Nevada County Mining Review (622.342.NEV)(1895) (158 pages)

NEVADA ~—7 COUNTY MINING then, what a change! Grass Valley at once forged to the front as a quartz mining camp and she has held it eversince. Quartz mining is today one of the great industries of California, and Nevada County offers exceptional advantages as a place of investment for the capitalist. The quartz veins in the Nevada City and Grass Valley districts have been proven to reach great depths and their productiveness is not impaired by depth; but, on the contrary, asin the cases of the Idaho, Providence, North Star and other mines, it has been demonstrated by actual workings that the value REVIEW of 1849), by Benj. Taylor, Dr. Saunders, Captain Broughton and sons, and Boston Rayine by the Boston Company. The first white man who gazed upon the beautiful Truckee river with its leaping trout, was Stephen H. Meek, who claims to have set his traps on the banks of that stream in 1833. The Spaniards explored the Bear and Yuba rivers for some distance in 1822, but knew little of their sources. The fall of-1849 was an eventful one for Nevada County. During that time Dr. Caldwell built the first store on the present site of Nevada of the quartz has increased, rather than diminished. City, the Holt brothers and Judge Walsh built sawmills about four miles California was credited with being a country of precious metals as far back as 1579, when the historian of Sir Francis Drake’s expedition south of Grass Valley, and in speaking of this time one of the old histories remarks: ‘‘ During the fall of '49, miners spread themselves stated: ‘* There is no portion of the earth wherein there is not a reasonable part of gold.’”’ But how Sir Francis or any of his men learned this some of the principal tributaries of those streams. truthful fact we are not told. Hundreds of years after this, or in 1802, silver was discovered at Alizal, Monterey County, and the mines worked fall, who departed when winter set in, with the intention of returning in: the early spring. Others, hundreds of them, spent the winter in the for a short time. mountains, eagerly waiting for the return of spring, to open to them the treasure vaults of the earth. Here and there they were scattered; all along the winding streams could be seen the smoke from their little cabins mingling with the clouds, but no thought was there of building a city or even a small hamlet; all were miners, intent on digging wealth from the ground, and not in bartering commodities; yet they were laying the foundations of towns, proving the richness of localities and pointing Gold was also found in San Diego County by the Spaniards, in 1828; but Alexander Forbes, in his history of California, which was published in 1835, says that no important discoveries of gold had been made up to that time (1835). It was reserved for James Marshall, in January, 1848, to make the discovery which startled the world. The newspapers published at San Francisco, then known as the village of Yerba Buena, doubted the first news of the discovery, and it was not until April, 1848, or three months after Marshall's find, that the papers gave any credence to the story of the discovery and published the facts. But all the residents of Yerba Buena were not as sleepy asits papers, and many of them had reached the mines long before the news of the discovery was put in ‘‘ cold type.” The first settlement in Nevada County was made by John Rose, who located above Smartsyille, and directly north of Timbuctoo, at what became known as Rose Bar on the Yuba river in the spring of 1848, Mr. Rose is the oldest continuous resident among the pioneers in the State today, having resided here since 1838, and never having been out of the State since thattime. He first came here in 1835, when he was a ship carpenter on board a trading vessel. Mr. Rose also built a corral in Pleasant Valley in the early part of 1849, between the Anthony House and Bridgeport. Later in that year Mr. Rose built an adobe house, and established a trading post in the valley on the hill, near where Nevada Hartung’s house now stands. Soon after Rose established his trading post a gentleman from Oregon, named Findlay, opened a trading post ou Bear river, near where Greenhorn creek empties into that stream, and David Bovyer opened a store at White Oak Springs, in Rough and Ready township. Badger Hill, in Grass Valley, was settled at this time (the fall along the Middle and South Yubas, Dear creek, Bear river, and along Many came in the out to the merchant soon to follow, the places most favorable for business. With no thought of a town, they still were the ones who settled the location of the future business points. Little realizing what was to follow them, they were the pioneers of the thousands that have worked in the -inexhaustible mines of Nevada County.’’ Nevada County was, until April 25, 1851, a part of the County of Yuba. The Legislature of 1851 passed an act re-dividing the counties of the State, and Nevada was given its present boundaries. Nevada City was chosen as the county seat, and the first county election was held on the fourth Monday in May, 1851, resulting in the election of the following officers: County Judge, Thomas H. Caswell; District Attorney, John R. McConnell; Clerk, Theodore Miller; Sheriff, John Gallagher; Surveyor, Charles Marsh ; Treasurer, H. C. Hodge; Assessor, T. G. Williams. The population of the county increased as if by magic, and a Frenchman, who visited the county in 1851, remarked upon first seeing Nevada City, that it was a veritable ‘‘mushroom” city, so numerous were the white tents of the miners which dotted the hillsides. The State census of 1852, taken less than one year after the organization of the first town, gave Nevada County a population of 21,365, including 3,226 Indians, and 3,886 Chinese. In 1856 the population was.

NEVADA ~—7 COUNTY MINING then, what a change! Grass Valley at once forged to the front as a quartz mining camp and she has held it eversince. Quartz mining is today one of the great industries of California, and Nevada County offers exceptional advantages as a place of investment for the capitalist. The quartz veins in the Nevada City and Grass Valley districts have been proven to reach great depths and their productiveness is not impaired by depth; but, on the contrary, asin the cases of the Idaho, Providence, North Star and other mines, it has been demonstrated by actual workings that the value REVIEW of 1849), by Benj. Taylor, Dr. Saunders, Captain Broughton and sons, and Boston Rayine by the Boston Company. The first white man who gazed upon the beautiful Truckee river with its leaping trout, was Stephen H. Meek, who claims to have set his traps on the banks of that stream in 1833. The Spaniards explored the Bear and Yuba rivers for some distance in 1822, but knew little of their sources. The fall of-1849 was an eventful one for Nevada County. During that time Dr. Caldwell built the first store on the present site of Nevada of the quartz has increased, rather than diminished. City, the Holt brothers and Judge Walsh built sawmills about four miles California was credited with being a country of precious metals as far back as 1579, when the historian of Sir Francis Drake’s expedition south of Grass Valley, and in speaking of this time one of the old histories remarks: ‘‘ During the fall of '49, miners spread themselves stated: ‘* There is no portion of the earth wherein there is not a reasonable part of gold.’”’ But how Sir Francis or any of his men learned this some of the principal tributaries of those streams. truthful fact we are not told. Hundreds of years after this, or in 1802, silver was discovered at Alizal, Monterey County, and the mines worked fall, who departed when winter set in, with the intention of returning in: the early spring. Others, hundreds of them, spent the winter in the for a short time. mountains, eagerly waiting for the return of spring, to open to them the treasure vaults of the earth. Here and there they were scattered; all along the winding streams could be seen the smoke from their little cabins mingling with the clouds, but no thought was there of building a city or even a small hamlet; all were miners, intent on digging wealth from the ground, and not in bartering commodities; yet they were laying the foundations of towns, proving the richness of localities and pointing Gold was also found in San Diego County by the

Spaniards, in 1828; but Alexander Forbes, in his history of California, which was published in 1835, says that no important discoveries of gold had been made up to that time (1835). It was reserved for James Marshall, in January, 1848, to make the discovery which startled the world. The newspapers published at San Francisco, then known as the village of Yerba Buena, doubted the first news of the discovery, and it was not until April, 1848, or three months after Marshall's find, that the papers gave any credence to the story of the discovery and published the facts. But all the residents of Yerba Buena were not as sleepy asits papers, and many of them had reached the mines long before the news of the discovery was put in ‘‘ cold type.” The first settlement in Nevada County was made by John Rose, who located above Smartsyille, and directly north of Timbuctoo, at what became known as Rose Bar on the Yuba river in the spring of 1848, Mr. Rose is the oldest continuous resident among the pioneers in the State today, having resided here since 1838, and never having been out of the State since thattime. He first came here in 1835, when he was a ship carpenter on board a trading vessel. Mr. Rose also built a corral in Pleasant Valley in the early part of 1849, between the Anthony House and Bridgeport. Later in that year Mr. Rose built an adobe house, and established a trading post in the valley on the hill, near where Nevada Hartung’s house now stands. Soon after Rose established his trading post a gentleman from Oregon, named Findlay, opened a trading post ou Bear river, near where Greenhorn creek empties into that stream, and David Bovyer opened a store at White Oak Springs, in Rough and Ready township. Badger Hill, in Grass Valley, was settled at this time (the fall along the Middle and South Yubas, Dear creek, Bear river, and along Many came in the out to the merchant soon to follow, the places most favorable for business. With no thought of a town, they still were the ones who settled the location of the future business points. Little realizing what was to follow them, they were the pioneers of the thousands that have worked in the -inexhaustible mines of Nevada County.’’ Nevada County was, until April 25, 1851, a part of the County of Yuba. The Legislature of 1851 passed an act re-dividing the counties of the State, and Nevada was given its present boundaries. Nevada City was chosen as the county seat, and the first county election was held on the fourth Monday in May, 1851, resulting in the election of the following officers: County Judge, Thomas H. Caswell; District Attorney, John R. McConnell; Clerk, Theodore Miller; Sheriff, John Gallagher; Surveyor, Charles Marsh ; Treasurer, H. C. Hodge; Assessor, T. G. Williams. The population of the county increased as if by magic, and a Frenchman, who visited the county in 1851, remarked upon first seeing Nevada City, that it was a veritable ‘‘mushroom” city, so numerous were the white tents of the miners which dotted the hillsides. The State census of 1852, taken less than one year after the organization of the first town, gave Nevada County a population of 21,365, including 3,226 Indians, and 3,886 Chinese. In 1856 the population was.