SURVEY OF BUILDING STRUCTURES OF THE SIERRAN GOLD BELT 1848-70 



Hy HOBKRT F. HKI/.KR and FKANKUX FKXENGA 



OUTLINE OF REPORT 



Page 



INTRODUCTION 



Introduction | History 



object'Vfthe'surveyll IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ill California, first seen by Caucasians almost exactly 50 years after 



Acknowledgment* -. th e discovery of America, lived for three hundred vears as a distant 



Itdi/.atmn of fireproof budding materials 



Mariposa and neglected outpost of Spain and her satellite, Mexico. Of all the 



Horuktm' " ~ historic events in which California has participated, none has so stirred 



Mt.ophir- the imagination or achieved such significance as the discovery of gold 



SUJby - IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII l<)2 by James Wilson Marshall at Coloma on January 24, 1848, and the 



French Mills _ () o ] t | R USU O f 'forty-nine and the 'fifties. In the centurv since the gold 



('oultcrvillt* __ -iu 



isig Oak Flat.- discovery, California has achieved a population in excess of 10 million, 



Mountain 'i'-'a^'I loo anc ^ many of its citizens are descendants of the early argonauts; but 



Knights Ferry _ the days of the Gold Rush are over, and the gold region has turned to 



j'amestown ~'. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 107 other things. Nature had mined and milled the gold-bearing rocks in 



Sonora _ - 108 her rivers for millions of years, and after the golden harvest had been 



Shawn FiaT~ reaped from the recent stream bottoms and exposed Tertiary gravel 



Tie'iones"' 1 deposits, the great Gold Rush was over. Underground mining began 



Carson Hill _ only 18 months after Marshall's discovery, and continues today, but 



"vngei's camp" ^ e number of worked out and abandoned mines far exceeds those in 



Aitaville present operation. Hydraulic placer mining went into decline in 1884 



\ JllltTltn -l.Lr> 



Murph.vs " and ceased, for all practical purposes, with the Caminetti act of 1893. 



s'iTt''s Trill''* Vafle'T Although the word gold is automatically associated with the Mother 



Jenny J.ind __. Lode, this is true largely in a historic sense the present day is one of 



I>o"to'\vu' < different economic interests and exploitation. Lumbering, building stone 



San Andreas _ quarrying, cement kilns, the tourist trade, and farming have replaced 



Mokeltimne Hill 1-^8 



j,i ( .kson 129 f~ r ' extraction as a means ot livelihood. Or over five hundred towns 



Jackson Oate which developed in the gold region between 1848 and 1860, more than 



Sll 1 1 IT ( r<*(*K _ \*t 



Volcano _ 50 percent have disappeared from the present day maps. Of the other 



Drvtown' half, most exist as place names, and only a small portion are thriving 



Plymouth _ communities at present. Survival has been possible only through develop- 



Knuc'ciTv i: in S local resources other than gold. 



Logtown 1. 144 



Kl Dorado". Object of the Survey 



Diamond Springs _ 144 _, 



riacerville 145 Hie present study concerns the permanent buildings ot stone and 



fllt'i'is'' S '" '""'* " 148 c ^ a y built " a t^ 6 &ld mining region in the two decades following the 



Coioma ^ 148 sold discovery. These buildings are the enduring monuments raised bv 



Meyer's Dance Hall 148 



l>ii;,t Hill 150 the men who came in answer to the call of gold. Each year sees more of 



Kelsey"" IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 150 them destroyed through -neglect or intent, and it was in the hope of 



Ijouisvdie .. recording certain essential information on the condition and construc- 



(ieorgetoxvn 1"U 



(Jreenxx-ood _ tion of the accessible remaining structures that this survey was under- 

 taken. Our project is potentially valuable in economic terms. The bricks 



crass' Vallev 1 ''' ' 1 ''" ~ '- I molded of local clays all the way from Mariposa to North San Juan have 



Nevada City . withstood a near-centurv of foothill weather, surely a strong recom- 



Towns in vicinity of French Corral !><> . 



North San Juan mendation tor the quality of the brick earths of the region. In western 



HMdiogra'phy'I ;iIIIIIIIIII"IIIIIIIIII"IiriIIIIIIIIII 164 Amador and El Dorado Counties the abundant rhyolite tuff, used locally 



(91) 



