144 



GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY 49 



[Bull. 141 



FIG. 124. Detail of iron-shuttered window and tuff-framed doorway in rear 

 of building shown in Fig. 121, DMBS Eld-H6, H7. 



FIG. 12."). Kh.volite tuff building, west edge of Diamond Springs. DMHS Eld-H8. 



LOGTOWN 



Logtown is located in Logtown Ravine about midway between 

 Plymouth and El Dorado. In the little flat near which was once the site 

 of Logtown are two stone house ruins. One, seen through the cottonwoods 

 on the west side of the road (Fig. 119) , is of especial interest because laid 

 in the mortared walls of meta-andesite are a number of beautifully pol- 

 ished, mottled granodiorite millstones from an old arrastre (Fig. 120). 

 Fifteen of these arrastre stones average 22 inches long, 15 inches wide, 

 and 10 inches thick. Others even larger occur in the vicinity at random, 

 as though they were too heavy to be of use. On the back surface of the 

 stones are three conjoined drill holes which received iron eye-bolts to 

 which the chains were attached. All show a smooth, undulating, grind- 

 ing surface marred only by curved scratches formed by contact with the 

 quartz ore. Many have flat or rounded sides which were caused by contact 

 with the sides of the arrastre walls (cf. Fig. 139). 



Across the road and up the slope is a second ruin built of granodiorite 

 fieldstone. The door lintel is a heavy, flat slab of schist imported from 



some other locality. 



EL DORADO 



Formerly named Mud Springs, El Dorado can boast a larger number 

 of 1850 buildings than many larger Mother Lode towns. The most impos- 

 ing structure is a group of three buildings of dressed rhyolite tuff built 

 in 1855 (Figs. 121, 122). The westernmost of the three (now a garage) 

 has side walls of fieldstone which is largely meta-andesite agglomerate. 

 The Hill Building now the Wilson garage, erected in 1857 is of the local 

 rhyolite tuff. At the west end of town is a large stone and frame building 

 faced with dressed rhyolite tuff (Fig. 123) and with the walls of meta- 

 andesite fieldstone held in lime mortar. The iron doors and shutters (Fig. 

 124) are still present, and in the rear is a doorway framed with rhyolite 

 tuff blocks (Fig. 124). Some early brick buildings ( Charley lackson Store, 

 Nathan Rhine's Store and the Gold Nugget building) may also be seen. 



DIAMOND SPRINGS 



Several buildings erected in the 'fifties still stand in Diamond Springs 

 and are in present day use. The transition from the roaring 'fifties to the 

 prosaic present is exemplified by the old Wells Fargo Express Office 

 now under different management with a sign in front reading ' ' Mom 's 

 Kitchen." It is built of attractive gray -brown dressed rhyolite tuff blocks 

 whose sources was nearby Pleasant Valley. The site of the famous Golden 

 West Hotel built in 1856 is marked by a vacant lot littered with large 

 dressed facing blocks of rhyolite tuff. Louis Lepetit's Store, erected in 

 1857, is the modern Red and White Store. Toward the west end of town 

 are two buildings fashioned of dressed rhyolite tuff, one on the south side 

 of the road and now abandoned, the other, used at present as a hay barn 

 (Fig. 125), was originally a general store. The I.O.O.F. Hall, made of 

 wood (1852) rests on a foundation wall of brick with dressed rhyolite 

 tuff corners. 



