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.
EDWARD SANS’ SAW MILL: Edward Sans operated a saw mill at Mill Creek. His daughter Mabel Sans grew up here before marrying Edward Plaskett in 1912. The Sans brothers employed workers including Tony Fontes.
DIGGES FAMILY: The Digges family had a place on the mountain up from Mill Creek, near the tributary Lion Creek. R.M. Digges owned land here, and Frank Digges (who later married Doreen Krenkel) was from this area.
LOCATION: Along the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, the historic route from King City through the mountains to the coast.
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