In the 1850's Ynocente Garcia and sons recorded claims for the Rancho San Jose which included today's Pozo. In 1878, the area's first postmaster, George Lingo, was refused the name San Jose for the post office and accepted Pozo (Well - in Spanish) instead. Early roads from the coast to the San Joaquin Valley became busier with the 1878 discovery of gold in La Panza and Pozo grew into a bustling, wild west town of general stores, blacksmith shops, two hotels, and three saloons, to quench the traveler's thirst. In 1882, 97 school children were among the area's population of 850.
By 1900 Gold fever had subsided which, combined with more direct routes to the valley, reduced the importance of Pozo as the rest stop. Prohibition and the depression marked the end to Pozo's heyday years and the town was picked apart and carried off.
The Pozo Saloon, reopened in 1967, is all that remains to offer the locals and curious traveler the hospitality and frontier friendliness of a bygone day.
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