Gerle Creek December of 2002-Photo taken by Greg Kiefer Lot 4
Winter on Gerle Creek provided by Greg Kiefer Lot 4, Bill Holmes Lot 33 and Bill and Norma Dillon Lot 25....click on the Winter picture of Gerle Creek for the Winter slide show.................
For the curious people, Gerle Creek and Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract are located on the Georgetown Divide in the Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, California in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Who was Gerle and how did the creek receive its name?
Summer range location for the Gerle Brothers, early emigrants and farmers on Gerle Creek, 2 miles West of Wentworth Springs (USGS Map of 1895) on the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs/Rubicon Springs/Lake Tahoe road, next to Gerle Creek. Their ranch property butted up against the Jacobson Ranch property on the West side of the section, also on Gerle Creek. One of three Gerle brothers who came to California in 1851,Christopher C. Gerle was born in Sweden in 1833, marrying his wife, Mary Clausen in El Dorado County in 1865. Mary was daughter to Paul and Mary Clausen, both emigrating from England to Coloma. Her father Paul was born in 1806 while her mother was born in 1815, both in England. Her father Paul was a boot maker. Christopher C. Gerle and his wife, Mary initially had two boys, Peter C. Gerle, born 1869 and dying in 1871 and a second boy, Charles Gerle, born 1870 and died in 1871. Both are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Coloma with their two uncles, Charles W. Gerle and Christopher Cyrus Gerle. Christopher C. Gerle and his wife Mary later moved to Plymouth, in Amador County, California, having a third son George and three girls, Mary, Charlotte and Maggie. Charles W. Gerle was the oldest brother, born in Sweden in 1823 and dying March 4, 1907, while Charles Cyrus Gerle was born in Sweden in 1831, but died in Coloma in 1875. Charles W. Gerle lived in Coloma with Minnie Johnson, who was previously married to an Englishman and had two boys Juan Johnson and Charles W. Johnson in Sweden, with a third child George M. Johnson, born in Coloma in 1878. The Gerle Brothers used their Sierra ranch on Gerle Creek (Gurley; Lawyer's Cow Camp; & Wagner Bros.) to raise hogs and cattle during the Summer months, hauling the pork products over the Sierra's on the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs/Rubicon Springs/Lake Tahoe Road to sell in Virginia City, Nevada. The Gerle Brothers were long time neighbors in the Sierras during the Summers with Murray Camp folks just a mile North of their ranch on the way to Bennett's Ranch in the McKinstry Lake area, as well as the Jacobsons, Francis, Wentworths, Dellars and Jerretts. By 1880, Christopher C. Gerle and his family had moved on to Plymouth in Amador County. Gerle family sources indicate that he may have lost his share of the Gerle properties in El Dorado County in a poker game to his brother, Charles W. Gerle in Carson City. According to the Georgetown Gazette, reprinted in the Mountain Democrat of Sept 16, 1916, the Gerle Brothers bought their ranch property (Gerles/ Wagner Brothers/Lawyers Cow Camp) on Gerle Creek from the Indians in the early sixties(1860s). In 1889, the California Water and Mining Company purchased Charles W. Gerle's property and had the land surveyed. The survey reported that the property was swampland and overflow lands which made it the property of the State of California. In 1895, CM Fitzgerald, the superintendent of the California Water and Mining company, was granted a patent to the 440 acres of property in section 36 of T.13N, R. 14E.. He then deeded it to his company and who in turn deeded to each of the other companies who have taken ownership since. The earliest maps including Bowman's 1874 Map of the whole Georgetown Divide show their ranch and the creek identified with Gerle misspelled and written as it sounded; "Gurley." Gerle's Ranch became a very important way stop on the road to Lake Tahoe from Georgetown in the "Sixties", remaining so well into the 20th Century after the ranch property was sold off in 1889 to the California Water Company. The Wagner Brothers eventually purchased this property and have retained ownership among their family, Wagner and Veer Kamp, of the majority of Gerle Meadow around the old ranch house to this day.
In the early part of the 20th Century, Archie and Irma Lawyer leased Gurley's Ranch from the Wagner's about the same time they actually purchased Uncle Tom's Cabin, at which point it became known as "Lawyer's Cow Camp" after 1920(Errington 2000). Reviewing the original Eldorado National Forest Map of 1916 shows this old ranch still listed as "Gerles." Later, the historic ranch was returned to the Wagners, who referred to it as Wagner Bros., Wagners and or Wagner's Cow Camp. The 1950 Forest Service map clearly shows the ranch listed as Wagner's but in later years returned the name to Lawyers when in fact the ranch was never owned by Lawyers and long since not leased anymore.
The US Forest Service acquired 80 acres of section 34 of Township 14N, R14E, of the original Gerle Ranch property May 3, 1920.
The Gerle Brothers lived on their ranch in Uniontown-Coloma during the rest of the year when not using their high sierra ranch on Gerle Creek.
ASSOCIATION CONTACTS
Association President
Board Member
Bill Dillon Lot# 25
4102 Hancock Drive
Sacramento, Ca 95821
916 482-8079
Association Vice President
Board Member
Wayne Fluke Lot#22
2222 River Trail
Rancho Cordova, Ca 95670
916 364-1850
Association Treasurer
Board Member
PO Box 4230
El Dorado Hills, Ca 95762-0015
530 676-7658(H)
916 933-8448(W)
ahoffman@kiefercoonsulting.com
Association Secretary
Board Member
9364 Sunflower Road
Wilton, Ca 95693-9738
916 687-8915
Association Board Members
Brad Dillon Lot# 35
3816 Maplewood Lane
Placerville Ca 95667
530 622-6969
Board Member
Bill Boyd Lot#21
6114 La Salle Ave #232
Oakland, Ca 94611
510 336-0609
Board Member
3726 Sierrawood Court
Concord, Ca 94519
925 674-1448
Forest Service Resources for GCSHT
Diane Rubiaco Pacfic District Ranger
Pacific House
Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract History
Lot 24 Brattland Family
Lot 41 McDowall Family
Water System
IMPORTANT NOTICES
Remember the Speed Limit in the tract is 5 miles per hour....for everyone including our invited guests as well. This goes a long way to protecting the many young children and family pets who roam about the tract as well as keeping the dust down.
WORK PARTY SCHEDULES
2007-Schedule-
IMPORTANT AND HANDY LINKS AND E-MAIL ADDRESSES FOR GERLE CREEK CABIN OWNERS
NATIONAL FOREST HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
National Forest Homeowners Association Links
National Forest Homeowners Association National Officers
American Land Rights Association great links page
Home Owners Association Database
Northern Sierra Summer Home Association
Tony Planchon, Membership
1768 11th Ave
Sacramento, Ca 95818
Eldorado National Forest Summer Home Tracts
SCIOTS CAMP great links
Strawberry Cabin Tract Owners Association great links
League to Save Our Lakes...............
Eldorado National Forest Important E-Mail Addresses
Forest Supervisor Eldorado National Forest
Pacific Ranger District District Ranger
US Forest Service E-mail Search Directory for all FS Personnel
US Forest Service Library of Forest Service Publications which are downloadable
Americans For Responsible Recreational Access(ARRA)
US Government Links
Eldorado National Forest Weekly Recreation Report
FS Special Uses Handbook downloadable
Federal Appeal Procedures Go to CFR 251.88 for Appeals
GPO Access to all Federal Regulations
El Dorado County Links
Placerville Newspaper THE MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT
El Dorado County Building Department
El Dorado County Planning Department
El Dorado County Tax Collector
El Dorado County Environmental Management Department
www.visit-eldorado.com/stories.html
www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/museum/other_museums.html
http://www.visit-eldorado.com/historical.asp
Related Eldorado National Forest Historical Links
Martin's Meadow, Tamarack Flat, Eldorado National Forest, Sierra Pines Cabin
Webmaster Mike Brattland Lot 24
600 Coldstream Drive
El Cajon, Ca 92020-7721
619 444-1944
Last updated on 08/27/07
