• Cameron Park
• Camino
• Diamond Springs
• El Dorado Hills
• Georgetown: Part 1; Part 2
• Grizzly Flat
• Lake Tahoe: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10
• Placerville: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
• Pollock Pines
• Rescue
• Shingle Springs: Part 1; Part 2
• Smith Flat
• Somerset

Traveling the Mormon Emigrant Trail
(September 2001)
By Anthony M. Belli

It had been over a year since the men had seen their families. Now with the construction of Sutter's Mill at Coloma complete, it was time for the many Mormon workers to return home to Salt Lake Valley, Utah. On April 9, 1848, a little more than two months after Marshall discovered gold in the mill's tailrace, the workers held a meeting. The question at this meeting however was not gold, but how to move a wagon train over the austere and uncharted Sierra wilderness...

Pleasant Valley

The Mormons sent word that parties interested in forming a wagon train that would travel to the Salt Lake Valley, should meet at a small valley in the foothills, which they named Pleasant Valley. By mid-June, a wagon train had been formed which consisted of 45 men, one woman, 17 wagons, several yokes of oxen, and about 300 head of livestock.

Three advance scouts, Henderson Cox, Daniel Browett, and Ezrah H. Allen, set out into the mountains on saddle horses to scout a route for the wagon train. Ten days passed without word from the advance team so ten men were dispatched to search for the missing scouts. Meanwhile, the wagon train moved northeast about ten miles to another valley to await news from the search party. They named this encampment after James C. Sly, a member of their party. Today this place is known as Sly Park.

Another ten days passed and then on July 14th, the search party returned reporting no sign of the missing scouts. They had, however, found passage over the mountains. The Mormons broke camp and began the slow, laborious, ascent over the Sierras, building a road as they went. They camped at and were responsible for naming Log Spring, Leek Spring, and Tragedy Spring.

Tragedy Spring

It was at Tragedy Spring that they discovered the murdered remains of their three advance scouts; buried in a shallow grave. In his diary, Henry W. Bigler, one of the members of the wagon train, noted the following:

"We cut the following inscription in the Balsam Fir that stood near the grave. To the memory of Daniel Browett, Ezrah H. Allen, and Henderson Cox, who were supposed to have been murdered and buried by Indians on the night of June 27, A.D., 1848. We call the place Tragedy Spring."

Hope Valley

After passing through the rugged Sierra Nevada Range, the wagon train camped at Hope Valley, which, according to Bugler's diary, they named because here "they began to have hope" that they were going to make it to Salt Lake. [Hope Valley lies about 20 miles South of Lake Tahoe with intersections of Highway 88 and 89.]

The Mormon Emigrant Trail

The opening of the Mormon Emigrant Trail created the first east-west road for wagons into Northern California. On the California side, of the California/Nevada state line, the first trading post/way station was established. It was called Old Mormon Station and was 107 miles east of Placerville.

[The Mormons followed a trail from Sly Park that approximates the path of the present Mormon Emigrant Trail, which extends from an intersection with Sly Park Road at Jenkinson Lake and runs generally southeast to a junction with California Highway 88 about five miles west of Silver Lake. There is one major deviation, however: The original route led around the north side of Iron Mountain instead of the south side as the road does today...Richard Hughey, The Carson Emigrant Trail to Tragedy Springs April 15, 1999.]

For the next 16 years, tens of thousands of immigrants passed over the Mormon Emigrant Trail into the new El Dorado. .By 1854, more than 40 way stations were operating between Placerville and Old Mormon Station. Way stations like "David Barber, ranch, trading post, and blacksmith shop, eight and a half miles from old Mormon Station", "Illinois House, groceries and meals at all hours. Elk Horn, hay, and barley station, seven miles from Placerville", and "Stonebreaker house" built adjacent to the emigrant road.

Edited by Stephanie Bishop, IS Dept.
SOURCE DOCUMENTATION by Anthony E. Belli

BOOKS: "I remember ..."
By: Betty Yohalem Published by: The El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce - 1977

MUSEUM HISTORICAL FILE: Mormon Emigrant Trail
Unpublished manuscript titled: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MORMON EMIGRANT TRAIL
By: Covington - May, 1974

Mile houses were established during the gold rush. They were places along the stage coach lines where travelers could stop to rest. Many of the Mile Houses, those on parts of the road that were privately owned, also collected tolls.

The Three Mile House was built in Smith Flat in 1853 over the Blue Lead Mining Channel. The original house consisted of a general store, post office, living room, bedroom, dining room, dance hall, rooms for rent, and a full attic and basement. There was also a separate toll house and a barn large enough for 40 horses. In the 1890’s, wings were added to the original building to accommodate a kitchen, pantry, saloon, card room and additional rooms to rent.

The building, now called the Smith Flat House, has changed owners many times over the years, but it has always been carefully preserved. As recently as 1999, it was used as a restaurant where visitors could still go to the end of the basement bar and peer into the entrance of the Blue Lead Mine.

Source: Betty Yohalem, “I remember…” Stories and pictures of El Dorado County pioneer families, Placerville: El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, 1977.

Wine

The prospectors who crossed thousands of miles of land and sea to reach the gold fields of El Dorado County brought with them many skills, as well as the desire and fortitude to settle the land. When mining wore them out and less and less gold was found, many prospectors turned to other resources and industries to make their living and carve out homes. Among them were men who found that the climate and geography of El Dorado County resembled that of other wine growing regions in the world.

First Vines

Franciscan Friars from Spain were the first to bring wine grapes to California when they established the missions. This Mission variety was grown primarily in the Missions and forts established by the Spanish. By 1848 most of these institutions were abandoned. Prospectors and others saw the crumbling mission gardens and took the fruits to eat, and eventually they took clippings and the plants themselves. From these some of the first wines in El Dorado County were produced. However, the Mission variety in El Dorado County produces a weak wine with little color and flavor so in 1849 a Mr. Stevens imported the first non-mission grapes from New England. They were standard New England vinifera collection.

Steven’s vineyard of 36 vines was established in 1849 and was located four miles west of where the town of Rescue now is, along the Sweetwater Creek.

Boom and Bust

As the Motherlode region grew in population so too did the demand for goods, among them wine and distilled spirits. From 1857-1870 there were 12 wineries in production in El Dorado County. From 1870 to 1900 there were 28 principal wineries with 2,100 acres devoted to wine production by 1904.

Economic downturns in agriculture nationwide beginning in the 1870s to the Great Depression and a decrease in population of El Dorado County took a large toll on the wine industry. Likewise, overproduction also played a key role. Even the finest wines produced in the region had little market other than San Francisco. The final bust came with prohibition in the 1920s and closed many of the last wineries in operation. In 1966 there were only 11 acres devoted to wine production in the entire county, the Higgins’ Zinfandel crop located near Mt. Aukum, similar in size to the amount of acreage devoted to wine in 1855.

Rebirth

In the late 1950s a disease began to ravage the pear crop in El Dorado County opening the way for new crops to be introduced. The County Farm Advisor and County Agricultural Commissioner began planting experimental grape vines.

In the 1970s, increased interest in wine production in El Dorado County was helped by Dick Bethell who introduced some El Dorado County wines at a blind taste test at the Univeristy of California at Davis. Gaining high marks, the El Dorado County wines stood out. Soon after, Greg Boeger, a graduate of UC Davis, purchased the Lombardo/Fossatti Winery in 1973. By 1977 the county had 200 acres devoted to wine production and three more wineries, Madrona, Sierra Vista, and El Dorado. Soon awards and medals began being awarded across the state and nation to El Dorado County wines.

In 1983 “El Dorado” was granted American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the ATF. This area includes lands between 1,200 and 3,500 feet in elevation. On the north the border is the middle fork if the American River and to the south is the south fork of the Consumnes River. In 2001, in southern El Dorado County, the Fairplay AVA region was established and includes only 33 square miles, but is home to 350 acres of vineyard. The diverse climate, geography, and soils of the varying regions of El Dorado County make for immensely diverse wines.

By 2010 there were 88 vineyards in El Dorado County who were members of the El Dorado Wine Grape Growers Association and many tasting rooms and cellars. Many of these establishments are easily accessible and have tasting rooms open to the public.

The year was 1951 and Floyd Bolster decided to retire in a community called Camino. He bought a ranch that had 10 acres of producing apple trees and dreamed of working his land and reaping the rewards of the life of a farmer.

Six years later, Floyd Bolster died, and his son Gene left his job in Southern California to come to the ranch and complete his father's dream.

In 1964, Gene Bolster, local grower; Dick Bethell, the County's Pomology* Specialist and Farm Advisor; Ed Delfino, the County's Agricultural Commissioner: and Bob Tuck, a retired army officer, all united to form the Apple Hill Growers Association. This is the 40th year and Apple Hill continues to attract people from all over the world.

"There were about 16 ranchers back then," said Bolster. "We usually gathered at Bob Tuck's house at the end of the day and talked about how awful farming was," recalled Bolster. "We had an awful pear blight about 36 years ago and we had to do something to survive. Our major crop was pears."

To this day, a few of the old pear orchards are still around. "An orchard can produce for 50 years if it is taken care of," said Bolster.

The pear blight took production from 52,000 tons in 1958 to 8,435 in 1965. A few of the ranchers had some apples planted, but pears had been the primary crop. It was time for a change.

Bolster and Delfino set out to discover a way to help the ranchers keep their farms and make the rich soil of Camino productive again. In 1962 Bolster and Delfino visited Oak Glen in Southern California.

"They had a successful marketing program, so we got a copy of their bylaws and improved on them," Delfino said. Armed with this information, they returned to Camino, gathered the local ranchers together and formed the growers association called Apple Hill.

"We faced competition from Washington State apples," Bethell said, "but the growers in Camino had to do something."

Bolster stated that the apples on the hill may not have that long shape, like the Washington apple. "They have longer days than we do. We have an ideal growing season, with a long chilling season. In other words, the trees stay dormant longer. So while a Washington apple may look great, our apples have better flavor."

The name "Apple Hill" was created by Bob Tuck.

"It was amazing how much we accomplished in such a short time," Bolster said. "We started in mid-June of 1964 and had everything ready for the first press picnic in August."

During the press picnic, each Apple Hill family hosted individual members of the press for a meal at their home and many of them became close friends. The growers also produced 50,000 paper litter bags that they passed out at the State Fair that year, offering two pounds of free apples to visitors who brought the litter bag to Apple Hill with them.

Bolster still has a few of those bags and if you compare the map that decorated the front of the original Apple Hill literature to the map of ranchers that exists today, you can see that the original association has blossomed into a very successful ranch marketing endeavor.

The Apple Hill Growers Association has grown from 16 original ranchers to over 55 ranchers, including Christmas tree growers and wineries, vineyards, micro brewery and a spa.

Another suggestion from Clarice Larson was to show visitors what could be done with apples in cooking. She originated the first place to sample some of the homemade desserts, baked goods, jams, jellies and sauces. In some of the ranches' Web pages you will find a sample of the growers' favorite recipes.

"It's never easy to get ranchers to agree on anything," Bolster observed, "but they did agree on forming the growers association. Everyone worked together and Apple Hill rose like a phoenix from the ashes of disaster."

"Apple Hill was the first ranch marketing effort in Northern California," Delfino said, "and its success is shown by the fact that now there are ranch marketing groups all over. Apple Hill is a great example of government, farmers and media working together for everyone's good."

At Larsen's Ranch, you will find the Rhode Island Greening which is believed to be the oldest apple tree in El Dorado County. At Hilltop Ranch, the Bolsters have collected a number of antique varieties, making available some of the apples of your childhood.

So much of the history of Apple Hill has been preserved. The community has gone to tremendous effort to protect their history and offer the public an opportunity to step back in time, if only for a day. Visitors will find their day filled with old-fashioned fun. Plan a picnic on the lush land that surrounds these exciting ranches. Their doors are opened and the growers have gone the extra mile to ensure your family a day that they will remember.

* the study or practice of cultivating fruit
________________________________

Source Courtesy of the Apple Hill Growers Photos Courtesy of Jill Nauman and the El Dorado County Photo Library

Before Gold Was Discovered:
Prior to the gold discovery in 1848, California was not a state. The land belonged to Mexico. However, the Mexican government had very little involvement in the area as it was so far north. California was fairly isolated as it was difficult to travel there from the United States and Europe. Therefore, the majority of people who lived in Northern California prior to 1849 were Mexican and Native American. Sprinkled among them were a few Europeans who found California to be a good escape from whatever they left behind. John Sutter was one of those who found Northern California to be a haven from his family and debts that he left behind in Switzerland.

 Gold Discovery—A Chance Encounter:
Initially, there was no thought of finding gold in California, no one was looking. Rather, farming, ranching, and trading were the businesses of the day. After building his fort in what is now Sacramento, John Sutter planned on developing the nearby land along the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers and creating a new town called New Helvetia. In order to build it he needed wood. After depleting the lumber in the immediate area of New Helvetia, he sent James Marshall up the American River to look for a new source of timber that could easily be transported by raft back to the waterfront.

Marshall with his workmen began building a saw mill in Coloma upriver from New Helvetia’s waterfront. On January 24, 1848 while Marshall was inspecting his mill, he discovered gold in the water. He was uncertain whether it was truly gold. After undergoing several tests, it was determined to indeed be gold and was sent to President Polk in Washington DC.

Word Got Out:
News of the gold discovery travelled fast. Not only did locals hear about it, but so did Mexicans, Americans, Europeans, Australians, Asians, and people from even further reaches around the world. The idea of getting rich quick convinced people to leave their families and homes, attempt a difficult passage over land and sea, and try their luck. Those who came were doctors, lawyers, farmers, teachers, businessmen, the poor, and anyone else who had gold fever. These people did not have experience in gold mining. In fact, many of them had no experience with manual labor.

Success and Failure:
The earliest miners to arrive were the most successful. As the easy to find gold along the rivers was depleted, Gold miners had to devise new ways of finding it. When panning was no longer profitable, miners turned to dry digging or digging in the soil. Some mined into hillsides where they found granite which sometimes holds streaks of gold. Later, the miners resorted to hydraulic mining which entailed spraying high powered water at hillsides to wash away the gold hidden inside.

Finding gold was generally due to luck. Some made fortunes and some didn’t. Many spent their gold as fast as they found it on food and booze. It was the rare miner who returned home with their treasure.

Business men far and away had the most long term success. By selling equipment, lodging, or drink to the miners, entrepreneurs made huge profits with little risk. Sam Brannan is the most famous of those early salesmen because of his shrewd tactics. He announced the gold find, printed his own paper about it, and then sold picks and shovels to the arriving hopeful gold seekers.

Location of Gold Mines:
There were three regions in California: Northern, Middle, and Southern. El Dorado County is in the Middle region. Because the easiest to find gold was in rivers that had eroded the gold out of the rocks, mining towns were located along rivers. When a strike was made, boom towns would pop up around the site. However, as quickly as they were built, they were deserted as miners moved on to a new mining area.

Some of the local boomtowns that still exist in El Dorado County today are Placerville (also known as Old Dry Diggings and Hangtown), Coloma, Georgetown, Cool, and Fairplay. Placerville boasts the Gold Bug Mine which can still be explored today.

Life of a 49er:
The miners who rushed into California are typically referred to as 49ers because they arrived in 1849. A day in the life of a miner was very difficult. It was dirty, wet, cold or hot, and exhausting. When a strike was made, the miner worked from sun up to sun down. He wore the same muddy clothes every day, and had few choices for food. Some slept in tents, a few had cabins, and many used a tree as shelter for the night. During the rainy and snow seasons, the miners could not work and were forced to stay inside for long dreary days. Due to exhaustion, over exposure to the weather, and a poor diet, many got sick or died. Being a miner was an awful life, but for many the chance of making a fortune was worth it.

Women in the Mines:
Although the majority of people who flooded California during the gold rush were men, there were also women to be found. Many were business women who operated hotels, restaurants, brothels, and laundries. Some were wives and mothers. California offered an opportunity for adventure, independence, and entrepreneurship that weren’t available to women elsewhere. California had few rules and fewer laws. As long as you didn’t steal or murder, you were generally left alone without concern of moral or social expectations.

Inventions of the Gold Rush:
Necessity is the mother of invention, and as gold became more difficult to find, miners found new ways and tools to seek it. The use of mercury, also known as quicksilver, attached to fine gold powder and provided a loss free method. The “Long Tom” was an improvement on the age old method of using a pan and rocker. A large new undertaking was the engineering of dams and flumes to reroute rivers. Levis were invented in San Francisco to provide miners with heavy duty pants. The California stamp mills were designed in order to crush gold veined quartz rock. High powered water hoses, nozzles, and pumps called “monitors” were created for hydraulic mining.

Famous Names:

• John A. Sutter: A Swiss entrepreneur who built Sutter’s Fort and planned the city of New Helvetia where Sacramento now stands. It was his mill on the American River was James Marshall found gold.

• John A. Sutter Jr.: He founded Sacramento which was the gateway to the El Dorado County gold mines.

• John Marshall: He worked for Sutter building a saw mill in Coloma. He found the first gold on January 24, 1848.

• Sam Brannan: He published his own newspaper the California Star to promote the gold discovery and sell equipment and supplies to miners.

1918-1921 Devastation of Spanish Influenza

In 1918, a virulent strain of influenza spread around the world, with an estimate of 500 million infected, and affecting soldiers on both sides of World War I as well as the homefront worldwide. It was called the “Spanish flu” when King Alfonso of Spain was one of the early victims.

With no antibiotics at that time, and limited information about the actual cause of the disease, quarantine was the best way to combat it. Homes that reported the flu were considered quarantined – no one could go in or out. 100 years ago, this was the usual course of action for all kinds of diseases that we now vaccinate for and treat with medicine, such as measles, polio, typhus and others.

The photograph above is from the County Museum's collection shows a parade on Main Street,
probably for the first anniversary of the World War I Armistice on November 11, 1919,
with participants wearing face masks! Mabel Lyon is riding on the float.

Spanish Influenza was particularly prevalent in 1918-1919 and lingered through 1921. It is estimated that 50 to 100 million died from this highly infectious disease. Coinciding with the devastation of World War I, it is considered one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.

"Uncle Sam's Advice on 'Flu" is the headline published in the Mountain Democrat on November 16, 1918. The Surgeon General, Rupert Blue is giving familiar advice then as it is now. These are excerpts from the article. The newspaper article from over 100 years ago, in the November 6, 1918, Mt. Democrat explains the very familiar recommendations for how to avoid the 'flu!

On the same page is a notice of the new County Ordinance "for the Protection of the Public Health and Requiring all Persons to Wear Gauze Masks while on Streets or Highway, or at Public Gatherings" The penalty for violation was a fine of not more than five dollars and not more than five days in jail for the first offense – with the max of $50 and 50 days in jail for subsequent offenses. The Board of Supervisors adopted this ordinance on November 11, 1918, (coincidentally the day of the cease fire of World War I, known as Armistice Day).

Image: County ordinance requiring face masks (Mt. Democrat, 11/11/1918)

The New Deal was the term used in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as President of the United States. The New Deal was a large group of reforms and legislation designed to help lift the United States out of the depths of the Great Depression. It was controversial and its success is still debated. However, some of the more recognizable programs produced projects in El Dorado County, such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Check out the Living New Deal in California, a website maintained by University of California at Berkeley.

Stop by the County Museum's Research Room or the County Library's Reference Desk for more help with researching New Deal projects in El Dorado County.

The Pollock Pines Epic

The Pony Express
Started April 3, 1860 and ended October, 1861
Approximately 2,000 miles traveled by horse in 10 days

Reason for the start of the Pony Express
Fast and reliable communication between the eastern United States and the west coast was needed. Before the Pony Express, mail was delivered in a variety of ways: by ship around South America, taking two or three months; by mule freight wagons from Missouri, taking three to four weeks; by the Butterfield Stage along the “southern” route from St. Louis to Los Angeles, via Yuma, to San Francisco, taking around 30 days.

The Pony Express cut U.S. Mail delivery time to 10 days and operated 24 hours a day, twice a week delivery, after the initial once a week schedule.

Reason for the end of the Pony Express
It operated for only 19 months, from April 1860 to October 1861. It was discontinued when the intercontinental telegraph was completed, and the immediacy of the telegraph replaced the need for the Pony Express. The Pony Express was a very expensive operation to set up and operated as a financial loss to the owners. With the start of the Civil War and southern states seceding from the Union, the expected mail contracts with the U.S. Government never materialized.

Facts about the Pony Express
The Company (officially known as COC&PP – Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Co. and nick-named the Pony Express) was formed by Russell, Majors, & Waddell, owners of an established freighting firm in the Western United States. The Pony Express was never a government operation

The Riders

• Riders were generally boys who were skilled with horses, 16 to 20 years old and weighing approximately 125 lbs. They were described as “thin, wiry, and hardy pony-riders.”
• There were usually round 85-100 active riders at a time. Out of the 200 or so who were hired, perhaps 12 boys lasted the full 19 months.
• Depending on the risks of their routes, riders were paid $120 to $160 a month, plus room and board. Excellent wages for 1860!

The Equipment

• Saddle – A specially designed saddle based upon the Calvary saddle – strong, light and open so air could circulate. It weighed about one-third of a normal saddle of the day.
• Mochila – A special saddlebag that draped over the saddle which was strong, rugged, secure, not too heavy and easy to change from horse to horse.
• Arms – It is believed that the riders were issued a Navy Colt model 1851 but were probably required to pay for it. So, other weapons might have been carried: Wells Fargo colt five shot percussion .31 caliber, Dragoon Colt .44 caliber, Model 1841 .54 caliber “Mississippi” rifles, 24/25 Sharp’s carbines (could have been the 1852, 1853 or 1859 model.)
• Horn – In order to notify the station keeper that he was approaching and in need of a fresh horse, the rider would sound the horn when in earshot.
• Oath and Bible – The riders were required to give an oath when hired and were issued a small bible to carry with them if they chose.

The Horses

• The Pony Express had up to 500 horses at a given time. Thoroughbreds were used along the eastern end, frequently Mustangs were used on the western end of the trail.
• The horses had to be healthy, strong, have good stamina and kept in good condition.
• Horses galloped 8 to 10 miles an hour.
• Horses were fed grain, which meant they could outrun horses which grazed, such as the Native American horses in the Great Plains.

The Mail

• Mail cost $10 per oz, and was later reduced to $5 per oz. in addition to regular postage.
• Most of the mail carried by the Pony Express was business or government related when speedy delivery was important.
• The first westbound rider carried 49 letters, nine telegrams and several newspapers.
• Riders carried on average between 15 lbs to 20 lbs of mail.
• One estimate puts the total mail delivered at 308 runs, 34,753 letters, and only one mochila lost.
• The Station Keeper wrote on a card kept in the mochila when the Pony Express rider arrived and left his station, and if he was running late the rider would know how much time he had to make up before the next stop.
• The exchange of mochila and horse was expected to take place in two to three minutes.
• The recipients of the mail in San Francisco were published in the newspaper, alerting them to the fact that they needed to pick up their mail at the Pony Express Station.

The Route

• The Eastern Terminus was established as St. Joseph, Missouri because the railroad and telegraph had crossed the Mississippi River to this point.
• The Western Terminus was established as San Francisco, California. At first, the rider took the mail to Sacramento and then in went by boat to San Francisco.
• As the railroad and telegraph lines crept eastward from Sacramento, the terminus for the Pony Express riders moved to Folsom and then to Placerville.
• There were 154 relay stations over the almost 2,000 miles of the route.
• Riders changed every 75 to 100 miles, and the horses changed every 10-15 miles.

The story of the Pony Express has remained very popular. In fact, it is now difficult to tell fact from fiction. Very few documents survive from the COC&PP, the company that operated the Pony Express, including employee records. Many people claimed to have ridden for the Pony Express, and the Wild West shows, dime novels, and early movies helped to embellish the already popular tales of this short lived, but colorful phenomenon of our country’s history.

El Dorado County Historical Museum
April, 2010

Post Offices of El Dorado County

Rubicon Springs
Prior to its settlement by Anglo-Americans the area which is now passed through by the Rubicon Trail was settled by Native Americans. The first recording of Anglo-Americans in the region was in 1844 when the Stevens-Townsend-Murphy Horseback Survey Party went through the Rubicon Valley. 23 years later in 1867 two brothers, George and John Hunsucker claimed 160 acres in the area as their home and are credited with discovering Rubicon Springs, natural soda springs.

The brothers began bottling the water and sending to surrounding areas and they were the first to build a bridge over the Rubicon River. Eventually they sold their property to Sierra Nevada Phillips who constructed a 16 room hotel at the location in 1889. The Rubicon Flyer, a four-horse stagecoach made regular trips over the trail to Rubicon Springs to bring visitors. In 1908 Ralph Cowell purchased the property. That same year enormous flash floods destroyed much of the trail. Cowell didn’t give up and he replaced the stagecoach with a new four-door Dodge horseless carriage specially equipped to handle the rough terrain of the trail. After Cowell died in 1926 the property changed hands several times and the hotel and surrounding buildings were allowed to fall into disrepair and eventually the land took them back. In 1985 the property was purchased by a group of private investors. The property is designated as an off road vehicle recreation area and natural timber preserve.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a small cabin-like building on the Rubicon 27 miles from Georgetown at 5,000 feet elevation. Little is known about its founder but he is believed to have been an African-American trapper and trader who settled in the area in the 1860s. He was well known and friendly to many hunters, prospectors, loggers and others in the area who would stop there as a welcoming gathering place. 60 years ago it was purchased by Irma Lawyer who, like “Tom”, welcomed people, especially offroaders. Today it is a small bar where the few locals gather and snow wheelers in the winter, offroaders in the summer, are welcome. Guests decorate dollar bills with names and dates and staple them to the walls and ceilings.

Offroading
Prior to World War II the Rubicon Trail was a partially well-maintained route from Georgetown to South Lake Tahoe. It was common for a traveler to see many other vehicles on the road. Over the years storms and floods eroded and changed the trail while new paved highways built made it easier and faster to travel to South Lake Tahoe via Placerville and highway 50. In 1953 the depressed economy of the once booming gold rush town of Georgetown prompted a group of locals led by Mark Smith to discuss the possibility of an annual jeep trek from Georgetown to South Lake Tahoe. The men made several scouting trips and took their idea to the Georgetown Rifle and Pistol Club and the Georgetown Divide Rotary Club who backed them 100%. The men worked hard to gain publicity for their event and although most jeeps in 1953 were old military machines and few citizens owned one, after the war, the company had developed the CJ series, Civilian Jeeps. In 1949 it came out with the first four-wheel drive. Kaiser bought the company in 1953 and made the popular CJ5 for the next 30 years. When Jeepers Jamboree kicked off on August 29, 1953, 55 vehicles and 155 people set out. It was a raging success. By 2011 there were 319 jeeps carrying 769 people. The Jeepers Jamboree is a 2–3-day event which hosts an overnight camp. It has been visited by numerous entertainers and celebrities including the Air Force Marching Band, two A-7 jets which flew over the Rubicon Meadows camp site at just 600 feet, and Piano Bob whose piano was helicoptered in.

The Jeepers Jamboree and Jeep Jamboree have adopted the “Tread Lightly” program which ensures that motorists stay to the jeep trail as well as clean up any spills or refuse. At the beginning of the trail “spillkits” and bags are provided to recreationists all summer for their use and to help ensure the integrity of the landscape. The El Dorado County Health Department has played an active role in the environmental safety and conservation of the trail area.

The Rubicon trail is technically open all year round, but often impassable in winter as it is buried in snow and ice. Vehicles must be heavily modified before attempting the trail and it is recommended that individuals interested only go with experienced off-road recreationists.

Georgetown, CA "Pride of the Mountains" 

Arriving with a party of prospectors from Oregon, a young man named Hudson is credited with discovering the rich diggings in Georgetown in the summer of 1849. It is said that Hudson dug out more than $20,000 in gold within a six-week period. Soon after, a company of sailors lead by George Phipps began working the stream at a spot below the present townsite where they uncovered rich placers and took out a fortune in gold.

The camp, known as Georgetown, got its name from George ... but which George? The sailor George Phipps or the popular miner George Ehrenhaft? At any rate, Georgetown received its name from a George! There were tents, shacks and canvas structures lining the camp creek. Prospects were great and the camp was booming. It continued to grow and prosper and then, in 1852, the tent city was totally destroyed by fire.

The fire didn't close down the camp ... instead the local folk set out immediately to rebuild their camp. They decided to make sure that they would never again lose their town to fire ... so they moved the townsite from the Empire Canyon to its present location today. The streets were much wider than before to keep any future fires from jumping. Many of the new buildings were made of brick and stone and also fitted with fireproof iron doors. When they were finished, Georgetown was a thriving and beautiful town. It quickly rose to prominence as one of the richer camps in the region and came to be known as the "Pride of the Mountains."

By 1855, this remote town didn't lack for any social or cultural institutions. A local school provided education, and the church took care of their need for religion. A town hall, Masonic Hall, Sons of Temperance Hall, and of course, several saloons and gambling halls, provided meeting places for the local folk. In addition, a theatre, three hotels, four restaurants, two meat markets, four blacksmiths, two jewelry stores, three drug stores, eight clothing stores, one tinshop, one soda factory, nine grocery stores, two banking establishments, two express companies, and one cigar store; all providing goods, services, and entertainment that made Georgetown a pleasant place to live in during the Gold Rush.

Today, a number of small communities (most dating back to the Gold Rush) dot the Georgetown Divide; Georgetown, Coloma, Cool, Garden Valley, Kelsey, Quintette, Greenwood, Pilot Hill, Lotus, Mosquito and Volcanoville.

Georgetown celebrates its colorful history at their "Founder's Day Parade" held each year in September.

Gold Hill
All that remains of the once bustling gold rush town of Gold Hill are the ruins of the Gold Hill Bar and its winery. Gold Hill, located atop an ancient river bed, is six miles northwest of Placerville. It was a “dry diggings”, which means it lacked sufficient water to washout the “paydirt”. In 1853 the Gold Hill Canal Company was formed to bring water in to the area for mining purposes. Although originally for mining, the canal helped establish Gold Hill as an agricultural area after the gold was depleted.

Japanese Colony
In 1869 the Wakamutsu Tea Colony was formed near Gold Hill by Eduard Schnell who had married the daughter of a Japanese Aizu Samurai. Schnell formed a colony of ex samurai, farmers and tradesmen escaping civil war in Japan on a 160 acre plot of land where they began a silk and tea plantation. Among the settlers was a young Japanese woman of 17, Ito Okei.

The colony encountered many problems including resentment from miners and others in the area primarily due to the amount of water the colony used. Bad harvests, unsuitable climate for production, and finally Schnell’s abandonment of his venture led to the disbandment of the colony. Some colonists returned to Japan and other left the region to seek their fortunes elsewhere in California. Two remained: Okei and Matsunosuke Sakurai went to live with a local family, the Veerkamps until his death in 1901 and is buried in the cemetery in Coloma. Okei worked as a nanny for the Veerkamps and died of Malarial fever in 1871 at aged 19. Before her death she requested that she be buried atop a hill from which she would look out and enjoy the view that reminded her of home. The Veerkamps honored her request. Her grave stone still marks her final resting place and the ranch house Okei lived in still stands today as part of the American River Conservancy. She is believed to be the first Japanese woman buried on American soil and the colony is also the only settlement of Samurai outside of Japan.

What remains of Gold Hill can be seen along Cold Springs Rd.

Located 27 miles southeast of Placerville, between the North and Middle Forks of the Consumnes River in a rough and wooded terrain, Grizzly Flats lies at 4,000 feet elevation.

The town was named by L.L. “Buck” Ramsey who arrived in 1850 to prospect for gold. While he and a couple other men set up camp in a springy marsh they encountered a grizzly bear.

The town grew quickly as gold was discovered and the first post office opened on August 31, 1855. While many men came for gold they stayed for “green gold” and Grizzly Flat was central to a prosperous logging industry. By 1857 there were two saw mills in operation. A schoolhouse, Mountain School, was constructed in 1858.

At its height Grizzly Flat boasted 5 stores and numerous hotels including the Oriental kept by a Mrs. Bond, Miner’s Home kept by a Mr. Watkins, the Grizzly Flat House and the Orleans Hotel which was advertised in the Mountain Democrat Newspaper in 1857: Guests “…will find the best accommodations at the Orleans Hotel. The house is new and well furnished, and the proprietors Misters Watkins and Tafton, are clever gentlemen and will spare no pains to make their guests comfortable and happy.”

In 1880 the town had a population of 837 persons: 683 "whites", 10 "negroes", 65 "Indians", and 79 "Chinamen".

Today the town of Grizzly Flat is a small mountain community. Only a few buildings from the boom time stand today.

Located 25 miles southeast of Placerville near the El Dorado-Amador county border, Indian Diggings was founded in 1850 by prospectors from Fiddletown who happened upon some Miwok Indians panning for gold in the nearby Telegraph River. By the end of that year there were over 50 cabins, a store, and a saloon/gambling house. In 1853 the first post office opened. The population reached 2,000 in 1855 and there were nine stores, five hotels and numerous saloons. That same year it vied with Placerville to become the county seat which it lost by only a few votes.

Indian Diggings had a dubious reputation. And many interesting if not violent anecdotes surround the history of the town. The colorful history was partly recorded by a series of correspondence from Indian Diggings which were published in the Weekly Ledger Newspaper, printed 23 miles away in Placerville, regarding news from the town. These were signed “Miner”. In another letter to a newspaper a miner who signed himself “Flat Broke” describes his visit to Indian Diggings and raves about the water system.

• An entire stretch of road known as “Whorehouse” gulch was ordered burned to the ground by Justice Jinkerson, hoping to somehow clear out the naughty night life.
• A Captain Cleghorn, a Civil War Veteran with mental challenges was revered by local Native Americans and when he died his ghost was seen many times by locals.
• The father of the Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stround lived in the town.
• In the summer of 1855 a man working on the Cedarville and Indian Creek ditches was caught in Nevada City after stealing the company’s money and another man’s wife. He gave back the money but kept the woman.
• In another situation, a man took another man’s wife to a travelling circus performance. Confronted by the angry husband the man shot the husband in the leg who survived but was crippled for life.
• Two miners arguing over a gambling game (ten pins) decided to settle it over pistol duel in the middle of the street. Unable to hit each other one of the men went back to his cabin for his rifle. Friends intervened and stopped the men.
• Dr. White killed two miners living on Cedar Creek when they tried to destroy his dam. News reached Placerville and Coroner Eckalroth and a man named Mike Welch left for Indian Diggings. Arriving at Bucks Bar on the river late at night, Welch was washed down the rapids and never seen again; his body was never recovered. Dr. White fled to Tennessee where, when the Civil War came, he lost his life there.

The ban on hydraulic mining spelled the end of Indian Diggings in the 1870s and today it is a very small community. Only a few buildings remain including the Indian Diggings schoolhouse.

The cemetery is located on the road before the town site which is on private property.

Seven miles northwest of Placerville on what is now Highway 193 is the town of Kelsey. Founded by pioneer Benjamin Kelsey it was one of the first towns established during the Gold Rush. Benjamin Kelsey had left Independence, Missouri on May 8, 1841 and crossed the continent to California. He worked for a time for John Sutter at Sutter’s Fort until he went to Oregon in 1843. At the news of the gold discovery Kelsey and his family moved back to California and were among the first to begin seeking their fortunes in the gold fields. Kelsey’s wife Nancy, who was 18 at the time, and their baby daughter, were the first Anglo-American women to cross into California.

During its heyday Kelsey boasted six hotels, twelve stores, twenty-four saloons and gambling houses, and served the camps of Louisville, Irish Creek, Elizatown, Fleatown, and numerous flats such as Yankee, Chicken, Stag American, Spanish, Union, and Columbia. The Black Oak mine alone produced $1.25 million in gold before it ceased operation in the late 1800s.

It was to Kelsey that James Marshall fled for his life when he was threatened by miners in Coloma for defending his Nisenan friends from vigilantes. When he moved back to the Motherlode region years later it was in Kelsey where he settled, opening a Blacksmith’s shop. It was to be his last home.

Today only a few buildings and foundations remain of the once booming town. Marshall’s shop was used for a time as a museum and then allowed to fall into disrepair. Mining was conducted in the area until the 1960s.

Probably one of the most forgotten places in El Dorado County, relatively little is known about Logtown, also called Empire City, and only a few foundations remain of what may have been a once thriving community. Located 3 miles south of El Dorado on highway 49, archaeologists have recently uncovered various objects from the 1800s including mining tools and machinery and a blacksmith’s shop.

A small cemetery located nearby marks the graves of a handful of young men who died of cholera, but the location of the town's other residents remains a mystery. The Empire Mine was known to be active in 1856 and later the Pocohantas mine was active in the 1870s.

Mormon Island, Salmon Falls, and numerous small mining camp sites and flats were submerged underwater when Folsom Dam created Folsom Lake in 1955. At low water the remains of these towns can sometimes be seen, though very rarely.

Visible remnants of numerous foundations and artifacts include a dairy, a winery, tailings from mining operations, and the Natoma Ditch, constructed in 1851 to bring water to the dry diggings.