title: Ridleys Ferry, California
text: # Ridleys Ferry, California
  
  Ridleys Ferry, later Benton Mills, is a former settlement in Mariposa County, California.
  
  It was located on the south bank of the Merced River, opposite the settlement of Bagby.
  
  ## History
  
  It was on the Rancho Las Mariposas, an 1844 Mexican land grant acquired in 1847 by John C. Frémont. During the California Gold Rush Frémont built a stamp mill at Ridleys Ferry, and renamed it Benton Mills in honor of his father-in-law Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
  
  Thomas E. Ridley operated a ferry across the Merced River at the site from 1850 to 1852.
  
  The settlement endured during the 1850s and 1860s.
  
  