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Hornitos is a census-designated place and former incorporated California Gold Rush town in Mariposa County, California, United States. It is located on Burns Creek in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, west of Mariposa and northeast of Merced. Settled in 1850 by Mexican miners driven from nearby Quartzburg and laid out around a Mexican-style plaza, Hornitos became a service center in the southern Mother Lode and in 1871 was designated the first and only incorporated town in Mariposa County. The Italian-born confectioner Domingo Ghirardelli operated a store in Hornitos from 1855 to 1858 before relocating his business to San Francisco. Hornitos was disincorporated by state statute in 1973 and is California Historical Landmark No. 333. The population was 38 at the 2020 census, down from 75 in 2010.