In days of yore, nearly a century before Herlong Junction came into existence the region was first settled by Captain John Byrd. For years the region was known as Bird Flat, and there were was even the Bird Flat School District.

Prior to Herlong Junction there was no need for road going to the east, because there was no there, there. Even when the railroads came existence, attempts were made to make something as in 1892’s proposed Honey Lake City. In 1912, there was a short lived town of Cromwell. There was a proposed Cromwell-Milford Road, that would require a bridge across Honey Lake, thus far north of  present day Herlong Junction.

Not much would happen in the region until 1942 when the Sierra Army Depot was established and created the town of Herlong. To get to the depot two access roads were built from Highway 395. It was the northern access road that would became known as Herlong Junction. It should be noted the ranchers in that district was against the depot. When the construction crews arrive they things got worse.

There was one Bird Flat resident that saw an opportunity, Zoe Clayburg. When her husband, Tom, died in 1917 from tuberculosis, , she inherited a forty-acre parcel that would became known as Herlong Junction. On February 6, 1948 she sold a small parcel to  Ray and Connie Langley. The Langleys had a restaurant at Milford, and they moved their building to the Clayburg property.  In time that establishment evolved to the present day The Mark. From time to time, Zoe would sell off parcels. She passed away in 1970, and is buried in the Milford Cemetery beside her husband Tom.

Tim