Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 030-3 - July 1976 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 12 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2014-04-19 11:47:16 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:05:34 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:05:34

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

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Truckee Railroad. The 16 mile line carried passengers, mail and freight between Tahoe City and the Southern Pacific (as the Central Pacific was then called) at Truckee. At Tahoe it connected with a steamer that made the rounds of various points on the lake. The line was sold to the S.P. and converted to standard gauge in the 1920’s. Service stopped in 1942 because of competition from faster means of transportation. Trouble In Truckee In 1869 Truckee was the chief town on the railroad between Sacramento and Ogden. Saloons were plentiful and gambling flourished. Among sporting men and blacklegs, the place acquired a reputation as a sort of Sin City of the Sierras. Events in the redlight district along Jibboom Street enlivened the summer of 1869. Two of the girls were attracted to the same man. The competition reached the explosive stage the night Carrie (Spring Chicken) Smith, accompanied by George Prior, invaded La Belle Butler’s boudoir in Lotta Morton’s bawdyhouse. (By 1875 Belle Butler was in Nevada City.) Later Prior was wounded by a bullet in a Front Street saloon. Belle served 18 months in jail for the shooting. The “Spring Chicken” got the man. Her triumph was short-lived. _ The year 1875 found herin Virginia City and in the news again. While she was in jailin Virginia for assault and battery, she tried to hang herself with a hanky. In 1871 the problem was fire. Three occurred that year, the worst on July 20. It was traced toa quarrel between a saloonkeeper and his wife. When the fire alarm sounded, a large public meeting was in progress. Men and women rushed to Louis Derr’s saloon where flames were visible. The fire fighters worked in vain. Sixty-eight buildings in the business section were destroyed. Damage was estimated at $111,000. Derr had absented himself from home. Prior to his departure he had quarreled with his wife. On the night he was expected to return, the spiteful female set fire to the establishment. When this fact became public, a lynch mob fever threatened. The patience of the people of Truckee had been tried beyond endurance that year. Fire struck in January, then again in March. Many of the buildings destroyed in the July fire had been but a few months old. Mrs. Derr was arrested but E.H. Gaylord, her defense lawyer, arranged her discharge. She was advised to leave town. In 1873 a drunk lighting his pipe in the hayloft of W.B. Campbell’s stable on Bridge Street started a fire. A Sampson fire engine kept at Truckee in case of fire along the tracks was the only defense fire fighters had as the town’s main water pipe was out of commission. It looked like the town would go up in flames again when a stranger appeared with a mysterious machine on his back. He directed a stream of water on a burning structure from a hose attached to the machine. Flames turned to dense smoke and the bulk of the town was saved. The stranger was an agent for a fire extinguisher company. iti satin ‘wi: LEIA anit Hu ri THT TT TMNT 3 i bs CENTRAL PACIFIC feast 7 Paco ood ARB poet £4, alas 4 4 Train time at the Truckee Hotel circa 1880. (California State Library Picture)