon Indians Resides in Lockwood
In an old adobe near Lockwood lives Joe Moro, one of the last of the Jolon Indians — his mother born of the mission people under the great oaks.
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Plaskett Creek Campground Is Popular Vacation Spot
The campground at Plaskett Creek sits on the family's first homesite — Mabel tells how the pioneers came over the Indian trails from Jolon.
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Plasketts Among Early Coast Settlers
How the valley was settled: William Lucas Plaskett's family clearing lilac 'grown to the dimension of small trees' — her classic account of the family's beginning.
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Prized Possession of the Coast Are Its Big Trees
'My earliest memories are of playing house in a hollow redwood' — Mabel on the big trees, oldest of living things and the coast's proudest possession.
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South Monterey County Writers Part II
A 2007 appreciation of Mabel herself — 'Belle' Sans Plaskett with her horse Cleo — by historian Susan Raycraft.
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Tony Fontes – The Story of a Rugged, Fun-Loving Horseman
His forefathers heard the first Padres sing at San Antonio Mission; Tony Fontes grew up to be the coast's rugged, fun-loving horseman.
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 2
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E.R. Sans, “Coyote Man”, Mill Creek Saw Mill Operator Father of Mabel Plaskett
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Old Cap - The Eccentric Engineer
Orval Olmstead — 'Old Cap' to the children — brought the ways of a sailing ship to a cabin on Mill Creek.
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The Sans Divorce Scandal
A courtroom divorce was almost unheard of. Ed Sans got one, then left for Reno to start over.
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Mabel Childhood Adventures on Mill Creek
'A happier more carefree childhood cannot be imagined' — Mabel on growing up wild on Mill Creek.
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Edward Sans - The Coyote Man of Nevada
E.R. Sans of Mill Creek became Nevada's 'Coyote Man,' the government's legendary predator hunter.
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Joe Moro - Last of the Jolon Indians
Joe Moro, born at Morro Bay in 1881, carried the blood of the San Antonio Mission people to the end.
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Tony Fontes - Mission Indian Horseman
Tony Fontes's people heard the first Padres sing at San Antonio Mission. He became the coast's great horseman.
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Mabel Sans Childhood at Mill Creek Sawmill
Mabel's childhood ran on sawdust and creek water at her father's mill among the redwoods.
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Jack Dempsey Breaks Cast Iron Skillet Over Mans Head
The Mill Creek rough named Jack Dempsey once settled an argument with a cast-iron skillet.
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Abandoned Piano on Mill Creek Trail
A repossession man got a piano halfway down the Mill Creek trail, gave up, and left it to the forest.
Everyone the family archive records in the story of this place. Descendants: if one of these is yours, we’d love to hear from you.
- Henry Kilsdonk · 6 stories
- Alvis Davis · 4 stories
- Billy Plaskett 1890–1961 · 4 stories
- Dave Moro · 4 stories
- Gabriel Fontes 1850– · 4 stories
- Joe Moro · 4 stories
- Lawson McKern Plaskett 1883–1966 · 4 stories
- Linwood Mitchell 1860– · 4 stories
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · 4 stories
- Bob Digges · 3 stories
- Clarence Plaskett 1888–1916 · 3 stories
- Dudley Plaskett 1869–1949 · 3 stories
- Ed Dutton · 3 stories
- Edward Robert Sans 1875–1958 · 3 stories
- Jasper Mansfield 1860– · 3 stories
- Mabel Sans 1831–1932 · 3 stories
- Marion Plaskett 1848–1906 · 3 stories
- Orval Olmstead · 3 stories
- Polk Fancher 1895– · 3 stories
- Roy Plaskett · 3 stories
- Abraham Yates · 2 stories
- Albert Sans 1908– · 2 stories
- Alfred Davis 1912– · 2 stories
- Angie Potter · 2 stories
- Bessie Robinson · 2 stories
- Byron Plaskett 1835–1906 · 2 stories
- Charley Digges · 2 stories
- Charley Krenkel 1906–1989 · 2 stories
- Charley Plaskett 1872– · 2 stories
- Edward Abbott Plaskett 1881–1973 · 2 stories
- Frank Digges · 2 stories
- Jean Thomas · 2 stories
- Jessie Anderson · 2 stories
- Jim Prewitt · 2 stories
- Jimmy Smith · 2 stories
- Leta Burton · 2 stories
- Lucy Plaskett Davis 1886–1975 · 2 stories
- Lynna Mitchell · 2 stories
- Michelle Ann Evans · 2 stories
- Mike Harlan · 2 stories
- Olive Plaskett 1882–1939 · 2 stories
- Olive Sans 1905– · 2 stories
- Orville Olmstead · 2 stories
- Paul Harlan · 2 stories
- Robert Digges · 2 stories
- Roy Mitchell · 2 stories
- Ruth Lewis · 2 stories
- Sadie Plaskett –1911 · 2 stories
- William Lucas Plaskett 1818–1909 · 2 stories
- William Nicholas Alderson 1956– · 2 stories
- Albert Barnes 1834–1899
- Alice Eastwood 1859–1953
- Alice Stewart Harlan
- Allen McClain
- Alvin Dani
- Amos Mansfield 1741–1795
- Antonio "Tony" Fontes
- Byron Gianavil Plaskett 1846–1911
- Camp Lewis
- Cayatan Canietti
- Mabel Eva Sans Plaskett 1896–1964 · lived or worked here