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Excerpt from Sierra Nevada Geotourism:
āAside from a few scattered remnants of building foundations and abandoned diggings, there is little tangible evidence to believe that Agua Fria was once a busy trading center for miners and pioneer traders and the seat of government for one-fifth of California.
Originally named for the two cold water springs below ground, this now dry and empty landscape was once booming as Mariposa Countyās first seat, between 1851 and 1852. In the early days of California, when mining was the primary industry, the boundaries of Mariposa County extended across the state and south, encompassing what are now the eleven counties of Merced, Mono, San Benito, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Inyo, Kern, part of Ventura and Mariposa.
Today, the areaās storied past is a distant memory. Agua Fria once had a hotel, express office, assayerās office, banks, billiard rooms, bowling alleys, houses of āill repute,ā dozens of other stores, tents and log cabins. By the mid-1850s, the town was abandoned when the gold diggings went dry. A series of fires swept the town and it was never rebuilt, in part because the residents didnāt own the land. The seat of government was moved to Mariposa, where it remains today, as evidenced by the original County Courthouse, which is still in use."
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