Adventures in California History

View Original

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.