Kyburz, California
38°46′29″N 120°17′49″W / 38.77472°N 120.29694°W
Kyburz | |
|---|---|
The town as seen heading eastbound on US-50. The sign references a well-known joke about small towns. | |
Kyburz along US-50 in a map of El Dorado County | |
| Coordinates: 38°46′29″N 120°17′49″W / 38.77472°N 120.29694°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | El Dorado |
| Elevation | 1,237 m (4,058 ft) |
| Population (2000) | |
• Total | 167 |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | 95720 |
| Area code | 530 |
Kyburz (formerly, Slippery Ford and Slipperyford) is a small unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. It is located along the South Fork of the American River and U.S. Route 50, and is surrounded by the Eldorado National Forest. Its elevation is 4058 feet (1237 m) above sea level.
Settlement began a mile west at Webster’s Sugar Loaf House as a remount station for the pony express on April 3, 1860. The route ran through where US 50 locally is today. The Slippery Ford post office opened in 1861. The name was changed to Slipperyford in 1896, and to Kyburz in 1911, by its Postmaster Albert Kyburz, in memory of his father Samuel Kyburz, who was an early California pioneer with John Sutter. The locale was along the Lincoln Highway Sierra Nevada Southern Route by 1916.
Ski racer Spider Sabich grew up in Kyburz, where his father, Vladimir Sr., was stationed with the California Highway Patrol. Spider and his younger brother Steve raced at the Edelweiss ski area, which closed in the 1960s, and is now known as Camp Sacramento.