Knight's Ferry Walking Tour

Knights Ferry, during its height, was an interesting and lively place. About 15,000 people based their operations in the town. There were large well-stocked stores: a newspaper, The Knights Ferry Bee, an enterprising weekly, or 20 pages, published by W.J. Collier: Hotels, liquor houses, livery stables, Protestant and Catholic churches and schools. The fraternities were represented by the Masons, Odd Fellows, and the Temperance Order. To this western outpost, in the middle “50’s” [1850’s] came a young lieutenant, of the United States Army, who would become both a General in the Union Army during the Civil War, and eventually President of the United States, Ulysses S Grant. He was there to visit his brother-in-law, Fred Dent. Dent operated a store and ferry. When word came of a “big strike” in the mountains close by, it was the Knights Ferry bank of Palmer & Co. which floated the bonds to build the Sonora-Bodie road, now called Sonora Pass. (Excerpt from Stanislaus Stepping Stones 1978). Please enjoy this walking tour of our town. Be respectful as some of these sites are private homes of our Knight's Ferry residents. Don't forget to stop by the Knight's Ferry Museum and Historical Society to see artifacts and photos from our shared history.