Volume 034-1 - January 1980 (10 pages)

a —_ Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin Volume 34, No. 1 January 1980 NEVADA COUNTY ONE HUNDRED One hundred years ago Thomas Thompson and Albert West performed a great service to future historians by publishing their History of Nevada County. In late January editor Harry L. Wells, the historian for Thompson and West, had finished the bulk of his work in the county and left. The following ~.onth artist G.T. Brown was still making drawings. In March word was received of the death of Thomas Burton, the popular artist who had sketched the Holbrooke Hotel. Wells returned in March for additional information. By July 13 the history was off the press and West was in town, personally delivering copies to subscribers. There were 272 newspapers in California in 1880, In Nevada County . Grass Valley, Daily Union publisher Charles H. Mitchell devoted the lion’s share of his four pages to Democratic party politics and mining news. The Foothill Weekly Tidings was published in Grass Valley by S.G. Lewis. Nevada City was served by the TriWeekly Herald of Gray, Davis and Company and the Nevada Daily Transcript, published by Leonard S. Calkins and N.P. Brown. In February Calkins applauded the complete changeover of county officials from Democratic to the Workingman’s party. The one exception was treasurer G. von Schmettburg, a Republican. Charles F. McGlashan, the colorful publisher of the Truckee Republican, published his final version of History of the Donner Party, a Tragedy of the Sierra in 1880 and in May turned over the paper to B.J. Watson, a former Tranecript editor. Up at North San Juan Judge Oliver Stidger resumed publication of the San Juan Times in June, following a two-year hiatus. YEARS AGO by Pat Jones Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric incandescent light dominated the first few 1880 issues of the Union. He “brought that wonderful thing, electricity into servitude to the demands of man (by perfecting a lamp) as simple as the gas burner itself and more manageable,” Mitchell wrote. Special trains carried visitors from east and west to Edison’s Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory for the December 31, 1879 exhibit of the invention. By mid-January an agent of an electric company had installed an electric system at North Bloomfield, while one was already in use at the Excelsior Mining Company claim at Mooney Fiat. But when the Grass Valley City Council voted to light its main streets it stuck with gas. That city’s gas works had been purchased at auction in February by Peter Johnston and A.B. Dibble. The streets of Grass Valley were bathed in gas light for the first time in late October. An announced five percent increase in state, county and town taxes on Jan. 6 caused a rush of taxpayers to beat the deadline. The battle between the valley farmers and hydraulic miners in the hills continued, with a bill that provided for debris dams becoming law in the late spring. In February a drive started to establish a state normal school in Nevada City. Mass meetings were held and trips to visit legislators in Sacramento were made to no avail. Long Hard Winter Nightly freezing of the V Flume was already limiting the Grass Valley water supply in January when three sections broke completely down above Red Dog and water had to be diverted to town from the Idaho ditch. McGlashan narrowly missed being killed when a Central Pacific engine crashed into a stalled snow plow near Blue Canyon. In February snow shovelers in Nevada City were demanding $1 an hour. A March windstorm blew down telegraph lines and business signs, broke windows and uprooted trees. A cabin near Wolf Creek was demolished and a Chinese man killed when a tree fell on a cabin in Willow Valley. In April slides on the Central Pacific blocked trains between Truckee and Emigrant Gap. At one point a freight with “emigrant cars” was isolated between slides for three days. Several hundred feet of snow sheds, carried away by previous slides, had never been replaced. The absence of through mail deprived local editors of eastern newspapers, their main source for national and international news. Driving sleet and snow in western Nevada County produced miserable conditions. As of the 22nd, 21.89 inches of precipitation was recorded for the month of April. The Idaho Mine had more water than ever before in its history and the fuel situation was serious. “What is the size of your woodpile?” was a common greeting. Had it not been for the Nevada County Narrow Gauge there would have been no wood, as the condition of roads and weather kept teamsters from traveling. By April 24 all but two or three mills in the district that used steam had shut down due to lack of fuel. A large land slide remained at Alta, near Dutch Flat, and CP trains were running to both sides, transferring passengers and baggage. The debris, blocking the track was finally removed by hydraulicing it off.

a —_ Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin Volume 34, No. 1 January 1980 NEVADA COUNTY ONE HUNDRED One hundred years ago Thomas Thompson and Albert West performed a great service to future historians by publishing their History of Nevada County. In late January editor Harry L. Wells, the historian for Thompson and West, had finished the bulk of his work in the county and left. The following ~.onth artist G.T. Brown was still making drawings. In March word was received of the death of Thomas Burton, the popular artist who had sketched the Holbrooke Hotel. Wells returned in March for additional information. By July 13 the history was off the press and West was in town, personally delivering copies to subscribers. There were 272 newspapers in California in 1880, In Nevada County . Grass Valley, Daily Union publisher Charles H. Mitchell devoted the lion’s share of his four pages to Democratic party politics and mining news. The Foothill Weekly Tidings was published in Grass Valley by S.G. Lewis. Nevada City was served by the TriWeekly Herald of Gray, Davis and Company and the Nevada Daily Transcript, published by Leonard S. Calkins and N.P. Brown. In February Calkins applauded the complete changeover of county officials from Democratic to the Workingman’s party. The one exception was treasurer G. von Schmettburg, a Republican. Charles F. McGlashan, the colorful publisher of the Truckee Republican, published his final version of History of the Donner Party, a Tragedy of the Sierra in 1880 and in May turned over the paper to B.J. Watson, a former Tranecript editor. Up at North San Juan Judge Oliver Stidger resumed publication of the San Juan Times in June, following a two-year hiatus. YEARS AGO by Pat Jones Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric incandescent light dominated the first few 1880 issues of the Union. He “brought that wonderful thing, electricity into servitude to the demands of man (by perfecting a lamp) as simple as the gas burner itself and more manageable,” Mitchell wrote. Special trains carried visitors from east and west to Edison’s Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory for the December 31, 1879 exhibit of the invention. By mid-January an agent of an electric company had installed an electric system at North Bloomfield, while one was already in use at the Excelsior Mining Company claim at Mooney Fiat. But when the Grass Valley City Council voted to light its main streets it stuck with gas. That city’s gas works had been purchased at auction in

February by Peter Johnston and A.B. Dibble. The streets of Grass Valley were bathed in gas light for the first time in late October. An announced five percent increase in state, county and town taxes on Jan. 6 caused a rush of taxpayers to beat the deadline. The battle between the valley farmers and hydraulic miners in the hills continued, with a bill that provided for debris dams becoming law in the late spring. In February a drive started to establish a state normal school in Nevada City. Mass meetings were held and trips to visit legislators in Sacramento were made to no avail. Long Hard Winter Nightly freezing of the V Flume was already limiting the Grass Valley water supply in January when three sections broke completely down above Red Dog and water had to be diverted to town from the Idaho ditch. McGlashan narrowly missed being killed when a Central Pacific engine crashed into a stalled snow plow near Blue Canyon. In February snow shovelers in Nevada City were demanding $1 an hour. A March windstorm blew down telegraph lines and business signs, broke windows and uprooted trees. A cabin near Wolf Creek was demolished and a Chinese man killed when a tree fell on a cabin in Willow Valley. In April slides on the Central Pacific blocked trains between Truckee and Emigrant Gap. At one point a freight with “emigrant cars” was isolated between slides for three days. Several hundred feet of snow sheds, carried away by previous slides, had never been replaced. The absence of through mail deprived local editors of eastern newspapers, their main source for national and international news. Driving sleet and snow in western Nevada County produced miserable conditions. As of the 22nd, 21.89 inches of precipitation was recorded for the month of April. The Idaho Mine had more water than ever before in its history and the fuel situation was serious. “What is the size of your woodpile?” was a common greeting. Had it not been for the Nevada County Narrow Gauge there would have been no wood, as the condition of roads and weather kept teamsters from traveling. By April 24 all but two or three mills in the district that used steam had shut down due to lack of fuel. A large land slide remained at Alta, near Dutch Flat, and CP trains were running to both sides, transferring passengers and baggage. The debris, blocking the track was finally removed by hydraulicing it off.