Finding Historic "C" Markers

California roads before 1896 we mostly built by towns, cities, counties, or in many cases, private individuals or companies. There were no state highways or roads until 1896, when the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road in El Dorado County became the first. It was built by private funds, then run by the county, and finally taken over by the state.

The early state highway "right of way" was often less than accurate, using surveying techniques that relied on trees, buildings, rocks, or other objects to determine the road property boundaries. What was needed was a permanent, uniform marker that would act as a survey point. Enter the California "C" Marker.

Monica by a “C” Marker

These concrete markers, used from 1914 to 1934, would be placed at curves, intersections, and regular intervals along straightaways. The posts are 6" x 6" x 42" long. The top 6 to 8 inches projects above the ground and is what we see today, in most cases. There is also a 3/16"x6" copper wire set at the top to show the exact angle to measure. You can see it in the photo below.

Metal wire at top center of “C” Marker.

You can still see these markers along many old state roads that are today county or city roads. We will find them when following the old Lincoln Highway through El Dorado and Placer Counties. The photo below shows one on Sisley Road in Penryn, which, back before the construction of Highway 40 nearby was the Lincoln Highway. While the Lincoln Highway was a transcontinental route, each state the highway passed through was responsible for that part of the road.

Shown in the photo below in El Dorado County, along the old Lincoln Highway route, at Forni and Highway 49, is this one painted. We could find no evidence that the State of California ever painted the markers. Looks cool, and it's nice to see the homeowner take notice.

Painted “C” Marker, Forni Road and Highway 49.

It's not just the Lincoln Highway with the markers, but many of the old state highways. When we search for lost alignments of the Lincoln Highway or other state highways, coming upon one of these markers helps determine we're on the right track. The photo below shows a beat-up one at the Cronin Ranch at Pedro Hill, the old Highway 49 route through Pilot Hill before the road was re-aligned.

Beat-up “C” Marker at Cronin Ranch, Pedro Hill Road, El Dorado County.

Keep your eyes open for these old markers. Usually placed about 15 feet from the center of the old road, especially near curves in the old road. You never know who might join you in your search for "C" markers.

Along the old Lincoln Highway, Old Frenchtown Road, El Dorado County.

The old Lotus Bridge site, and the Georgetown Divide history tour

Join us as we begin the Georgetown Divide History tour! The tour can start anywhere along the route, but we will use the crossing at the south fork of the American River in our example. This tour will eventually make a complete loop bringing us back to the starting point. Google powers the map we will be using and will allow you to use your cell phone device to follow and enjoy the various features we will learn. Once we have discussed a historical point of interest and "put it on the map," we will move on to the next spot. Eventually, we will have a "tour" you can use to explore our history-rich region. The map is located here on our webpage under "maps."

Close-up of the 1873 map of the Georgetown Divide. A link for this map is available in our map section here.

Our first stop along the tour is the old road route and bridge site across the south fork of The American River at Lotus. Looking at a close-up of the 1873 map of the Georgetown Divide above, you see two arrows. One shows the old Lotus crossing site near Hennigson Park, and the other shows the approximate route of the present-day bridge.

The old Lotus Bridge.

The old route used to cross the river at the present-day site of Henningson Park. Standing at the shore of the river, you can still see the concrete foundations for the old bridge sitting in the water. Once you crossed the bridge, the old road followed Beach Street towards the present-day Highway 49. We have drawn in the old route on our tour map so we can better visualize the way.

The Georgetown Divide History tour

The bridge was damaged by high waters in 1950 and ceased use when the present crossing, a bit upriver, was built in 1951. That bridge was replaced in 2019 by the bridge that stands today over the south fork of the American River. Join us as we continue our tour of the Georgetown Divide and visit the next site on our journey, the location, and ruins of the old Meyer's Dance Hall and Saloon.

A quiet road in Roseville

Here we see an unidentified rural road, somewhere in Roseville. It looks as if the road is headed up and over an obstacle. Perhaps the railroad tracks, water ditch, or a road.

It’s fun, and sometimes a bit frustrating trying to identify these old photos without any information. This one came with “Roseville, Ca” written on the front, so that helps. The cancelation on the postcard shows 1908. This photo will be posted at our Placer County Facebook page where someone from that area may be able to pin-point the location. Do you know where this is in Roseville?

Wimpy's Fireplace

This building still stands along California route 174, which is the old Highway 40, and before that the Lincoln Highway. just north of Colfax. It's an unusual shape for a house, so when I came upon this photograph, it helped to identify what it was. Wimpy's Fireplace served food during the era of Highway 40 before Interstate 80 bypassed this area.

This place is just past the site of the Quonset Hut motel, so it may well have been the place to get grub when staying the night in your Quonset hut. Notice how the building doesn't face the road straight on. The road used to pass right in front of the building and up the small hill.

Does anyone have more information about Wimpy's Fireplace?

Today’s view.

Location.

Sam Kyburz house, Clarksville

Pictured above is the old home of Sam Kyburz, located in Clarksville. Kyburz arrived in California from Wisconsin in 1846, just a couple of years before the gold discovery at Coloma. Kyburz was originally from Switzerland, and soon became friends with fellow Swiss emigre, John Sutter of Sutters Fort, in what would later be known as, Sacramento. Sam soon became Sutter’s foreman and may even have told Sutter that Coloma would be a great place to put a sawmill.

Kyburz operated the inn at Sutters Fort during the 1850s but fled to the nearby foothills when the disastrous floods of 1861-62 inundated Sacramento. Sam and his wife Rebecca found work at the White Rock Inn, just east of Clarksville. Either Sutter gave Kyburz 160 acres of land nearby, or he purchased it outright, the facts are not clear.

It was one of Sam’s sons, Albert, who purchased a resort along Silver Fork, east of Placerville. In his family’s honor, he gave the post office the name Kyburz.

The home pictured was built for the family by a Mr. Ball in 1868. This Mr. Ball would later marry their daughter. Samual Kyburz, Sr. was a charter member of the Clarksville Grange, one of the first Native Sons of the Golden West, a Territorial Pioneer’s of ‘49 and ‘50, and a Mason. Samuel Sr. died in 1898, and Rebecca died in 1903. Both Sam and Rebecca are buried in Folsom

10th Annual Clarksville Day’s, May 2, 2020

The annual Clarksville Days will be coming up on Saturday, May 2, 2020. Its an opportunity to visit this historic town, which lies behind locked gates. The Lincoln Highway Association and I will be there, helping to explain and show the famous old road that comes right through this historic town.

This year the focus will be on raising enough funds to repair the rock built Pony Express station that requires shoring up. The Clarksville Historical Society says,” securing the walls will be complicated and expensive, but it is considered one of the iconic remnants of the historic town. Please help us preserve this asset by donating, volunteering, and spreading the word about our efforts to protect what remains. We are seeking $30,000 in fundraising to make this happen! Please donate today.”

On the Lincoln Highway, headed down the Bass Lake Grade, towards Clarksville.

El Dorado Hills, as well as all history enthusiasts, have an opportunity to save and protect this iconic historic community in its back yard. Go here for more information about Clarksville and the Clarksville Days event.

Tobacco growing in Placer County

This photo shows the Whitney Ranch located in the today’s City of Rocklin. Joel Parker Whitney arrived in San Francisco in 1852 at the age of seventeen. Starting in 1855, Parker’s father and brothers began acquiring land in the Rocklin area and building a sheep ranch that they named Spring Valley Ranch. Eventually, the farm would cover some 128, 400 acres of land.

Whitney’s ranch included sheep and a wide variety of agricultural products, and as the above photo indicates, tobacco. During the 19th Century, there was a push to grow tobacco in California, where the climate was so conducive to producing so many different crops. The absence of summer rain was notable as late rains would harm the plant, which happened more frequently back in the southeast, and the southern US, where summer showers were a regular occurrence. This article below is from the Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895, talks about the exciting future for tobacco growing in California.

Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895

It appears that the growing of tobacco in California was a happening thing during the late 19th Century. Why it never took off, with most being grown in the southern United States, I don’t know.

The Rolling Hills Hotel

Here we see Oscar Fleming driving a wagon past the old Rolling Hills Hotel on the Coloma-Folsom Road. Now known as Green Valley Road, the road was heavily traveled with miners and others using it to reach the goldfields from the Sacramento Valley. Along the way were "Roadhouses," which were the motels of their times. Horses, and people needed to eat, sleep and get supplies as they traveled, and the roadhouses often supplied these.

The first roadhouse one would have reached after crossing the county line into El Dorado County was The Kentucky House, which we talked about here. Just past the Kentucky House, was the Rolling Hills Hotel, owned by Charles Post, pictured above. The Hotel, built in the 1850s, was about halfway up the hill that rises from Folsom to El Dorado Hills, just before Francisco Drive. The Hotel was a large two-story frame building, which by 1912, as seen in the above photo, was already falling apart.

New York Ravine, Salmon Falls

An 1894 or 1895 photo shows Aurthur G Moore, at the ranch of George Crooks of New York Ravine, Salmon Falls. Aurthur was a Civil War vet who came to California to search for gold along the river. He was also a worker for the Natoma Ditch Company until he returned home to the east coast. I find the picture fascinating considering this man’s experiences from the Civil War, gold-seeking in California, and back home to the east coast. Imagine the stories he could tell.

This photo shows the George Crooks family and ranch around 1889 in New York Ravine, Salmon Falls. Pictured from left to right, Mrs. George F. (Janet Crooks) Walker, her daughter Ida Walker, George Crooks, Mrs. Charles F. (Eleanor J Crooks) Anderson, Ada Crooks, and Mrs. George (Eleanor J Crooks).

Salmon Falls was an essential stop on the Georgetown Road, which today is known as Salmon Falls Road. All you see was inundated with the completion of the Folsom Dam in 1955.

The descriptions of who is in the photo did miss one person who sits in the wagon seen here. It looks like a younger man or boy.

The above 1873 map shows Salmon Falls, long before Folsom Lake inundated all the surrounding area including the town of Salmon Falls.

The map above shows the site of Salmon Falls, now under Folsom Lake.

Photos from the Placer County Museums.

Georgetown fire of 1869

Georgetown, like so many Gold Rush towns, had its share of devastating fires. The first in 1852 burned the brand new city to the ground. The old town had in the area off Lower Main Street. As the new town was rebuilt at its present site, extra-wide streets which we see today were constructed to prevent the spreading of embers from building to building.

The town organized a fire department, The Mountaineer Hook and Ladder Company, in 1854. They paraded their new Engine #1 on the Fourth of July Parade of 1856, only to find themselves battling a fire three days later, which started in the business section of the new town and quickly spread to engulf most of the city, including the new fire engine.

Photo: Placer County Museums Written on photo: “Georgetown, El Dorado Co., 1869”

Church Street was saved when the women of town used the then open Georgetown Ditch to gather water and pass it along to the men that were arriving from the outlying mining claims to battle the fire. Only the Shannon Knox House and the town hall on upper Main Street were saved.

A fire on August 18th of 1858 was extinguished before it destroyed the whole town, but on May 28th, 1869, a fire originating in the Miners Hotel on Main Street would quickly spread to engulf much of Georgetown. This fire was suspicious as the owner of the Miners Hotel, a Mr. Stahlam, survived the fire, but his wife, three children, and the mother's helper were all killed, as the doors were locked, preventing their escape.

Photo: Placer County Museums Written oh Photo: “Georgetown burned, May 1869”

These rare photographs show the townspeople looking through the remains of their town, which they would rebuild with better construction and thicker block and brick walls.

The W A Thomas Store, Roseville

The W. A. Thomas Store, located on the corner of Atlantic and Lincoln Streets, was the first store in the new town of Roseville, California. Built-in 1865 by W A Thomas, who had run the 15 Mile House near Sylvan Corners for the previous 16 years. It had only been the year earlier that this new town of Roseville has its name mentioned in newspapers, relating to the 1864 presidential election.

Sylvan Corners had been a busy place with the hundreds of teamsters and wagons passing by. However, with the railroad's completion, the wagon road business fell off, so W A Thomas moved to the new town next to the railroad tracks, Roseville.

The Thomas store provided goods for sale, rooms for rent on the top floor, bakery, and the local post office. Thomas would also buy up grain from local farmers and had a wagon shop as well.

Photo: Placer County Museums

Thomas’s son, Lee Dignus Thomas joined the business in 1870 and for the next few years was one of the towns leading businesses. The building was torn down in 1910.

The most massive advertisement on the storefront in both historic photographs is for “Oliver Chilled Plows.” What's a "chilled plow?" Before the 1850s, farmers used wooden plows that had a metal edge. They would break easily, and the dirt would stick to the blade. In 1857 James Oliver patented his “chilled plow,” which featured metal that had been “chilled” while in a mold, making for a much harder edge, that soil would fall off quickly instead of sticking to it, revolutionizing the plowing of fields.

Be sure to check out the Roseville Historical Society website, which I highly recommend for information regarding the history of the town.