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Felton

Felton, William Harrell, 1823-1909, American political leader, b. Oglethorpe co., Ga. After studying medicine he practiced for awhile, but gave it up for farming in 1847. Ordained a Methodist minister in 1848, he served occasionally in that capacity for the rest of his life. He was a surgeon in the Civil War. After the war he became the leading independent Democrat of Georgia, opposing reactionary machine politics. He fought corruption and advocated legislation for elementary schools, higher education, penal reform, and charitable institutions. In 1874 he was elected to Congress as an independent in a bitter campaign against the party organization and served three terms before he was defeated. Later, in the state legislature, he worked effectively for improved returns from the state-owned railroad. In his long political struggle, his chief aide was his second wife, Rebecca Latimer Felton, 1835-1930. Born near Atlanta, she wrote for the Atlanta Journal for nearly 30 years and was a champion of clean government, penal reform, temperance, and woman suffrage. She was the first woman to enter the U.S. Senate, where she served briefly in 1922 by appointment. Her writings include My Memoirs of Georgia Politics (1911).

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Felton, California

Felton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 1,051 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Felton is located at (37.051498, -122.055753).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.4 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1051 people and 517 households in the CDP. The population density was 3 people per square mile (436.3/km²). There were 173 housing units at an average density of 189.3/sq mi (214.6/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.58% White, 0.67% African American, 0.57% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 3.33% from other races, and 3.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.14% of the population.

There were 393 households out of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.2% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.9% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $48,102, and the median income for a family was $55,625. Males had a median income of $35,833 versus $26,346 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $21,488. About 8.3% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Politics

In the state legislature Felton is located in the 15th Senate District, represented by Republican Abel Maldonado, and in the 27th Assembly District, represented by Democrat John Laird. Federally, Felton is located in California's 14th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +18 and is represented by Democrat Anna Eshoo.

History and facts

Named for John Brooks Felton, a former Oakland, California mayor, a judge and a Bay Area investor in his day, the town is a historic logging community which served as the end of the Boulder Creek log flume.

Nearby Mount Hermon was the site of California's first water-powered sawmill (circa 1841).

In 1875, the Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad rolled into town. By 1880, a second rail line came down from Alameda, California and San Jose, California. A new depot was constructed at "New Felton" using salvaged materials from a dismantled portion of the Boulder Creek flume. The railroads, limekilns and forest in this area provided a majority of the repair materials for the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The "broad gauge" came into Felton by 1909.

In 1963, the steam-powered Roaring Camp & Big Trees tourist railroad began operations on the Big Trees Ranch out of the old Felton depot. They later constructed a replicated logging camp and another depot further down the property, and in 1985, took over operations on the old SPC/Southern Pacific line to Santa Cruz. Roaring Camp is a re-creation of an 1880s logging camp and home to the original South Pacific Coast (later Southern Pacific) Felton depot and freight shed, as well as two unique railroads: the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad (a steam-powered line up Bear Mountain) and the Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway.

On July 28th, 2008 "a significant percentage" of Felton will be participating in LINdependence 2008 and switching their operating system to Linux for a week or more. The event is scheduled to first begin on July, 13th. The event has been reported on by Nathan ichtertz of San Jose Mercury News.