Volume 011-2 - November 1957 (2 pages)

25, 1860, Postmaster Black made a contract with the California Stage to carry the mail, daily, from the Empire Ranch post office to Carrol and Sweetland. A building was, erected in 1855 which served as a hotel. In 1876 this hotel was given to the town to replace the schoolhouse that had burned down. The upper story was removed and the building remodeled for a school. The ladies of the town made cakes and pies and sold them to pay for a belfry and money enough to have a bell made. The Meeny Bell Foundry of New York cast a bell with two hundred silver dollars in it, and the ladies paid $121 for shipping it to French Corral. This bell is called the Silver Bell and has an unusually sweet tone. This school was closed in 1942. Many years after 1876, the same community spirit was shown in 1950. The old schoolhouse was put up for auction by the county instead of returning it to the community. On the day of the auction, the bidding was keen to secure the building and its famcus bell. An outsider was the highest bidder, community funds were lacking, and no assistance came from the county to try to save this historical site. At the last moment and at a critical time, like a fairy godmother a lady stopped in and renewed the bidding. The outsider gave up and Mrs. Reno Thatcher purchased the old schoolhouse and presented it to the town for a community hall, Mrs. Thatcher’s mother, the former Cora Moulton, had attended school in this building, as did her daughters, Mrs. Edward V. King of Sacramento and Mrs. T. Thatcher, who graduated from the eighth grade. Mrs. Thatcher tells this story: The school children went out in the woods to get decorations for the graduating exercises. The branches were placed in a very pretty, showy display, but in a day or so most of the pupils were home, poisoned by the poison oak they had used for decorations, . One of the best and most profitable mines was the old Milton Mine at French Corral which was started in 1879. There was a wonderful 614 page fine hand-written document of detail records of this mine. It was a very rich mine’ and 135 pounds of amalgam ran as high as $9,950. Shipments were made by wagon, under guard, to Wells Fargo in North San Juan. Carloads of dynamite were brought in at a time to work this mine, and total figures brought forward show profits of $87,000 to $100,000. H. Pichoir was superintendent of the mine, with V. G, Bell, N. C. Miller and sons Charley and Thomas. working under him. This company used 430 feet of water pressure and it was so powerful it blew up two monitors. Had Miller been standing on the opposite side of the diggin’s at Sweetland a chunk of metal blown out would have killed him. About every twenty days the Milton Mining Company had a clean-up day. Usually eight or ten men would be seen coming down the road carrying buckets of almalgam. Each two men carried a bucket between them on an iron bar. A man with a shotgun would follow these men to protect the ore. The Milton Mining Company did its gold smelting in a back room in French Corral, and the amalgam was melted into bars of $10,000 each and taken to Wells Fargo at North San Juan for shipment. The old Milton Mining brick building stood until 1953, when it was torn down and the bricks were sold. There was an old mine near the Milton Mine for which they brought two ferryboat engines from San Francisco to use for power. When the government closed down hydraulic mining, this company signed a contract, I have been told, with the N.LD. water clause in the old contract whereby the mine could have jt ‘your s,JeulUL od sjuad ¢ ye J3}eMm needed. More than 1,000 miners who toiled in the deep, narrow canyon came to see the “miners’ darling,” Lotta Crabtree dance. They flocked from near and far just to lay eyes on Lotta when she sang and danced, She was really wonderful with red hair, merry black eyes, irresistable tiny feet, charming ways and gay rhythm. They thought nothing of their hard-earned gold poke at Lotta’s feet. W. E. Moulton, Sr., crossed the plains via the Oregon Trail and came to French Corral during the gold rush days. He owned a corner building in a mining town and a ranch near Grass Valley on Bear River. He kept the deed to the store building in a trunk, but it was stolen by one of his ranch hands, then a fire burned the city records, and he could not prove he owned the property and lost it. He and Mrs. Moulton lived in French Corral for years and W. E. Moulton, J. and Mrs. Fanny Moulton (nee Frances Rosendale) have lived there all their lives. Mr. Moulton, §r., received a letter in, 1855 stating there was great excitement around Marysville, Calif., when the news came ‘that Page Bacon Company had failed and that Adams and Company had caved in, making hard times. It was stated that Page Bacon Company would reopen but that Adams had gone under “Salt River,” swindling the miners and laborers out of two million or more. Some of the other residents of the town were Pacalley saloonkeeper, Donler saloonkeeper, Carmichael Boat Shop, Mill and Lewis butchers, John and Kate Bishop, Lilly Fogarty, Samuel Caster, Lois Gabart, J. Stidger, Bailey and Abbott, Abahams, J. Billings, P. Burke, A. H. Eddy, S. D. Evans, M. M. Scott, S. E, Powers, George Parshley, Christian Kuntz, Galloway, George W. Hoard, W. B, Bourne and D. G. Bell. French Corrall had the first long distance telephone in the world and connected with Tyler, North Columbia, North Bloomfield, Graniteville, Moores Flat, Milton and Bowman’s Lake. The cost of the line was $4,523.26, and the telephone carrying the first conversation is now a cherished treasure in Smithsonian Institute. Davis had a mine at Birchville and he staked Thomas and J. P. Morgan. They were lucky and each made $40,000. Morgan became a Nevada City-Grass Valley ‘banker in the Citizens Bank. He treated Davis to a 10-cent drink for his kindness in staking him in the mine. Thomas became superintendent of the Milton Mine and after Davis went broke and asked Thomas for a job, Thomas refused, saying Davis was too old. Gratitude of both men, eh? Birchville, a nearby town to French Corrall, was also called Johnson Diggin’s. It had Harmans Mercantile Store, Steven Everett Store, Ed Albson ‘Store and George Ellis Saloon in 1852. St. Columincilles Catholic Church is near here and since 1909 has been used for a house of worship. Before. that time it was the Bridgeport Union Guard Hall and used in 1860 to train soldiers for the Civil War under Captain Frank Coffey of French Corrall, Miss Lyon had a private s hool in 1851. She later married O. P. Stidger, lawyer and newspaperman. There is still a county school building in use there. A story goes about a bandit named Mickey Free. He followed a miner to his mine, giving the miner the impression that he wanted to buy the mine. Free told the miner to go down the shaft fire, and after he was down some distance, Free threw a boulder down, knocking the miner unconscious. Two hunters were nearby and witnessed the deed, pulled their guns on Free and tied him up, They took him to Cherokee Flat, where they sentenced him to hang. Just before he was strung up they asked Free if he had anything to say, and he replied: “Yes, bury me face down so you all can kiss my behind.” Notorious Tom Bell, “gentleman bandit,” operated near here. BRIDGEPORT A few miles from French Corral across the Yuba River, situated on the Old Bridgeport Road, where Urias and Manuel Nye started a trading post on the South Yuba River in 1849, at a place called Nye’s Landing, now Bridgeport. It is the home of the famous Covered Bridge. David Woods cro:sed the plains in 1849 and his first bridge was lost in a flood, his new bridge is what engineers claim is impossible to figure the proportion of stress carried by the truss and by the arch visible from within and without. It consists of two by five by fourteen inch timbers bolted together and squeezed between the trusses, a combination of Warren truss and auxiliary arch, It is one of the longest covered spans in the United State, being 225 feet long, built in 1862. Toll was collected until 1860. Stage coaches, freight wagons $2.50 to $5, horsemen 50 cents. Bridge owned by the Virginia Turnpike Company. George Flagg came to California via Isthmus of Panama. He married David Wood’s daughter, and became a merchant in French Corral and Sierra Valley. Woods owned other bridges in the sixties. He had another store in Virginia City, Nevada. Charles Coyle crossed the plains in 1859 and located on the oldest stage mail route in the West on the Henness ass, A severe winter of 1863 he owned what is now known the Kneebone Ranch at Bridgeport, when he gave comfort and aid to immigrants of W. C. McMilling’s wagon train party crossing the plains from Western Kansas to French Corral. Arriving at the Bridgeport covered bridge, with a heavy rain

25, 1860, Postmaster Black made a contract with the California Stage to carry the mail, daily, from the Empire Ranch post office to Carrol and Sweetland. A building was, erected in 1855 which served as a hotel. In 1876 this hotel was given to the town to replace the schoolhouse that had burned down. The upper story was removed and the building remodeled for a school. The ladies of the town made cakes and pies and sold them to pay for a belfry and money enough to have a bell made. The Meeny Bell Foundry of New York cast a bell with two hundred silver dollars in it, and the ladies paid $121 for shipping it to French Corral. This bell is called the Silver Bell and has an unusually sweet tone. This school was closed in 1942. Many years after 1876, the same community spirit was shown in 1950. The old schoolhouse was put up for auction by the county instead of returning it to the community. On the day of the auction, the bidding was keen to secure the building and its famcus bell. An outsider was the highest bidder, community funds were lacking, and no assistance came from the county to try to save this historical site. At the last moment and at a critical time, like a fairy godmother a lady stopped in and renewed the bidding. The outsider gave up and Mrs. Reno Thatcher purchased the old schoolhouse and presented it to the town for a community hall, Mrs. Thatcher’s mother, the former Cora Moulton, had attended school in this building, as did her daughters, Mrs. Edward V. King of Sacramento and Mrs. T. Thatcher, who graduated from the eighth grade. Mrs. Thatcher tells this story: The school children went out in the woods to get decorations for the graduating exercises. The branches were placed in a very pretty, showy display, but in a day or so most of the pupils were home, poisoned by the poison oak they had used for decorations, . One of the best and most profitable mines was the old Milton Mine at French Corral which was started in 1879. There was a wonderful 614 page fine hand-written document of detail records of this mine. It was a very rich mine’ and 135 pounds of amalgam ran as high as $9,950. Shipments were made by wagon, under guard, to Wells Fargo in North San Juan. Carloads of dynamite were brought in at a time to work this mine, and total figures brought forward show profits of $87,000 to $100,000. H. Pichoir was superintendent of the mine, with V. G, Bell, N. C. Miller and sons Charley and Thomas. working under him. This company used 430 feet of water pressure and it was so powerful it blew up two monitors. Had Miller been standing on the opposite side of the diggin’s at Sweetland a chunk of metal blown out would have killed him. About every twenty days the Milton Mining Company had a clean-up day. Usually eight or ten men would be seen coming down the road carrying buckets of almalgam. Each two men carried a bucket between them on an iron bar. A man with a shotgun would follow these men to protect the ore. The Milton Mining Company did its gold smelting in a back room in French Corral, and the amalgam was melted into bars of $10,000 each and taken to Wells Fargo at North San Juan for shipment. The old Milton Mining brick building stood until 1953, when it was torn down and the bricks were sold. There was an old mine near the Milton Mine for which they brought two ferryboat engines from San Francisco to use for power. When the government closed down hydraulic mining, this company signed a contract, I have been told, with the N.LD. water clause in the old contract whereby the mine could have jt ‘your s,JeulUL od sjuad ¢ ye J3}eMm needed. More than 1,000 miners who toiled in the deep, narrow canyon came to see the “miners’ darling,” Lotta Crabtree dance. They flocked from near and far just to lay eyes on Lotta when she sang and danced, She was really wonderful with red hair, merry black eyes, irresistable tiny feet, charming ways and gay rhythm. They thought nothing of their hard-earned gold poke at Lotta’s feet. W. E. Moulton, Sr., crossed the plains via the Oregon Trail and came to French Corral during the gold rush days. He owned a corner building in a mining town and a ranch near Grass Valley on Bear River. He kept the deed to the store building in a trunk, but it was stolen by one of his ranch hands, then a fire burned the city records, and he could

not prove he owned the property and lost it. He and Mrs. Moulton lived in French Corral for years and W. E. Moulton, J.. and Mrs. Fanny Moulton (nee Frances Rosendale) have lived there all their lives. Mr. Moulton, §r., received a letter in, 1855 stating there was great excitement around Marysville, Calif., when the news came ‘that Page Bacon Company had failed and that Adams and Company had caved in, making hard times. It was stated that Page Bacon Company would reopen but that Adams had gone under “Salt River,” swindling the miners and laborers out of two million or more. Some of the other residents of the town were Pacalley saloonkeeper, Donler saloonkeeper, Carmichael Boat Shop, Mill and Lewis butchers, John and Kate Bishop, Lilly Fogarty, Samuel Caster, Lois Gabart, J. Stidger, Bailey and Abbott, Abahams, J. Billings, P. Burke, A. H. Eddy, S. D. Evans, M. M. Scott, S. E, Powers, George Parshley, Christian Kuntz, Galloway, George W. Hoard, W. B, Bourne and D. G. Bell. French Corrall had the first long distance telephone in the world and connected with Tyler, North Columbia, North Bloomfield, Graniteville, Moores Flat, Milton and Bowman’s Lake. The cost of the line was $4,523.26, and the telephone carrying the first conversation is now a cherished treasure in Smithsonian Institute. Davis had a mine at Birchville and he staked Thomas and J. P. Morgan. They were lucky and each made $40,000. Morgan became a Nevada City-Grass Valley ‘banker in the Citizens Bank. He treated Davis to a 10-cent drink for his kindness in staking him in the mine. Thomas became superintendent of the Milton Mine and after Davis went broke and asked Thomas for a job, Thomas refused, saying Davis was too old. Gratitude of both men, eh? Birchville, a nearby town to French Corrall, was also called Johnson Diggin’s. It had Harmans Mercantile Store, Steven Everett Store, Ed Albson ‘Store and George Ellis Saloon in 1852. St. Columincilles Catholic Church is near here and since 1909 has been used for a house of worship. Before. that time it was the Bridgeport Union Guard Hall and used in 1860 to train soldiers for the Civil War under Captain Frank Coffey of French Corrall, Miss Lyon had a private s hool in 1851. She later married O. P. Stidger, lawyer and newspaperman. There is still a county school building in use there. A story goes about a bandit named Mickey Free. He followed a miner to his mine, giving the miner the impression that he wanted to buy the mine. Free told the miner to go down the shaft fire, and after he was down some distance, Free threw a boulder down, knocking the miner unconscious. Two hunters were nearby and witnessed the deed, pulled their guns on Free and tied him up, They took him to Cherokee Flat, where they sentenced him to hang. Just before he was strung up they asked Free if he had anything to say, and he replied: “Yes, bury me face down so you all can kiss my behind.” Notorious Tom Bell, “gentleman bandit,” operated near here. BRIDGEPORT A few miles from French Corral across the Yuba River, situated on the Old Bridgeport Road, where Urias and Manuel Nye started a trading post on the South Yuba River in 1849, at a place called Nye’s Landing, now Bridgeport. It is the home of the famous Covered Bridge. David Woods cro:sed the plains in 1849 and his first bridge was lost in a flood, his new bridge is what engineers claim is impossible to figure the proportion of stress carried by the truss and by the arch visible from within and without. It consists of two by five by fourteen inch timbers bolted together and squeezed between the trusses, a combination of Warren truss and auxiliary arch, It is one of the longest covered spans in the United State, being 225 feet long, built in 1862. Toll was collected until 1860. Stage coaches, freight wagons $2.50 to $5, horsemen 50 cents. Bridge owned by the Virginia Turnpike Company. George Flagg came to California via Isthmus of Panama. He married David Wood’s daughter, and became a merchant in French Corral and Sierra Valley. Woods owned other bridges in the sixties. He had another store in Virginia City, Nevada. Charles Coyle crossed the plains in 1859 and located on the oldest stage mail route in the West on the Henness ass, A severe winter of 1863 he owned what is now known the Kneebone Ranch at Bridgeport, when he gave comfort and aid to immigrants of W. C. McMilling’s wagon train party crossing the plains from Western Kansas to French Corral. Arriving at the Bridgeport covered bridge, with a heavy rain