SURVEY OF BUILDING STRUCTURES OF THE SIERRAN GOLD BELT, 1848-70 HEIZER AND FENENGA 



129 



JACKSON 



Like Sonora, Jamestown, San Andreas, and Placerville, Jackson is 

 a 'forty-nine camp which has successfully made the transition from a 

 boom town to a modern progressive community. Like the others in this 

 class, its main street has assumed a surface veneer of parking meters, new 

 metal trim and glass fronts, but to the person who gives the business 

 houses a second look, many of the buildings show the characteristic fea- 

 tures of the 1850 's when they were erected. 



Jackson is primarily a brick town. After the disastrous early fires, 

 which destroyed the frame structures, brick rather than stone was 

 employed to rebuild a permanent and fireproof town. Among brick struc- 

 tures which are approaching the age of centenarians are the National 

 Hotel (Fig. 96), the Wells Fargo Building (Fig. 97), the Amador County 

 Courthouse (built 1854), the Native Daughters of the Golden West Hall, 

 and a large number of the single story main street stores. Among the 

 better early stone buildings built of meta-andesitic agglomerate which 

 was secured from the basement excavations or hillside quarries is the old 

 Marre Store. 



JACKSON GATE 



Not far beyond Jackson lies Jackson Gate. Here the main old build- 

 ing is Chichizola's store (Fig. 98) whose thick stone walls have withstood 

 nearly a century's ravages of weather. Just before entering Jackson Gate 

 there are to be seen two tremendous upright wooden wheels whose purpose 

 was to lift mill tailings up the hill for disposal. Their diameters are 58 

 feet and they are now nearly half a century old. 



SUTTER CREEK 



Across the highway from the Central Eureka mine on the crest of 

 Sutter Hill is the Botto Granary built in 1869. It is of dressed field stone 

 (andesitic breccia) obtained on the property. With its iron doors and 

 plastered interior, it stands as an excellent example of the enduring archi- 

 tecture of the Mother Lode (Fig. 99). Sutter Creek, like Placerville, has 

 made a valiant effort to modernize its main street, but the quaintness of 

 the 1 850 styles as shown by the Sorocco Store, Brignoli Store, American 

 Exchange Hotel, Methodist Church and Masonic Hall cannot be so easily 

 eradicated these retain the essential simplicity and solidity of the period 

 in which they originated. 



FIG. 90. I. O. O. F. Hall, Mokelumne Hill, HANS 1281-2. 



NT . > 



FIG. 91. Mater building, Mokelumne Hill, DMBS Ciil-H2G. 



