In the 1850's Ynocente Garcia and his sons recorded claims for Rancho San Jose, which included today's Pozo. In 1878, when the area's first postmaster, George Lingo, was refused the name San Jose for the post office, he accepted Pozo, meaning well in Spanish, instead. Early roads from the coast to the San Joaquin Valley grew busier after the 1878 discovery of gold in La Panza, and Pozo became a bustling Wild West town with general stores, blacksmith shops, two hotels, and three saloons serving travelers. In 1882, ninety-seven school children were part of an area population of 850. By 1900, gold fever had subsided and, along with more direct routes to the valley, reduced Pozo's importance as a rest stop. Prohibition and the Depression ended the town's heyday, and it was gradually picked apart and carried off. The Pozo Saloon, reopened in 1967, remained as the only place still offering locals and curious travelers the hospitality and frontier friendliness of an earlier day.