Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 015-1 - January 1961 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 4 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2013-11-30 17:13:28 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:05:31 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:05:31

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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something drop, or looked at the repaired hole in the canvas, she relived the day of her son’s death. During those three years, she grew harrowed and weak until she was on the verge of collapse. Distressed by his wife’s condition, Mr. Ralston at last agreed to give up the home they had carved out of the wilds and return East. Packing their movable belongings into a wagon and leaving the rest behind, they locked up the stage house and began their exodus from California by way of the Henness Pass over which they had come just a few years before. As night fell after their first day on the road, they camped at the edge of a meadow a few miles west of the Henness Pass where by chance they met the Kirkhams, who were nearing the end of the westward journey. Concluding his tale of misfortune at the campfire that night, Mr. Ralston told the Kirkhams how to find the stage stop and suggested that they go there to rest and perhaps settle. If, after being there for a while, they wished to remain, they could send him $500 in payment for the property. For the Kirkhams, this chance meeting with the Ralstons solved the uncertainties of their immediate future. The next night they reached the stage station, where during the next several weeks, they found rest and relief from the rigors of their overland trek. Hardships came anew, however, when the winter storms began and the stage freighting activity upon which the stop relied came to a standstill. But with the coming of spring and the melting of the snow, business renewed and the Kirkhams pecame more secure in their new home. That spring Thomas Kirkham took up mining, and it was this venture that was to provide the family with most of its income. As a supplement he planted a small orchard and raised vegetables. After the first few months of their occupancy, the house ceased to be a stage stop and was used thereafter only as a residence. With the money that the family was able —3— to save and with what was earned by one of the daughters who taught school at Blue Tent, the Kirkhams were finally able to accumulate $500 to send to the Ralstons for the property. In the early 1870’s when the family had become more prosperous, the original building was wrecked and a new house constructed, utilizing much of the old material. Because of a weeping willow tree beside the house, the place became known as the Weeping Willow House. After a long and active life, Thomas Kirkham died in 1901 at the age of 85, to be followed a year later by his wife, Paulina. Their youngest son, Thomas, whom Mrs. Kirkham carried as a baby across the plains, lived with his wife, Margaret, at the old home until 1933 when it was destroyed by fire. About 20 years after the Kirkhams came West, a grown son of the Ralstons visited the place and searched for a cache of gold, said to be worth about $800, which his mother had buried near the stone fireplace in a baking powder can. He dug in the yard for several days but found no trace of the gold. Had he recovered the gold, it was his plan to use it to remove the child’s remains for reburial in the East. After an extensive search, he departed, and the grave was left undisturbed. For many years before her death in 1902, Mrs. Kirkham would visit the grave on Sundays and take flowers. After the fire which destroyed the home, the place was abandoned and the hillside trail to the grave became grown up with grass and brush. Nature quickly assumed the responsibility for care of the grave, and for more than20 years the solitude of the site remained unbroken. During the summer of 1958, the late Ralph Kirkham and the author relocated the grave, intruding upon the peaceful scene. The picture which accompanies this story was taken at that time. So well had nature protected her charge that it took the visitors almost an hour to locate the tiny headstone in the dense manzanita. After a few moments of thoughtful reflection, they departed, leaving.the grave to be lost again in the maze with which nature had surrounded it.