Pacific House in the 1920's

This is Pacific House, guessing sometime in the 1920s. Pacific House is just east of Freshpond on Highway 50. It was a bustling place back in the late 1800s and early 20th Century as the highway passed right in front of the building. In the 1800's it was a stopping spot for people traveling along Johnson's Cut-Off Trail, which climbed up here after crossing the Brockliss Bridge over The American River.

This photo shows just how busy the old Lincoln Highway could get, complete with a cop with high boots walking the cars parked partially on the highway. Today the building exists but is in the midst of slowly collapsing.

Photo from: Donner Summit Historical Society, Norm Sayler Collection.

Lincoln Highway, Emigrant Gap

Monica and I spent a couple of days camping at Prosser Creek Reservoir, just east of Truckee. The reservoir filled a canyon with historic crossings, both The Overland Emigrant Trail, as well as the first generation of The Lincoln Highway. We were able to follow the old trails and enjoy some spectacular scenery.

Trey and Norm talking in The Donner Summit Historical Society Museum at Soda Springs.

The highlight to our trip was The Donner Summit Historical Museum, in Soda Springs. This small museum has more Donner Summit History than any other museum I know. It's run by Norm Sayler, who for over 40 years owner and operated The Donner Ski Ranch. He has amassed a collection of Donner Summit memorabilia and photographs that is unparalleled. We spent over 5 hours during two days talking with Norm and going through his amazing collection. There is so much to see and take in that it will require many more trips up to Donner Summit and Soda Springs to help record and preserve what is stored there.

This photograph shows two ladies standing in front of The PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) lookout station at Emigrant Gap, around the 1920s. This location is now a large turnout and vista point along Highway 80. If you look closely, you can even see a Lincoln Highway Directional sign on the left of where the women are standing.

The PG&E Lookout at Emigrant Gap, 1920’s. Photo from Donner Summit Historical Society, Norm Sayler Collection.

The photograph below shows two women on skies near Cisco Grove. Notice the Lincoln Highway Sign buried in the snow and The Transcontinental Railroad Snow Tunnels on the hillside.

Notice the Lincoln Highway Sign buried in the snow! Photo from Donner Summit Historical Museum, Norm Sayler collection.

Weimar subway Lincoln Highway logo

Monica and I headed up to Weimar to continue the Lincoln Highway logo project. Weimar is located just above Auburn and below Colfax, along present day Highway 80.

Walk with history

Just outside of Truckee we found a Trails West "T" marker, located at Old Greenwood Golf Course and housing development. T-35 is the number printed on the marker, which means it's the 35th marker describing The Truckee Trail. There are 34 markers before this one, each representing an event or remembrance of that particular spot. Marker T-35 is titled "Truckee Trail-Magnificent View." This marker sit's in the middle of the old trail, as you can see the wagon ruts that have left their impression, still visible after 150 years.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the Trails West Organization, who has marked many of the old immigrant and wagon roads across the west. If these historic trails are not marked and mapped, they will disappear into the mists of time. Imagine trying to find those old wagon ruts if not for the marker or trail guide. To be able to stand in the middle of such a famous trail that carried thousands of emigrants to California in the 19th Century is a thrill. You can imagine the covered wagons and people marching over this un-familiar land headed to their new lives in the west.

Emigrant wagon ruts headed west.

Map of location.

Weimar Crossroads railroad subway painted

Monday found Monica and I heading up to the Big Bend area, specifically Hampshire Rocks campground. Along the way in Weimar, we painted a Lincoln Highway "L" on the Union Pacific railroad subway. This particular subway, built in 1928, during the last year of The Lincoln Highway.

Weimar railroad subway with new Lincoln Highway “L”

Location of Railroad Subway

We had intended to head to Prosser Reservoir, just outside Truckee for a night of camping, but instead found ourselves staying at The Hampshire Rocks Campground, near Big Bend. This particular campground had only recently opened two week earlier, due to the massive amount of snow that was still on the ground. The snow was all gone in the camp, so we found ourselves a beautiful spot right next to The South Fork of The Yuba River. Everything about this place is great, except your only a hundred or so yards from Highway 80, so traffic noise is a constant unless you get down next to the flowing river. This place's location among the natural beauty and incredible history, is what makes it so desirable. The Lincoln Highway runs right through the camp if you know where to look.

Campground at Hampshire Rocks

Map of Hampshire Rocks area.

Just a few hundred yards west of the camp entrance, on Hampshire Rocks Road, is a most unusual structure. What looks like a fireplace chimney, but has no flue, has kept locals mystified since it's origins, whenever that was. One local say's it's related to The Overland Emigrant Trail, which passes right in front of it. While looking at the mystery obelisk, we almost tripped over a "C" marker, as we call it. These concrete posts are what is called a "right of way" marker. The state would bury them, and I'm told they are 4 feet tall, to mark their area of influence along the road. Someone else had put some "marking tape" around it, but the three or four other times we had stopped here, it eluded us.

Mystery obelisk in background, “C” marker in foreground.

The next day found ourselves heading to Truckee and hunting down some Trails West “T” Markers for The Johnson Cut-Off Trail of the 1850’s and some Nevada sections of The Lincoln Highway. More on that in the next post.

Eisenhower and Army convoy leave Washington DC headed to San Francisco

It was on July 7th, 1919 that The Army's Motor Transport Corps convoy left Washington DC headed towards San Francisco. The trip was to see if the military could move men and machines across the country using the recently "completed" Lincoln Highway as the route. They almost didn't make it, arriving in Oakland seven day's behind schedule.

The convoy included, "24 expeditionary officers, 15 War Department staff observation officers, including a young, Bvt Lt Col Dwight D. Eisenhower of the Tank Corps, and 258 enlisted men." The experience Eisenhower had on the trip helped formulate his plan as President for an Interstate Highway System, still in place today.

The National Archives has a video of some of the trip. It's fascinating to watch, and at the 18:47 mark we start to see the mountains of Nevada and California, and the climb up Meyers Grade, across the summit, and down into Kyburz at the 21:45 mark.

Lincoln Highway Travelers Guide

Pictured here is an excerpt from a small guide that was published in 1914 advising potential Transcontinental Tourists on The Lincoln Highway, of hints and suggestions for making the trip. Here is a page from the little booklet concerning provisions that should be taken along for the journey. I find it fascinating to see what folks had to bring with them before the advent of plastics.

Love the “gauntlet gloves,” which look so cool. How about the specific brand “Ingersoll” watch, and the pair of “yellow” and “white goggles.” Don’t forget a package of “bachelor buttons,” which I assume are not the flowers, but replacement buttons?

The next paragraph recommends what types of food to pack along including, “Slab Best Bacon,” “10 lbs Potatoes”, and of course “surgeons plaster” for sealing those tin cans. As mentioned in the pamphlet, these provisions are to be kept with the car at “…all times, west of Omaha Neb.”

There is more to the book, which I’ll cover in the next issue. This booklet comes to you when you join The Lincoln Highway Association here: Lincoln Highway Association

Click photo for a larger view!

Gold Discovery Centennial Celebration in Coloma, California

Gold Discovery Centennial Celebration in Coloma, California filmed in 16 mm, 1948. Participant filmed vignettes of the 1948 centennial celebration of the discovery of gold. Scenes mostly in Coloma, CA with a couple snippets from Placerville CA. Parade floats, speakers, participants, spectators. Gold panning.

From the California State Archives. https://archive.org/details/caclmmgd_000010

Odd Fellows Lodge, Georgetown

Monica and I had the privilege of visiting the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge, located in Georgetown, California. The Odd Fellows are ubiquitous in the gold country, having been an early fraternal society in the state. The Georgetown Parlor has been meeting in the 1855 IOOF Hall since the 1880’s and their meeting room is like stepping back in time. The lower floor of the building, which is rented out by the lodge, has been used for various events for years. It’s a local landmark that has become a symbol of Georgetown and the surrounding region.

Georgetown Native Son’s of the Golden West, 1800’s, and their banner.

The historical photo above shows the Native Son’s of the Golden West on parade, holding their banner. The Native Son’s (NSGW) have used the IOOF hall as their meeting place since the beginning. The IOOF and NSGW are tied at the hip when it comes to Georgetown’s History and The IOOF Hall.

Native Sons of The Golden West banner from the 1980’s on display.

The NSGW Banner is in need of repair. The fabric is starting to come apart, as seen in the above photo lower left, blue fabric. Costs estimates to bring it back to museum standards is approximately $5000, of which the NSGW and IOOF are lacking at this time. The insurance on the old building just went up, and the difference will have to be made up somewhere. I wonder how we could gather the monies necessary to fix this treasured piece of Georgetown and California History.

Spenceville, a copper mining town

Spenceville is more a name on the map than an actual town. Our interest in the townsite arose from our research on The Emigrant Trail. That trail passed this way after leaving Rough and Ready's and headed downhill to Johnson's Ranch, near Wheatland. We have found bits and pieces of the route between Wheatland and Rough and Ready and are trying to put those pieces together into one path.

The former town of Spenceville lends its name to the Spenceville Wildlife Area, encompassing over 11,400 acres around and including the townsite. Driving on the roads in the wildlife area is a treat, as the landscape is low rolling hills, dotted with many Blue Oaks and Grey Pines. Few people are living out this way, so you get a feeling of being away from it all, which we find exciting, but some might find “lonely.”

The first bridge we spotted headed into Spenceville. We later learned these were “bridges” for tank training during WWII.

Driving towards the old townsite, we spotted an old rock retaining wall for a road on the other side of Dry Creek. We wondered if this was the old wagon road, but why was it on the other side of the creek? Further on, we came to a concrete bridge on our side of the stream. Soon we came upon another bridge, then another, and soon we had counted five separate bridges. With all these bridges, this must have been a vital crossroads back in the day.

The second and longest bridge at Spenceville.

There are no interpretive signs anywhere near the Spenceville site, so any history will need to be drawn out later at home through research. Until then, we'll explore the area and take photos and video of the site. We were visiting in December, during the week, so it was hushed, and we didn't see another soul out there. The ground and pathways in the area are copper-red, resulting from the copper mines that gave Spenceville an economic boost in the 1860s.

Two more bridges that had a contractors name and date 1912 etched into the concrete. The red cast of the ground is from the copper mines.

A resident of Purtyman's Ranch, Spencevilles earlier name, was digging a well for drinking water and came upon some copper in 1863. Mining commenced but only lasted until 1865 as the copper was a low grade, and working it after the costs of labor and materials was just too high. The mine lay dormant until The San Francisco Mining Company bought the property in 1872 and invested $15,000 in equipment to better extract the copper. A document from 1875 states,

“Work is being prosecuted on the copper-mine at Spenceville, in this county, under the superintendency of Mr. G. P. Deetkin, with every prospect of success. The shaft is down 100 feet, and the ledge at that depth is 70 feet in width. The rock is richly impregnated with native copper. The ore is taken out and roasted in a large furnace, after which it is turned into three large vats, upon which a stream of cold water is turned, and the copper, in a state of solution, is then conducted from the vats into a large cylinder of about 12 feet in diameter. In this is placed old or refuse iron, for which the copper has an affinity. The cylinder is made to revolve rapidly by steam, by which means the copper is collected on the iron. The superintendent thinks the process of separating copper from the ore in which it is contained is no longer a matter of experiment. There are many other ledges in the vicinity equally as rich, and are awaiting the success of working this one.” Raymond, Rossiter W (1875) Statistics Of Mines And Mining In The States And Territories West Of The Rocky Mountains; Being Тhе Seventh Annual Report United States Commissioner Of Mining Statistics, Government Printing Office 1875

Spenceville Copper Mine, 1880.

Looking at documents and maps from the late 1800’s we found out that copper was another mineral that was mined extensively in “The Mother Lode,” and especially in The Spenceville area. This site utilized 150-foot shafts to remove the ore for processing. In 1880 a cave-in occurred and the mine started to dig an open-pit instead of putting in new underground shafts. The open-pit eventually reached 300 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 75 feet deep. One hundred fifty thousand tons of ore, averaging about 5% copper was removed, bagged, and shipped to Boston, MA. for final processing.

The date 1912 etched into the copper hued concrete of one of the bridges.

1888 was the year The San Francisco Copper Mine and Reduction Works ended their mining activities on the site. The company had removed all the easier to mine copper, and the prices of copper had dropped on the market. They sold the property to the Imperial Paint Company and Copper Works that made a Venetian red paint pigment from the leftover copper. More on that company and the rest of the story of Spenceville at my next post.