Elizabeth Lake in Los Angeles County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
Butterfield Overland Mail
and Havilah Coachline
Photographed by Craig Baker, June 29, 2018
1. Butterfield Overland Mail Marker
Butterfield Overland Mail and Havilah Coachline used these houses from 1861-1881.
Erected 1970 by Antelope Valley Chapter Daughters of The American Revolution.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles. In addition, it is included in the Butterfield Overland Mail, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) series lists.
Location. 34° 39.737′ N, 118° 22.986′ W. Marker is in Elizabeth Lake, California, in Los Angeles County. It is on Elizabeth Lake Road 0.2 miles east of Ranch Club Road, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Lake Hughes CA 93532, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Los Angeles and in the Transverse Ranges. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain
this page online
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Elizabeth Lake (approx. 1.6 miles away); Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union School (approx. 2.4 miles away); Lake Hughes Local History (approx. 2.7 miles away); Lake Hughes (approx. 3.3 miles away); California Poppy Reserve (approx. 4.9 miles away); Tack Room (approx. 6½ miles away); Power Plant No. 1 (approx. 6.6 miles away); Leona Valley School House (approx. 6.7 miles away).
Regarding Butterfield Overland Mail.
Margarita Ruiz Hefner (1849-1935)
Margarita wrote this story in 1915 for the Antelope Valley Leger-Gazette. It was a competition to find the oldest pioneer families in the valley. She won 1st place.
Early in 1863, her mother Donna Nieves Ruiz took her family of 4 girls and 3 boys away from the little town of Los Angeles, where smallpox was raging with fatal results. They followed the San Francisquito trail up to the unsettled valley of what is now called Elizabeth Lake.
Margarita's mother, Dona, set up makeshift quarters at the lake and began preparing meals for passing teamsters
Photographed by Craig Baker, June 29, 2018
2. Butterfield Overland Mail Marker
In 1867, when Margarita was 17, she married James Hefner (1825-1908), a passing teamster who had also been a forty-niner and a blacksmith. Together, the couple took over her mothers stage stop which became known as Hefner's stage station. In 1893, Margarita also worked as Elizabeth Lake's postmaster, in what was also known as the James Hefner post office.
Several stagecoach lines made Hefner's station one of their stops: Butterfield (1858-1861)?, Telegraph (1872-1874), and others.
In 1989 the stage stop mysteriously burned down.
Yet another part of Elizabeth Lake's history is gone with only pictures of the ranch/stage station to view.
-from a display at the Lake Hughes Community Center.
At various times, these buildings were the Heffner Store, a hotel, and the headquarters of a thriving ranch.
This was where the bandit Tiburcio Vasquez hid the Chilean lady, Rosa, until he could make arrangements for her return to her native land. And Saturday nights would bring the locals out for dances, sometimes dancing with Tiburcio.
-from a story by Milton Stark in 1977, courtesy Lakes History Room.
Related markers.
Photographed by Craig Baker, June 29, 2018
3. Butterfield Overland Mail Marker
Photographed by Craig Baker, June 29, 2018
4. Butterfield Overland Mail Marker
Photographed by Allen Mockabee
5. Butterfield Stagecoach Stop
Photo by Allen Mockabee via the Lake Elizabeth Mutual Water Co. website.
Photographed by Craig Baker, June 29, 2018
6. Nearby Building
Built in 1911, this power switching station sent power to the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, 60 miles to the south. Located on Elizabeth Lake Road at Firtree Drive, on private property.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 4, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2018, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. This page has been viewed 1,093 times since then and 77 times this year. Last updated on October 22, 2019, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 16, 2018, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. 5. submitted on January 4, 2025, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. 6. submitted on July 16, 2018, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.
