Andrew Davidson Firebaugh

Andrew Davidson Firebaugh was born in Virginia in 1823 and served with the Texas Mounted Riflemen in the Mexican War. He came to California in 1849 and fought in the Mariposa Indian War under Major James D. Savage on the expedition that discovered Yosemite in 1854. He established a trading post and ferry on the San Joaquin River one quarter mile due north of here. Known as Firebaugh's Ferry, it was a station on the great Butterfield Overland Stage Route. He built the first road over Pacheco Pass. In 1872 he was one of the founders of "The Academy," Fresno County's first secondary school. When he died in 1875, he was buried on his homestead some ten miles above there on the Tollhouse Road.

Firebaugh, California · United States