September 16, 1949 (8 pages)

—— setetetes GHOST TOWNS OF THE ° COUNTY FEATURED IN P G & E PUBLICATION TOM ereoeinemieieieieien, MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR he. was serving there with Gen-. eral Winfield Scott’s army. The word “North” was added a few years later to distinguish it from San Juan in San Benito county. The town quickly became the metropolis of the Ridge and at its peak, in the early 80’s, had a population of several thousand. It was noted for its numerous brick buildings and some of them still stand. One, a two-story structure f with arched brick ‘doorways, is a monument to the community’s' past greatness; its second floor once housed the offices of several hydraulic mining companies. But there’s not much else to recall the “good old days”’—not much, that is, except the great chasms that were washed out. AR 2 4OHH s%es%es%eatea% % eecS Hey By Roberta Stuart Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wilson and son, Richard, Long Beach, were recent callers at the North San Juan home of Mr. and Mrs. The following article is from Waid Oden. They were enroute the current: issue of the P. G. & to Klamath Falls, Ore. E. Progress, and presents the 25th Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Bean and * and final article of a series about son, Russell, San Francisco, are historic cities and towns of CalBy Clayre S. Lipman spen ting a few. weeks at their. ifornia. Much of the material for summer home in French Corral. a this article was furnished by H. esheets North San Juan Ridge Water Oe et ee ae tc a oe P. Davis, Nevada City’s famous+ association will meet Sunday. . author, historian and mining enTONY LAVEZZOLA Miss Henrietta Toothaker, gineer. Toss a gold specimen in the yellow stuff from his shirt pocket Woodland, Grand President of the Native Daughters of the Golpalm of your hand, and chances and claimed he found it along North San Juan, North Bloomden West, will visit Columbia are good smiling Tony Lavezzola, the way . “old Don stumbled field, North Columbia, Tyler, Parlor in French Corral Wedneslicensed gold buyer, will pop out on it. Maybe he’ll stumble again, Moore’s Flat, Rough and Ready of nowhere and make a bid for day afternoon. i going home. Isn’t. an autombile have several historical features in Columbia Parler is planning It. uae common. All sprang into existnow, is Tony’s mother came to Downiemade will do that, card party and play for Saturday, ence during California’s “days of Oct. 1, at the French Corral ville from Virginia City in ’69— there?” gold”; all enjoyed a few decades by muleback . met and married schoolhouse. Nothing like a bit of the glitofthe giddy whirl of quick and his father there. Tony was born tering metal to make his eyes easy riches; all declined about: as Jennie Lamson, . daughter of in ’81, and has spent most of his shine . old Pete Flowers, ownrapidly as they had mushroomed. Mr. and Mrs. David Lamson, and life in the high Sierras. er of the Dreadnaught up that Besides, all’ but one of them deWent into the hotel business salutatorian of the 1949 class at way, showed: him a_ beautiful clined, and some almost disap: ‘. piece .he’d found in the grassNevada City high school, ieft for and did all right with it peared, with vast fortunes in gold Portland, Ore., where she has enowned and managed the St. roots. Tony hefted it with:a farstill--at their fingertips—a _ total rolled in undergraduate studies Charles Hotel in Downieville. away expression, and then told estimated by experts at $400,000,it burned down two years after at Reed college. the weight within a very small 000. The exception is Rough and he sold it». . . amiable, fast-talkmargin + . one ounce;-nine Ready, which reverted to a hamout and most of the population ing, energetic Tony is honorary pennyweight . “Give you forty let for the simeple reason that its moved away. five dollars for it. Peté.” but lands were mined out. * Rough and Ready is_ best e. Pete wouldn’t sell. known historically as the town These communities, all but Tony has been collecting specithat in April, 1850, seceded from Rough and Ready, were doomed men gold for 35 years . .« now the United States and set itself in their heyday because. they has 74 pieces totalling 50 ounces. up as an independent nation. * were hydraulic mining centers— You may have seen his collection According to one version, Joe and hydraulicking’ was stopped . it was on display. in Penney’s Sweigart, a member of the Rough by the Anti-Debris Act of 1883 window during the 4th of July and Ready company, made a deal and a court injunction issued the celebration at Grass Valley this with a Massachusetts ‘Yankee” following year. Located on the fayear . valued at over $6000. to work a new claim. The “Yanbulous San Juan ridge, the scene Theresa Tomola, native of kee” was to dig the plot one day SCORES AT STATE FAIR of some of the world’s most specPiedmont, Italy, is the girl Tony and, if he got $200 worth of gold tacular hydraulic mining, they married . théir.son, Peter A. Pictured above is the Nevada county booth at the California state rose and fell with that industry. fair last week. L. G. Lageson, county agricultural commissioner, or more, he was to give it to Joe, is with the Sierra Road Departbut if he got less, he could keep San Juan ridge, between the prepared the display from $1,500 of county funds, and won $1400 ment . . daughter Betty Lou it. He dug up $180 in three hours South and Middle Forks of the in prizes from the various exhibits. Paintings forming the backand husband, Thomas W. Vilas, and then quit and kept the Yuba river, represents wondrous drop are the work of Robert Gilberg. operate a Downieville hardware “haul.” He insisted that he hadn’t geological transformations. Along business their youngster agreed to work an entire day. it runs anancient river channel, pay and that it produced in exafter July, 1852, when the Grizzmakes Tony one of the peppiest Joe called a meeting of the in which, many millions of years cess of $5,000,000 before the shutley Ditch company brought in grandfathers in these mountains leading citizens and nearly all of ago, gold bearing gravel was dedown. Engineers have estimated . . . Sister-in-law, Mrs. Cota, has them were strong for running the posited to a depth of about 500 that there is at least $35,000,000 water and commenced hydrauldistributed mail in the Downie“slicker” out of town. But somemayor of that town, and no ville P. O. for 23 years . feet. A violent upheaval tilted the worth of gold in the unworked icking. Then the place grew rapone questioned their right to do wonder . Tony konws everyentire region and moved the anportions of the property. idly in size and importance, but, Right now he’s lagging timber that to an American citizen who body, and everybody knows Tony for the Brush Creek mine cient channel to the top of the p like its neighbors, it didn’t last What’s left of the town nestles hadn’t committed any crime. So . . he has friends all over the the big event of his year is putridge, with the auriferous gravel almost at the brink of the vast long after 1884. Just north of the at the suggestion of a spe?lbinder WOKE 0; scattered throughout the hills. ting on a bang-up 4th of July hydraulic canyon. townsite is the old Badger Hill they voted unanimously to secede He doesn’t care much for aucelebration . . . and he’s the boy Only by hydraulicking could and organize the Independent North Columbia was started in tomobiles or modern highways with the drive to do it, too. this gold be profitably mined and October, 1853, by W. L. Tysdale, mine, a famous producer. Republic of Rough and Ready. E. . . : showed up at Alleghany’s hobby is playing poker . . Moore’s Flat developed’ from a F. Brundage was elected ‘presifrom the 50’s to the early 80’s who took up a mining claim and homecoming festival a few weeks claims he’s no good at it :. but seed planted in 1852 by H. M. scores of companies washed down erected a cabin. Others followed dent and he immediately banago . rather than drive the twinkles when he says that. miles upon miles of hillsides with him and soon there was a goodMoore, who drove a herd of. cattle ished the “Yankee.” 17 miles by pavement, he saddled moral: don’t sit in’ when T. Laacross the plains and settled there powerful jets of water cannonsized settlement. Its business secA few months later, in time for 19-year-old Don and took off vezzola is at the table . . though aded from huge monitors. To protion was launched in 1855, when with the idea of ranching. But he the July Fourth celebration, the cross-country for the event. Came you can always count on a couple gave s av up that plan and went citizens voted to dissolve their vide the necessary water, the mi@ man named Fleming opened a soon through the site of the old City into mining. ners built reservoirs high in the store. “republic” and return to. the of Six and enjoyed every minute of extra bucks if the going gets tough . Tony will surely offer Sierra and remarkable systems of Moore’s Flat grew up twice. . Union. of his ride. Pulled a hunk of the! you that much for your fillings ! During the hydraulic mining canals and flumes. And, as a redays, according to Olaf Jenkins, The original community wasjsult of mergers through the years, chief of the state division of practically wiped out by fire in some of those'old reservoirs and mines, approximately 25,000,000: 1869 and another was built up on canals have become units of the cubic. yards were washed from a new site about a mile and a P. G. & E.’s network of waterthe hillsides around North Cohalf from the old. By 1880 the ways. Three companies were outlumbia and only about 15 percent second town had three hotels, a standing for the immensity of; ot the area’s gravel reserves had bank, half a dozen stores and their operations and the extent been removed when operations many fine homes. But after 1884 of their facilities—the Eureka were stopped in 1884. The greatit faded out of the picture and Lake and Yuba Canal company, est producer on that part of the now is merely a name on road with 200 miles of'conduits; Milton ridge was the mine of the Eureka maps. Mining and Water company, with Lake and South’ Yuba Canal comRough and Ready was estab80 miles; North Bloomfield Minpany. lished in September, 1849, by a ing company, with 43 miles. : The once thriving town of group of men calling themselves To obtain maximum efficiency North Columbia has almost disthe Rough and Ready company, in the operation of the reservoirs appeared. Perhaps that fate was in honor of General Zachary Tayand canals, these three companies foreseen by the Nevada County lor—“Old Rough and Ready’— jointly built in 1878 the first long Directory in 1895 when it pubthe hero of the Mexican war. So distance telephone line in the lished this understatement: it’s plain to see how the place got world. It extended 60 miles from “Since the suppression of hyits name. French Corral and had connecdraulic mining North Columbia The first arrivals found “gold tions at North San Juan, Tyler, has assumed a very quiet aspect.” all around in fabulous quantities” North Columbia, North BloomTyler also was known as Cher-. and many of them made as much field, Moore’s Flat, Graniteville, okee because some Indians of! as $600 per day apiece. News of Milton and Bowman Lake. that tribe began mining there in. such clean-ups brought an inrush North San Juan, about 15 miles 1850. The first house built by. of miners and the place mushfrom Nevada City, was founded white men was erected in 1851,) roomed into a big bustling town. in 1853 by Christian Kientz, an but settlers gathered slowly untiY But in the 60’s the gold petered immigrant of German ancestry. He named it. San Juan, because * the terrain resembled an area in' Mexico that caught his eye while *ies pe ah EER sy HUNTERS How Janie helps herself to better service we Answering promp 'y—giving others a full minute to answer hér call—are first on Janie’s list of aids to service. Attention ALL KINDS OF North Bloomfield dates from, the winter of 1850, when two' Irishmen and a German discovered rich gravel along a creek in the area. At first both the creek and the camp were called Humbug—because, one of the Irishmen went to Nevada City for supplies, drank too much and boasted of the “strike.” Several men followed him back, panned @ little at various spots and, failing to find “good pay dirt,” applied the name Humbug and left. The town was rechristened North Bloomfield when it applied for a post office, but the creek still bears the original name. Hydraulie operations began in 1853 and thereafter the town grew until it had a ‘population of about 2,000. North Bloomfield gained wide renown as ‘the location of the largest hydraulic mine in the world—the Malakoff. Reports say ; that more than $3,000,000 was ex pended on it before it began to ' LICENSES and DEER TAGS COLFAX FRUIT GROWERS CO. EVERYTHING FOR THE FARM AND GARDEN Grass Valley, Phone . 57 Colfax, Phone 12 1. ‘‘Allowing a little time between calls,”’ says Janie, “gives others a chance to call me. and it’s a nice party-line courtesy, too.” So when she’s getting the gang together for a picnic, or for any reason needs to make calls in a row, she waits several minutes between each one. “It’s simple to make friends with others on our line. I just use the telephone the way I like them to.” 3. Getting the most from the telephone—and helping others get better service—depends in part on every telephone user. Facilities have doubled in the West in ten years. Your telephone 2. Looking up numbers, Janie knows, is really important. ‘So easy to get them mixed up,” she explains. “Why, I was just sure Babs’ numb er was 8145. but when I called her I got the drug store. Turned out her number was 8415 less I’m really sure of a number, I’m , So ungoing to look it up in the telephone book.” That’s a goo tip for all of us—teen-agers and grow n-ups. is today one of your most valuable servants . . . saving time, saving steps. And it still does its job for just a few pennies a call. ~ the Pacific Telephone \ and Telegraph Company e d

—— setetetes GHOST TOWNS OF THE ° COUNTY FEATURED IN P G & E PUBLICATION TOM ereoeinemieieieieien, MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR he. was serving there with Gen-. eral Winfield Scott’s army. The word “North” was added a few years later to distinguish it from San Juan in San Benito county. The town quickly became the metropolis of the Ridge and at its peak, in the early 80’s, had a population of several thousand. It was noted for its numerous brick buildings and some of them still stand. One, a two-story structure f with arched brick ‘doorways, is a monument to the community’s' past greatness; its second floor once housed the offices of several hydraulic mining companies. But there’s not much else to recall the “good old days”’—not much, that is, except the great chasms that were washed out. AR 2 4OHH s%es%es%eatea% % eecS Hey By Roberta Stuart Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wilson and son, Richard, Long Beach, were recent callers at the North San Juan home of Mr. and Mrs. The following article is from Waid Oden. They were enroute the current: issue of the P. G. & to Klamath Falls, Ore. E. Progress, and presents the 25th Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Bean and * and final article of a series about son, Russell, San Francisco, are historic cities and towns of CalBy Clayre S. Lipman spen ting a few. weeks at their. ifornia. Much of the material for summer home in French Corral. a this article was furnished by H. esheets North San Juan Ridge Water Oe et ee ae tc a oe P. Davis, Nevada City’s famous+ association will meet Sunday. . author, historian and mining enTONY LAVEZZOLA Miss Henrietta Toothaker, gineer. Toss a gold specimen in the yellow stuff from his shirt pocket Woodland, Grand President of the Native Daughters of the Golpalm of your hand, and chances and claimed he found it along North San Juan, North Bloomden West, will visit Columbia are good smiling Tony Lavezzola, the way .. “old Don stumbled field, North Columbia, Tyler, Parlor in French Corral Wedneslicensed gold buyer, will pop out on it. Maybe he’ll stumble again, Moore’s Flat, Rough and Ready of nowhere and make a bid for day afternoon. i going home. Isn’t. an autombile have several historical features in Columbia Parler is planning It. uae common. All sprang into existnow, is Tony’s mother came to Downiemade will do that, card party and play for Saturday, ence during California’s “days of Oct. 1, at the French Corral ville from Virginia City in ’69— there?” gold”; all enjoyed a few decades by muleback .. met and married schoolhouse. Nothing like a bit of the glitofthe giddy whirl of quick and his father there. Tony was born tering metal to make his eyes easy riches; all declined about: as Jennie Lamson, . daughter of in ’81, and has spent most of his shine .. old Pete Flowers, ownrapidly as they had mushroomed. Mr. and Mrs. David Lamson, and life in the high Sierras. er of the Dreadnaught up that Besides, all’ but one of them deWent into the hotel business salutatorian of the 1949 class at way, showed: him a_ beautiful clined, and some almost disap: ‘. piece .he’d found in the grassNevada City high school, ieft for and did all right with it peared, with vast fortunes in gold Portland, Ore., where she has enowned and managed the St. roots. Tony hefted it with:a farstill--at their fingertips—a _ total rolled in undergraduate studies Charles Hotel in Downieville.. away expression, and then told estimated by experts at $400,000,it burned down two years after at Reed college. the weight within a very small 000. The exception is Rough and he sold it». . . amiable, fast-talkmargin + . one ounce;-nine Ready, which reverted to a hamout and most of the population ing, energetic Tony is honorary pennyweight .. “Give you forty let for the simeple reason that its moved away. five dollars for it. Peté..” but lands were mined out. * Rough and Ready is_ best e. Pete wouldn’t sell.. known historically as the town These communities, all but Tony has been collecting specithat in April, 1850, seceded from Rough and Ready, were doomed men gold for 35 years . .« now the United States and set itself in their heyday because. they has 74 pieces totalling 50 ounces. up as an independent nation. * were hydraulic mining centers— You may have seen his collection According to one version, Joe and hydraulicking’ was stopped . it was on display. in Penney’s Sweigart, a member of the Rough by the Anti-Debris Act of 1883 window during the 4th of July and Ready company, made a deal and a court injunction issued the celebration at Grass Valley this with a Massachusetts ‘Yankee” following year. Located on the fayear .. valued at over $6000. to work a new claim. The “Yanbulous San Juan ridge, the scene Theresa Tomola, native of kee” was to dig the plot one day SCORES AT STATE FAIR of some of the world’s most specPiedmont, Italy, is the girl Tony and, if he got $200 worth of gold tacular hydraulic mining, they married .. théir.son, Peter A. Pictured above is the Nevada county booth at the California state rose and fell with that industry. fair last week. L. G. Lageson, county agricultural commissioner, or more, he was to give it to Joe, is with the Sierra Road Departbut if he got less, he could keep San Juan ridge, between the prepared the display from $1,500 of county funds, and won $1400 ment . . daughter Betty Lou it. He dug up $180 in three hours South and Middle Forks of the in prizes from the various exhibits. Paintings forming the backand husband, Thomas W. Vilas, and then quit and kept the Yuba river, represents wondrous drop are the work of Robert Gilberg. operate a Downieville hardware “haul.” He insisted that he hadn’t geological transformations. Along business their youngster agreed to work an entire day. it runs anancient river channel, pay and that it produced in exafter July, 1852, when the Grizzmakes Tony one of the peppiest Joe called a meeting of the in which, many millions of years cess of $5,000,000 before the shutley Ditch company brought in grandfathers in these mountains leading citizens and nearly all of ago, gold bearing gravel was dedown. Engineers have estimated . . . Sister-in-law, Mrs. Cota, has them were strong for running the posited to a depth of about 500 that there is at least $35,000,000 water and commenced hydrauldistributed mail in the Downie“slicker” out of town. But somemayor of that town, and no ville P. O. for 23 years . feet. A violent upheaval tilted the worth of gold in the unworked icking. Then the place grew rapone questioned their right to do

wonder .. Tony konws everyentire region and moved the anportions of the property. idly in size and importance, but, Right now he’s lagging timber that to an American citizen who body, and everybody knows Tony for the Brush Creek mine cient channel to the top of the p like its neighbors, it didn’t last What’s left of the town nestles hadn’t committed any crime. So . . he has friends all over the the big event of his year is putridge, with the auriferous gravel almost at the brink of the vast long after 1884. Just north of the at the suggestion of a spe?lbinder WOKE 0; scattered throughout the hills. ting on a bang-up 4th of July hydraulic canyon. townsite is the old Badger Hill they voted unanimously to secede He doesn’t care much for aucelebration . . . and he’s the boy Only by hydraulicking could and organize the Independent North Columbia was started in tomobiles or modern highways with the drive to do it, too.. this gold be profitably mined and October, 1853, by W. L. Tysdale, mine, a famous producer. Republic of Rough and Ready. E. . . : showed up at Alleghany’s hobby is playing poker . . Moore’s Flat developed’ from a F. Brundage was elected ‘presifrom the 50’s to the early 80’s who took up a mining claim and homecoming festival a few weeks claims he’s no good at it :. but seed planted in 1852 by H. M. scores of companies washed down erected a cabin. Others followed dent and he immediately banago . rather than drive the twinkles when he says that.. miles upon miles of hillsides with him and soon there was a goodMoore, who drove a herd of. cattle ished the “Yankee.” 17 miles by pavement, he saddled moral: don’t sit in’ when T. Laacross the plains and settled there powerful jets of water cannonsized settlement. Its business secA few months later, in time for 19-year-old Don and took off vezzola is at the table . . though aded from huge monitors. To protion was launched in 1855, when with the idea of ranching. But he the July Fourth celebration, the cross-country for the event. Came you can always count on a couple gave s av up that plan and went citizens voted to dissolve their vide the necessary water, the mi@ man named Fleming opened a soon through the site of the old City into mining. ners built reservoirs high in the store. “republic” and return to. the of Six and enjoyed every minute of extra bucks if the going gets tough .. Tony will surely offer Sierra and remarkable systems of Moore’s Flat grew up twice. . Union. of his ride. Pulled a hunk of the! you that much for your fillings ! During the hydraulic mining canals and flumes. And, as a redays, according to Olaf Jenkins, The original community wasjsult of mergers through the years, chief of the state division of practically wiped out by fire in some of those'old reservoirs and mines, approximately 25,000,000: 1869 and another was built up on canals have become units of the cubic. yards were washed from a new site about a mile and a P. G. & E.’s network of waterthe hillsides around North Cohalf from the old. By 1880 the ways. Three companies were outlumbia and only about 15 percent second town had three hotels, a standing for the immensity of; ot the area’s gravel reserves had bank, half a dozen stores and their operations and the extent been removed when operations many fine homes. But after 1884 of their facilities—the Eureka were stopped in 1884. The greatit faded out of the picture and Lake and Yuba Canal company, est producer on that part of the now is merely a name on road with 200 miles of'conduits; Milton ridge was the mine of the Eureka maps. Mining and Water company, with Lake and South’ Yuba Canal comRough and Ready was estab80 miles; North Bloomfield Minpany. lished in September, 1849, by a ing company, with 43 miles. : The once thriving town of group of men calling themselves To obtain maximum efficiency North Columbia has almost disthe Rough and Ready company, in the operation of the reservoirs appeared. Perhaps that fate was in honor of General Zachary Tayand canals, these three companies foreseen by the Nevada County lor—“Old Rough and Ready’— jointly built in 1878 the first long Directory in 1895 when it pubthe hero of the Mexican war. So distance telephone line in the lished this understatement: it’s plain to see how the place got world. It extended 60 miles from “Since the suppression of hyits name. French Corral and had connecdraulic mining North Columbia The first arrivals found “gold tions at North San Juan, Tyler, has assumed a very quiet aspect.” all around in fabulous quantities” North Columbia, North BloomTyler also was known as Cher-. and many of them made as much field, Moore’s Flat, Graniteville, okee because some Indians of! as $600 per day apiece. News of Milton and Bowman Lake. that tribe began mining there in. such clean-ups brought an inrush North San Juan, about 15 miles 1850. The first house built by. of miners and the place mushfrom Nevada City, was founded white men was erected in 1851,) roomed into a big bustling town. in 1853 by Christian Kientz, an but settlers gathered slowly untiY But in the 60’s the gold petered immigrant of German ancestry. He named it. San Juan, because * the terrain resembled an area in' Mexico that caught his eye while *ies pe ah EER sy HUNTERS How Janie helps herself to better service we Answering promp 'y—giving others a full minute to answer hér call—are first on Janie’s list of aids to service. Attention ALL KINDS OF North Bloomfield dates from, the winter of 1850, when two' Irishmen and a German discovered rich gravel along a creek in the area. At first both the creek and the camp were called Humbug—because, one of the Irishmen went to Nevada City for supplies, drank too much and boasted of the “strike.” Several men followed him back, panned @ little at various spots and, failing to find “good pay dirt,” applied the name Humbug and left. The town was rechristened North Bloomfield when it applied for a post office, but the creek still bears the original name. Hydraulie operations began in 1853 and thereafter the town grew until it had a ‘population of about 2,000. North Bloomfield gained wide renown as ‘the location of the largest hydraulic mine in the world—the Malakoff. Reports say ; that more than $3,000,000 was ex pended on it before it began to ' LICENSES and DEER TAGS COLFAX FRUIT GROWERS CO. EVERYTHING FOR THE FARM AND GARDEN Grass Valley, Phone . 57 Colfax, Phone 12 1. ‘‘Allowing a little time between calls,”’ says Janie, “gives others a chance to call me.. and it’s a nice party-line courtesy, too.” So when she’s getting the gang together for a picnic, or for any reason needs to make calls in a row, she waits several minutes between each one. “It’s simple to make friends with others on our line. I just use the telephone the way I like them to.” 3. Getting the most from the telephone—and helping others get better service—depends in part on every telephone user. Facilities have doubled in the West in ten years. Your telephone 2. Looking up numbers, Janie knows, is really important. ‘So easy to get them mixed up,” she explains. “Why, I was just sure Babs’ numb er was 8145.. but when I called her I got the drug store. Turned out her number was 8415 less I’m really sure of a number, I’m , So ungoing to look it up in the telephone book.” That’s a goo tip for all of us—teen-agers and grow n-ups. is today one of your most valuable servants . . . saving time, saving steps. And it still does its job for just a few pennies a call. ~ the Pacific Telephone \ and Telegraph Company e d