Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 12
]
M.J. Brock
It is embellished with an.excellent bell (no pun intended), Rev.
Mr. Hill, of the M. E. Church at Grass Valley, preaches once
each Sunday in this church.
"The first school at Rough and Ready was organized in
1853, by Miss Franklin.
"The Rough and Ready Ditch was commenced in January,
1851, and brought in the water of Slate Creek in February, and
of Deer Creek in April, over a route thirteen miles in lengtha dispatch probably unequalled in the State.
"On Tuesday, June 28, 1853, at three o'clock in the morning,
a destructive fire broke out in Rough and Ready, in the house of
Mr. Brondage, and spread rapidly through the wooden buildings.
Forty stores, hotels and houses were burned. The business part
of the town was almost entirely destroyed. The fire resulted
from carelessness. A person placed a lighted candle too near
a cloth partition when he went to sleep. The loss was estimated
at $59,700. The people at once rebuilt the town, widening the
mdin street and putting up handsomer and better buildings.
"Rough and Ready has a quiet, orderly population, and the
County me
even tenor of its ways is seldom disturbed by excitements. :
The Odd Fellows, Masons, and Sons of Temperance have each FE ¢
an organization in the place. The vote cast at the September =
election of 1855 was 304."
Rough and Ready passed out as a large city in the early é
sixties, and at the present date has but one store to serve its
people. The surrounding country, however, is rapidly coming to
the front, owing to the numerous strikes of quartz mines in the .
Rough and Ready District.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE FIFTIES
"Other small settlements are dotted over the county, trading stands or ranches, and collections of miners, making an ae
important addition to its population and resources, most of which ee
date back to 1852-1853, when an unusual abundance of water
gave opportunity for extensive prospecting. It appears by the “se
census report that Nevada had at that time a population of 21,‘9
365; $5,086,601 invested in mills, merchandise and town property; and 1587 acres of land in cultivation. We have no reliable
data from which to ascertain the population of Nevada County, :
at the present time. We estimate it, after some examination of the & %
evidence within reach, to be 25,000. The material wealth of i:
the county has increased‘in about the same proportion. But
there is a species of property, untaxable, and never supervised by census agents, that would make these figures insignificant if properly estimated. We refer to the capital invested
in mining operations. The agricultural industry of the county has
immensely increased, and some of the finest farms in the State
are found in Nevada County. The soil is excellent wherever
irrigation develops its capacities. Vegetables grow with prolific
profusion, and fruits of many kinds flourish finely. One farmer
in Penn Valley raised the past year (1855) several bushels of
fine peaches with great profit on the cost of cultivation,
"The only duel ever fought in Nevada County had a fatal
termination. It occurred at Industry Bar, on the Yuba, about
eighteen miles from Nevada, on the morning of November 1,
1851, between George M. Dibble, formerly a midshipman in the
United States Navy, and E, B, Lundy, familiarly known as Jim
Lundy, a Canadian, A trivial dispute arose at the mining camp
during a convivial party, ending in opprobrious epithets from
Lundy. Dibble challenged Lundy, and the rencontre took place
the next morning at sunrise, with Colt's revolvers, distance
fifteen paces. Dibble fell at the first fire, shot through the body,
and was buried where he fell. C. E. G. Morse acted as second
for Lundy, and Gen. J. C. Morehead for Dibble. The authorities
got hold of the parties, but they escaped punishment. Lundy
afterwards met a horrible award, being burned to death in the
second fire at Sonora,
(To be continued next week)