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Volume 051-3 - July 1997 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
Nevada County Airpark: A Historical
Retrospective of a Gold Country Airport
By Tim O’Brien
Mees HAS BEEN WRITTEN about the rich history that
is Nevada County. From California’s first quartz gold discovery on a Grass Valley hilltop in 1850, through the entire
century that followed, world-renowned techniques brought
over from Cornwall, England, were perfected here, resulting
in some of the richest gold mines in the U.S. The area
boomed especially during the depression years of the 1930s,
when Grass Valley’s Bret Harte and Nevada City’s National
hotels were perhaps the only ones in the nation with a
one-month waiting list; mining engineers from around the
world came to witness the “Grass Valley Process,” a wellpublished term for the many innovations in processing gold
ore.
It was this environment that a young engineer by the name
of Errol MacBoyle entered in 1915. He began consolidating
the Idaho Maryland, Eureka, Union Hill, and smaller claims
into the Idaho Maryland Mines Corporation. A graduate of
Columbia University and University of California School of
Mines, MacBoyle had some definite ideas regarding the geology of the mines, but lacked sufficient capital for their
operation. In 1919, he optioned the group to a large Eastern
company that unfortunately ignored his excellent advice and
operated without success.
MacBoyle and a group of associates took back the mine in
1925 and began a modest development program, finding new
ore bodies of tremendous value.
During the next 15 years, the Idaho
Maryland Mines produced almost
$27 million in gold, paid out $6
Envisioning a landmark estate, MacBoyle enlisted James
McLaren, designer of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, to
create the spectacular Loma Rica Ranch, complete with palatial barns and 22 paddocks rich in Kentucky bluegrass. MacBoyle began raising Percheron horses, which he displayed at
the California State and Los Angeles County fairs. He later
turned his attention to breeding thoroughbred race horses,
obtaining the famous Time Supply and Microphone for studs.
Each new foal was named with the prefix “Gold,” such as
Gold Bolt and Gold Mike, in keeping with his gold country
theme.
He then built a 13,000,000-gallon reservoir on a wooded
hilltop overlooking the ranch as a source of irrigation and
water for the mines. Later additions included an inlet fountain
Opposite a stone-faced bridge leading to a gazebo where
MacBoyle spent much of his time in his last years.
In 1933, construction began on the 1,800’ airstrip (that
would later evolve as the Nevada County Airpark) just east of
the reservoir. A believer in providing summer jobs, MacBoyle hired local youths vacationing from school to clear@™
brush and prepare the runway. In the following year, carpenters from the mine completed an airplane hangar which
fronted the strip. He then purchased a Vultee V-1A (a 9-passenger enclosed-cabin monoplane powered by a single 800
hp engine, which he leased to the corporation. A Lockheed
MacBoyle’s Lockheed Model 10E Electra was one of only 20 ever built. Amelia Earhart was piloting one when she disappeared in the Pacific. (Author’s collection.)
million in dividends, and employed
almost 1,000 men, making it the
second richest in California and
one of the all-time success stories
in the mining world.
By the early 1930s, the corporation consisted of 2,180 acres adjacent to Grass Valley, not all of
which were suitable for mining.
Local citizens often criticized mining companies for their lack of surface utilization and the unkempt
appearance of their properties. To
remedy this, MacBoyle began purchasing portions of the land for his
own development, thereby releasing the corporation from his liability, but retaining all mineral rights
with the mine.
18