Dos Palos

History

In one of his expeditions during the 1820s along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, explorer Gabriel Moraga reported the location of two large isolated poplar trees, which he called "Dos Palos". In 19th-century Spanish usage, palos was used to describe tall pole-like trees or "timbers". 21st-century usage often translates it as "sticks". The "Rancho Sanjon de Santa Rita" Mexican land grant cites "Los Dos Palos" or "The Two Trees" as a boundary marker. In 1891, former school superintendent Bernhard Marks convinced cattle ranch king Henry Miller to develop a small town nearby. They gave it the name "Dos Palos Colony" but pronounced it with their ethnic accents (Marks a Polish Jew and Miller an Alsatian German) as "Dahce Palace". This pronunciation remained for over one hundred years until a recent Spanish pronunciation revival. Marks brought forty pioneer families west from Iowa and Nebraska to establish the community. In 1892, unable to find good water, many of the settlers left. Marks convinced Miller to establish another town two miles away on land unsuitable for farming and ranching due to swamps and unsettling soils. Some of the settlers relocated. This new town was named "Colony Center". In 1906, Dos Palos Colony was renamed South Dos Palos and Colony Center was renamed Dos Palos. The Post Office was briefly misspelled as one word, "Dospalos" but this was changed within a year. About a dozen of the colony's original families still reside locally. Through the years, people from many other locations joined the community. Dos Palos incorporated in 1935. On January 1, 2008, surrounding the community of Dos Palos were transferred from Fresno County to Merced County.

Geography

Dos Palos is located in southern Merced County at . It is southeast of Los Banos and by road west of Madera. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers an area of , all of it land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  650
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  532
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  439
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  438
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  344
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  340
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  331
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  318

Most recent

• M 2.66 — 2026-08-11
  5 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
• M 2.57 — 2026-08-11
  6 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
• M 3.94 — 2026-08-11
  6 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
• M 2.88 — 2026-08-10
  5 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
• M 2.92 — 2026-08-10
  6 km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
• M 2.54 — 2026-08-09
  12 km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA