Collection: Books and Periodicals

About This Item:

Title: A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Publisher: Lewis Publishing Company Published: 1891 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 713 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-22 00:25:09 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:29 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 06:30:36

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

Page: of 713  

106 HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. mnills, for purposes of irrigation. So could the Empire Mine Ditch, of Plymouth, which takes water from the Cosumnes River. Other ditches take water from the different creeks, and in all the present water supply of the county will not fa}] short of 18,000 to 15,000 inches. This supply could be Jargely increased by conserving the supply in the higher Sierras by means of reservoirs. The water eupply is immense and capable of tupplying the wants of many times the present population, and its purity is not excelled, as the major portion of it is fed from the snow-clad mountains to the east. In the towns of Jackson, Sutter, Amador and Plym-° outh, the water supply for domestic purposes is furnished by the Amador Canal. The grains and deciduous fruits do well in Amador County; and fine timber is inexhanstible. Commencing four miles above Volcano the forests run up thirty miles into the high Sierras. They are of spruce, fir, yellow and the beautiful and rare sugar pine, towering from 200 to 300 feet skyward, many feet in diameter, and which provide a quality of lumber whose superior is not to be found. These forests are ample for the requirements of the county forever, and it would require very heavy export drafts to cause any perceptible diminntion of the supply. Four saw-mills supply the local market. In 1887 $5 to $8 per scre would bny good -uncleared fruit land, and $10 to $30 improved property near the towns; but the land is of course rising permanently in value. The taxable property in 1887 was over four million dollars, and the debt of the county was but 811,000. Population, about 4,000. The Amador branch of the Central Pacific Railroad runs trom Galt to Ione, within twelve miles of the principal towns of the county. The San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada Narrow Gange Railroad runs through the northern part of San Joaquin County to a point within twelve miles of Jackson. Both these roads are now operated by the Southern Pacific Company. The location of the county-seat at Jackson, in 1854, gave that place great prosperity; but the town lost heavily by a flood in 1861, which carried away some twenty houses and destroyed property to the amount of abont $50,000; and August 28, the very next year, the place was almost totally destroyed by fire. In 1878 another flood occurred, cansing as great a loss as that of 1861. For several years past Jackson has been improving substantially. Besides the court-house, it has also the county hospital, erected in 1887 at a cost of $8,000 to $10,000. Three newspapers were then pnblished there,— the Sentinel, Ledger and Dispatch. The Ginocchio Brothers have a large Alden fruit-drier. lone Valley, one of the most beautiful in California, is situated about twelve miles west of the county-seat, and is formed by the janction of Dry Creek, Sutter Creek and Jackson Creek, soon after they leave the mountains. The first white men to settle in this valley were William Hicks and Moses Childers, in 1848, who had crossed the plains five years previously in company with J. P. Martin. Hicks built the first house, an adobe covered with poles and hides, on the knoll where Judge Carter’s house now stands. He and Martin bonght cattle in Southern California and fattened them here for the market. Tlie grase was “as high as a man’s head.” In the spring of 1849 Hicks converted his house into a store, the first in the valley, with Childers as manager. This valley was named before the town was started, by Thomas Brown, who had read a historical romance of Bulwer entitled Herenlaneum, or The Last Days of Pompeii, one of whose heroines was a beautiful girl named Tone. The town, however, was first named Bed-Bug, and then Freeze-Out. It is 270 feet above tide water. The first flour-mill in Ione Valley was built in 1855, by Reed, Wooster & Lane. There are now two well-equipped flouring-mills. This town has the fair-grounds of the district agricultural association. Sutter Creek, four miles north of Jackson, is