148 



GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY 49 



[Bull. 141 



FIG. 134. Cobblestone building with rhyolite tuff facing, Coloma, DMBS EU1-H17. 



FIG. 1.S5. Robert Hell store, Coloma, DMBS Eld-HlS. 



LOTUS 



Lotus, once called Uniontown, participated in the earliest gold placer 

 activities because of its proximity to Coloma. One quarter of a mile south 

 of Lotus on the west side of the road is the basement remnant of an old 

 building made of rough-quarried granite blocks. Two iron doors still 

 remain as witness of the eighteen-fifties period when it was built. The 

 Uniontown School, built in 1869, is of brick and is still in use. The Adam 

 Lohry Store (Fig. 132) and residence, both built of brick in 1859, are 

 excellent examples of brick structures of the period. 



COLOMA 



Other Mother Lode towns may claim their own first this or that, but 

 Coloma 's historic significance is unequalled as the spot where James 

 Wilson Marshall picked up on January 24, 1848 the first grains of gold 

 in the tailrace of Captain Sutter's sawmill. These bits of gold were the 

 harbingers of the great Gold Rush which is the foundation of our State. 

 Marshall lies buried on the hill where his heroic bronze statute stands. 

 Coloma exists today as a community whose population is less in numbers 

 than its age in years. A number of the old buildings still stand. Among 

 the more interesting is the old jail of the early 'fifties whose three foot 

 thick walls of dressed granite have been partly removed (Fig. 133). Two 

 buildings built in 1850-51 and now owned by the State Division of Parks, 

 have iron doors, river cobblestone walls and dressed rhyolite tuff facing 

 blocks (Fig. 134). The Robert Bell store of brick constructed about 1856 

 (Fig. 135) and Bekeart's Store of brick built in 1853 (Fig. 136) are still 

 standing. On the back streets may be seen fences of piled rhyolite tuff 

 blocks which came from an old winery operating in the 'sixties. Several 

 of the old wooden buildings in and around Coloma are built, in part, of 

 lumber cut in the now-vanished Sutter sawmill in 1850-53. 



MEYER'S DANCE HALL 



Just above Lotus, after crossing the South Fork of the American 

 River, about a mile and a half below the spot where James Marshall dis- 

 covered gold in 1848, one sees to the left the splendid two story stone ruin 

 of Meyer's Dance Hall and Saloon (Fig. 137). The walls are of granite 

 fieldstone or river boulders split so as to furnish a flat facing. The cor- 

 ners, door and window frames are of dressed rhyolite tuff blocks. Source 

 of this tuff was probably to the south in the vicinity of Diamond Springs. 

 A half mile beyond on the left side of the road is a foundation built into 

 the sidehill next to the road. It is of split granite fieldstone laid with lime 

 mortar. About a half mile on and just past a prosperous farm, is a com- 

 plex of stone foundations made of granite fieldstone laid with lime mortar. 

 After crossing the next bridge, there may be seen along the stream terrace 

 to the left several ruins of granite fieldstone buildings (Fig. 138). 



