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  

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 181 much less for holding court, the transaction of county business and the preservation of public records. Some preparations, however, had to be made by the owners of the town to enable the first term, at least, of court to be held there; and for this end they erected, or rather placed upon the ground, a zinc building about twenty feet square, with a floor of rough boards, a roof of zinc, and holes cut for the persons to enter, but they were scarcely doors; and the windows had neither glass nor shutters. Not a tree or bush, or shrub grew near enough to give any shadetothe building. A June sun poured its rays down upon that zinc building, until, outside and inside, it became almost as hot as the furnace of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Law and equity, lawyers and litigants, jurors and witnesses, with a spontaneity of action that would astonish nothing but a salamander, rushed out of that building and fied, never to return. Such was the first court-house of Placer County. The first act of the Legislature organizing the State into counties, placed within Sutter County a portion of the territory afterward included in: Placer County. That section was southwest ‘of a line running from a point on Bear River six miles from its mouth direct to the junction of the north and middle forks of the American River. All the regions east of that line belonged to Yuba County. The Sutter County portion, the county seat in 1850 being at Auburn, had political recognition in the appointment of election precincts at Auburn, Spanish Corral, Minera’ Hotel, Mormon Bar, Horseshoe Bar, Halfway House and Beal’s Bar. April 25, 1851, another act was passed by the Legislature, redividing the State into counties, and the boundaries of Placer were next described as follows: “ Beginning on the Sacramento River at the northwest point of Sacramento County, and running thence up the middle of said river to a point ten miles below the junction of Sacramento and Feather Rivers; thence in a northerly direction in a straight line to a point in the middle of Bear Creek opposite Camp Far West; thence up the middle of said creek to its source; thence due east of State line; thence southerly of the State to the northeasterly corner of E] Dorado County; thence westerly on the northerly line of El Dorado County to the junction of the north and south forks of the American River; thence westerly of the northerly line of Sacramento County to the place of beginning.” The county-seat was tixed by the same act at Auburn. The dividing line between Placer and Sutter counties was for a number of years a subject of controversy and uxcertainty. The western line “from Sacramento County, and running thence up the middle of Sacramento River to a point ten miles below the junction of Feather and Sacramento rivers,” was reported by a county surveyor as impossible, as the northwest corner vt Sacramento County was already nearer than ten miles of the junction of those rivers; so the county had no starting point. When the country became settled, this indefinite line gave great trouble to the county officers, and several acts were passed to remedy the difficulty. But it was not until after the lines of the United States Land Survey was adopted March 18, 1866, that the question was satisfactorily settled. This act was adopted by the Codes, taking effect January 1, 1873, making the boundaries as follows: “ Beginning on the southwest corner at a point where the west line of 5 east, Mount Diablo meridian, intersects the northern line of Sacramento County, as established in section 8,928; thence north to the northwest corner of township 12 north, range 5 east; thence east to the southwest corner of section 34, township 13 north, range 5 east, thence north to Bear River, thence on the southerly line of Nevada County up said river to its source; thence east in a df. rect line to the eastern line of the State of California, forming the northeast corner; thence southerly along said line to the northeast corner of El Dorado County, as established in section 3,027 (said northeast corner of El Dorado being a point on the State line, directly east of Sugar Pine Point on Lake Tahoe); thence westerly on