A rare movie of people enjoying the beach below the old Cliff House. This is three years before the Great Earthquake and Fire. Other than the old Dutch windmill at Golden Gate Park, all the buildings pictured are gone.
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.
The goal on our most recent trip was an exotic sounding place in Yuba County, Timbuctoo. Other than an unusual name we knew little about it. We leave with the idea that we would try and find any signs of the old emigrant trail that once passed along this general direction. Other than those goals we left ourselves open to whatever the road would reveal to us on that day.
Camp Far West is a few miles east of Wheatland, a small town on the east side of the Central Valley. It was an army outpost during the emigration days in the later 1840s and early 1850s. Located just a few miles from Johnson's Ranch, which was the fabled end of the trail for many California bound travelers. Once you reached Johnson' Ranch, you’d made it! We wanted to try and follow as much of the old trail as we could, as it wound its way in the general direction from near Timbuctoo. We would keep our eyes open for wagon ruts, trail signs, or any other indication we were on the right path.
Monica walks among the Graham Hotel and Truckee Trail markers. Graham’s hotel stood for many years servicing travelers over the old road. yo can see the wagon ruts headed over the hill in the background.
We visited the Truckee trail "T Marker" and sign for Grahams Hotel by Lake Camp Far West. At this place, the wagon ruts can be seen headed down the hill. We would try and follow the trail back from here so we headed up Camp Far West Road which we felt would give us a view of the wagon ruts on the other side of the hill. They were easy for us to spot as we knew they were coming our way, and we've gotten better at detecting these old trails. Often they are more of an impression of a trail than an obvious path, as they have generally not been traveled on for well over 15 years. Sometimes erosion wears the track into more of a gully, and other times the ruts are still quite visible. The ones coming over the hill here are in between easy to see and hard. More of a swale than a path actually, but quite obvious when we know the trail came over the hill this direction.
You can see, though very faint, the two tracks headed from the hill in the back, towards the hill directly in front. These tracks were made by thousands of metal rimed wooden wheels carrying emigrant and others wagons. Camp Far West Reservoir is just over that ridge.
Now we headed up Camp Far West Road towards a name on the map, Waldo. Waldo was known initially as Cabbage Patch, named for the cabbages that were grown to sell to travelers. We had read that Waldo or Cabbage Patch was a way-point along the old wagon road. We found out after the trip there is even a Cabbage Patch Cemetery, which we will try and find on our next trip.
I wonder what’s down that road?
At Waldo, we decided to take a side trip, which is something we do all the time. Our destination is more of a hope than written in stone. If we don't make it because something else has come up, that's OK. The secret to finding these old sites and what they hold is a willingness to change plans during the adventure. We decided to check out another name on the map, Spenceville, located down that road.
Our first inkling that Spenceville held more surprises for us, a abandoned bridge going from where to where? It wasn’t the only bridge we happened upon.
In my next post we’ll discuss Spenceville and the finds we made there!
In 1850 Timbuctoo, like most Gold Rush towns, built itself from the wealth generated by gold panning. It is located on a bluff above The Yuba River, close to the gold-bearing sand bars, but high enough to avoid flooding. Once the easy gold was panned out, they moved on to hydraulic mining of the bluffs around 1854. It's through this method of extraction that Timbuctoo gained its fabulous wealth.
Hydraulic mining in Timbuctoo.
As the town grew, it built a theater that could house 800 people, a bank, bakery, hotels, even an ice skating rink! The wealth continued to flow until 1884, when downstream farmers sued to end all hydraulic mining in the state. Hydraulic mining caused massive amounts of sediment to move downstream, causing flooding and a loss of agricultural land. It was also making riverboat travel difficult as sandbars would form and re-form, making navigation tricky. The District Court in San Francisco agreed and shut down all hydraulic mining. Timbuctoo was doomed!
Timbuctoo in 1862. The stage is passing in front of Stewart’s Wells Fargo Store.
The court ruling putting an end to hydraulic mining, which caused Timbuctoo to decline as miners their families and the businesses that grew up to support them moved away. Soon there was very little left of the town. During the 20th Century, there was an effort to preserve what little was left. Stewart's Wells Fargo Store was the most robust of what was still standing. The remaining townspeople had it preserved with a new roof and commemorative signs.
The preserved Stewart’s Store in 1945.
During the early part of the 20th Century, Timbuctoo enjoyed a revival as a historic stop on the road. It became quite popular with people looking for the story of California's history. Before 1980 the main road passed through town, making it much easier for people to stop and check it out. When Highway 20 was re-aligned in the 1980s, it bypassed Timbuctoo, and like so many other Gold Rush communities, it faded away.
Stewart’s Store today.
Soon the impetus that had driven the people to try and save the remaining structure(s) also died, and rumors of gold in the old building walls brought vandals, and they tore the old structure down. Now there are no standing structures from the early days, just a crumbling mass of bricks. You have to see the old photos and drawings of the town to get a feel for how wealthy and busy Timbuctoo was.
Monica checking out the old bridge crossing of The Yuba River.
There is so much to explore near Timbuctoo. The road coming in from the west passes over the Yuba River, where you can see the old bridge's support that crossed the river. The Town of Samrtsville is just a mile or so from Timbuctoo and has a great story of its own. Is it spelled with an "s" or not, Smartville? A little further lies Rough and Ready, a town that also built itself from gold and its spot on the old Emigrant Trail to Johnson's Ranch in Wheatland.
Timbuctoo in the 1860’s and the exact same spot today, 2018.
Here is a short video, less than 5 minutes, concerning our adventure at Timbuctoo.
Last week we took a trip to Wheatland to see the site of Johnson's Ranch, the fabled end of the Overland Emigrant Trail. The emigrants headed to California in those days mentioned Johnson's as their goal. Once there you either settled the area or headed out to start your life somewhere else anew. I knew of a state historical marker in the town square that tells of Johnson's Ranch. Here we see Monica checking it out. We assumed this was the site of the adobe and other buildings that made up this outpost.
A few miles from Wheatland is Camp Far West Reservoir, a favorite place in summer for recreation, but in fall just about deserted. We had come here to see a "T" marker showing the old route. We had seen this before and were trying to understand the trail's direction better. Following Spenceville Road towards Camp Far West reservoir, we passed this sign, a few miles east of Wheatland. It reads, "Approximately one and 1/4 miles east of this spot is the historic Johnson's Crossing..." Now we had just driven east 3 miles from Wheatland. How could Johnsons' Crossing be east of here when we read the sign in the town square that indicated it was there? If the sign is correct, Johnson's crossing was east of the Bear River. So which sign was correct? We were also a bit confused by the sign in town which mentions "Johnson's Ranch" and this latest marker that mentions "Johnson's crossing." What was Johnson's crossing?
Once at the reservoir, we spotted the "T" Marker, which indicates the direction of travel for the emigrants. The trail came down the hill and then crossed what is now an arm of water from the reservoir. We assumed the trail made a bee-line west towards Wheatland. If that's the case why did the sign on Spenceville Road indicate the "crossing" was east, somewhere below the "T" Marker? We were confused but enjoying the day of exploration. We would have to do some more research to figure out just where this Johnson's Ranch was.
At our local used bookstore, I just happened on a small book titled "The Donner Rescue Party Rescue Site, Johnson’s Ranch on Bear River," by Jack and Richard Steed. The author and his son, amateur historians like us, had also been perplexed by the actual site of Johnson's Ranch adobe. Johnson's Ranch was the place that the survivors of the Donner/ Reed Party of stranded emigrants was brought too after their rescue in The High Sierra. The book is quite fascinating and the only one we could find on Johnson's Ranch. According to the authors, the site of the adobe was lost to time until their research which placed it along the north side of the Bear River, just 1.5 miles from the town square with the historical marker. We now know that the sign in the square is merely relating that the spot it's placed was part of the 22,000-acre ranch. Not necessarily the site of the adobe home.
We will be heading back to the Wheatland area to continue our search for these historical places. We have found that sometimes the "official" version of events and locations can be incorrect. It's not often these are wrong, but enough that additional research is needed. It's after this research that the pieces sometimes come into better view. That's when we know we have found something exciting, and worth checking out again. Wheatland is one such place. The fabled "end of the trail."
Wanting to keep our trip closer to home this time, we took a quick ride to Folsom Lake. We wanted to see the old Rattlesnake Bar Bridge site, which once forded the north fork of The American River, long before Folsom Dam. When the lake is filling or filled, this area is flooded by at least 50 feet of water. The lake had left lines in the sides of the hills, and old signs of hydraulic mining along with tailings added to the weird but beautiful landscape.
Folsom Lake at low levels, Rattlesnake Bar.
We rounded a corner to see the pilings for the bridge fully exposed! We knew what they looked like from earlier photos taken during our last drought, but it's fun to see them in person. It reminds us that there were quite a few active communities located in the ravines and channels that would become Folsom Lake. Rattlesnake Bar was one such place, a town that grew because of gold, burned down, then built again just a little way up the hill. We had heard that Rattlesnake Bar was on the El Dorado County side, but this map from 1873 shows Rattlesnake Bar on the Placer County side. You can also see the bridge crossing the narrow north fork Channel and Wild Goose's old town site on The El Dorado County side. Another map from 1910, The American River Canal Map, also shows Rattlesnake Bar on the Placer County side.
1873 map of The Georgetown Divide
While gold was the main impetus for creating Rattlesnake Bar in the 1850s, the bridge facilitated the transportation of agricultural products and quicklime from the Alabaster Cave Quarry on the El Dorado County side. It was William Gwyn, discoverer of the famous Alabaster Caves, or at that time called Coral Caves, who built the first bridge in 1863. This cave was the result of a search for lime to use in the lime kiln nearby. Quicklime was created and then transported across this bridge. The Alabaster Cave soon became a tourist attraction, and the bridge helped interested people get there more quickly. You could take the train from Sacramento to Auburn, then a stage to the bridge, where you would cross to the El Dorado side and the extraordinary Alabaster Cave. We will talk about this then famous cave in a later post.
Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 25, Number 3835, 7 July 1863
The original wooden bridge, built-in 1862, was replaced with a wire suspension bridge that endured until it collapsed in 1954 under an overloaded truck's weight. Folsom Dam was under construction, and this area would soon be underwater, so the counties did not replace the bridge.
Rattlesnake Bar Bridge, 1860 or 1870’s. Notice the young child just to the left of the man standing.
The same spot today with the bridge pilings clearly visible.
Here is a short video concerning our trip to the bridge site.
Monday found Monica and I searching for the end of the Overland Emigrant Trail. There was more than one trail named "The Overland Emigrant Trail," but the one we were following is generally considered one of the oldest, and most well known. Also called the Truckee Trail it weaves its way down the west slope of The Sierra Nevada all the way from Donner Pass, or Beckworth Pass to the south. Pictured is the trail the relief party took to rescue The Donner’s, Reeds, Murphy’s and others stranded in the deep snow at Donner Lake. The survivors made there way down this very trail seen in the above photo. You can look at the ruts at the top of the hill which were created by the thousands of emigrant wagons that once crossed over what would be one of the last hills to pass before finally reaching their destination, Johnson’s Ranch.
We took these photos at Far West Reservoir Road, just east of Wheatland, the town that grew up around Johnson's Ranch. There is also a stone monument you can see in the third photo with Monica. It is for Graham hotel, built in 1853, which served travelers until 1879. The emigrants that traveled this way were not looking for gold, like later arrivals. This trail was used mostly before the gold rush of 1849 by people just looking to start a new life. Once the emigrants and other travelers passed this spot, it was only a few miles to Johnson's Ranch and the end of the trail. Once at Johnson's Ranch an immigrant would either settle nearby or head off to another part of California to start a new life.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Monica and I decided to take a Lincoln Highway road trip from Placerville to Altamont Pass. We tried to follow the "first-generation" Lincoln as much as possible. Traveling through the town of Galt, we stopped to see a rock monument to The Lincoln Highway. It features an actual piece of the concrete stamped with the contractor's name.
Lincoln Highway monument, Galt, CA. Notice the piece of Lincoln Highway concrete with the contractors name and date on the bottom.
Fast forward to Lathrop, a small town situated along Interstate 5, California’s modern-day north-south expressway. We stopped to take in a monument to the Lincoln Highway and The Wiggins Trading Post, which served travelers on The Lincoln and roads from 1924 to 1967. Nice looking monument! The only thing missing would be a piece of Lincoln Highway Concrete like the one in Galt features.
Monica checking out the monument at Wiggins Trading Post site, Lathrop, CA.
After we started driving west from the monument, we watched the Lincoln Highway Map, which we keep handy in the car. It shows the old routes, along with the recent driving routes. We watched the map as it showed the Lincoln Highway weaving in and out of the present-day road. You would never know the old highway traveled this way without the map and the occasional Lincoln Highway signs mounted on street poles. Monica and I have become pretty good at spotting pieces and paths of the old route. It was less than a quarter-mile from the monument to The Wiggins Trading Post that we saw something interesting by the side of the road.
Monica checking out the piece of Lincoln Highway concrete that caught our eye.
We parked on the other side of the road; as I approached, it was not only looking more and more like a section of Lincoln Highway concrete poking out of the dirt. Once I got close enough, I called Monica to come and check it out. It was stamped with the contractor's name and the date of June (?) 1928! It was a piece of the old highway! It wasn't on the official Lincoln Highway map, which generally lists all the historic highway features by the road's side. No mention of this original section of road. We took photos, a video and made a note of its location on our map. As soon as we got back home, we started to do some research.
We contacted the good people of The Lincoln Highway Association and asked if they knew about this artifact. No, they had not! We figure that when it comes to anything Lincoln Highway, they would know. So now it's getting exciting, as it may be a previously unknown section of the highway we discovered. This week I'll contact the San Joaquin County historical society to see if they have any knowledge of this piece of history. The Lincoln Highway Association wants to preserve this, and it's quite exciting to think that this lovely piece of history, lying by the side of the busy interstate may one day have its very own monument!
We are quite excited about our find. It goes to show that there is still plenty to be discovered and rediscovered concerning California history. The key? Get out there, keep your eyes open, and don't be afraid to take the road less traveled.
Monday took us to the high country for one last chance to enjoy it before the first snow of the season, maybe on Thursday. Monica and I had On Yesterday, Monday, we had intended to visit Yesterday, Monday, we had intended to visit Prosser Reservoir, just north of Truckee, to follow the old Emigrant Trail. We never made it! We usually pick some destination as a goal, but if we find something else along the way that interests us, we will change plans, and that's what happened Monday.
Eagle Lakes exit on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80.
On the way, we had decided to visit Eagle Lakes Road, just of Highway 80. If you turn right after exiting the freeway, you have access to the original Lincoln Highway. There is a T marker there indicating it was also the Truckee Trail Emigrant route. We had made that visit a couple of weeks ago but now wanted to turn left and cross under the freeway as we had seen some homes there, between the two expressways. The area is so narrow and surrounded by cliffs that Interstate 80 has two routes over this place. One is the eastbound lanes and the other the westbound lanes, separated by about a quarter mile. Between these two expressways, the south fork of The Yuba River passes, with a few cabins built along the river. Just as we were passing across the river, we noticed another road, which I assumed to be a lost section of Highway 40, the highway that predated Interstate 80.
Highway 40 was built in 1926 and operated as an Interstate highway system until the present Interstate 80 was constructed in 1956. Highway 40, in many cases, followed the old Lincoln Highway, which was America’s first transcontinental automobile road. In this area of The Sierras Highway 40 followed the Yuba River, while The Lincoln Highway and the emigrant trail avoided the steep, narrow canyon and followed a route on a ridge top.
On this map you can see the amazing number of trail and routes through this narrow gap in the mountains. The red line is the lost section of Highway 40 we walked. The blue line in the Emigrant Trail and the original alignment of The Lincoln Highway. The yellow line is The Union Pacific Railway, and the white lines are the two sections, eastbound and westbound of Interstate 80. What’s no shown is the oil pipeline and cable lines that also transverse this spot. Amazing place!
Once we left the car and started walking down the old roadbed, we were greeted by this fantastic rock retaining wall. They had to do this as there was no other way to support a road in this narrow canyon. It appears that after highway 40 the people who built Highway 80 decided to split the expressway and avoid this tight place. The old roadbed runs about a quarter mile to an old bridge crossing which has had the bridge removed. The remains of the bridge were used to make a retaining wall for the new Interstate 80.
Old site of Highway 40 bridge, with present day Interstate 80 bridge, westbound lanes behind.
What a fantastic find for us. I imagine very few people have seen this as most are speeding by on Interstate 80, and there are no services at The Eagle Lakes exit. It's fun to explore these old sections of road as you can hear the present travelers speeding by on the Interstate, oblivious to the history around them. This spot is an example of why we "slow down and take the road less traveled".
Here is a short video of our Eagle Lake Roads adventure.
One of our great joys is finding the actual routes of the emigrants, the emigrant trails. These are not always easy to find. In the case of The Donner Camp at Alder Creek, there are trail signs, though at times they are spaced quite far apart, or missing as the trail gets closer to Prosser Reservoir. We assumed the Donner Party set up camp along the trail, so it must be close to the Donner Tree, against which they built their winter home. Soon we spotted some small green "Emigrant Trail" markers near the tree. Following these, we realized they were not following the well-worn path from the interpretive trail, but headed through a thicket of trees and up and over a ridge. There was little to indicate the trail went up the ridge, except for the trail markers. Standing at the bottom of the hill the next trail marker was so distant we could hardly see it, but we did see it with effort, so we went that way!
There is no trail to walk in. We were traipsing through sagebrush in our shorts. We were so excited to see the trail path that we didn't notice our legs being scratched up quite nicely from the sagebrush. In some spots, we could see the outlines of ruts, made by hundreds and thousands of wagon wheels, and in other places no sign, except for the trail markers, which seemed to come in four different guises. The first, and easiest to spot where the small green "emigrant trail" shields. These looked the newest of the markers, and we have seen these same markers at various places along the Truckee Trail. The wooden markers, the ones we could read, seemed to say "Emigrant Trail" with an arrow showing the way, west. Many faded beyond recognition but seeing their outlines we knew we were on the right track.
One of the most exciting finds for us was the discovery of the unique "Donner Trail" shields that were painted on trees using white paint. The markers were splitting up as the trees had grown. They seemed the oldest of the markers we saw that day. I would love to know who painted these and the time frame.
The last marker, which was indispensable in marking a section of the path was the concrete post. It was the final sign that we were on the trail, until Prosser Reservoir, and the now flooded crossing at Alder Creek. It did not have the sign indicating "The Overland Emigrant Trail" like the one pictured in Bear Valley. We have seen a couple of these markers without their interpretive signs in a few places. Unless you knew what they represented, you would never know you're on the trail. We couldn't find any more markers from the concrete post to the reservoir.
Donner Camp at Alder Creek is a favorite spot of ours, now that we have discovered it for ourselves. The east side of The Sierra has a unique charm with its sagebrush-covered hills, and this spot is exceptionally beautiful. Anyone interested in The Overland Emigrant Trail, or the story of The Donner/Reed Party should include this place, as well as the nearby Donner Historical Park near Donner Lake in their visit.
Here is a short video of our trip to Donner Camp at Alder Creek, and our attempt to find the old Emigrant Trail.
