156 



GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK ALONG HIGHWAY 49 



[Bull. 141 



WOLF ROAD JUNCTION 



Ten miles north of Auburn at the road junction leading to Wolf 

 stands a well constructed chimney (Fig. 153), the remnant of a large 

 house. It is made of laminated chert set in mud-lime mortar and the 

 fireplace is lined with fired brick. 



One and a half miles farther on and to the left in the edge of the 

 flat, stands another chimney constructed of rough serpentine chunks. 



Elsewhere to the south the buildings originally erected with these 

 chimneys would have been of stone, but Nevada County, with its timber 

 and early sawmills, turned to frame construction, a cultural feature 

 which is responsible for the scarcity of stone buildings in the Northern 

 Diggings. 



GRASS VALLEY 



Grass Valley lies in a pine-forested region, and not long after the 

 discovery of rich placer and quartz mines there were several sawmills 

 operating here. Frame houses characterized the early architecture, but 

 a disastrous fire in 1855 led, as all through the Mother Lode country, 

 to the building of fireproof structures. The unavailability of the excellent 

 meta-andesite used so extensively farther south for stone buildings and 

 the abundance of lateritic clays which served as brick earth are in part 

 responsible for the choice of brick as the material fop durable buildings 

 in Grass Valley. To the Mother Lode traveler who by now has seen 

 a number of brick buildings, the familiar style will be immediately 

 apparent on the main business street of Grass Valley in the many store 

 fronts. The Club Cafe building is an outstanding large stone structure 

 made of serpentine and talc schist held in lime mortar (Fig. 155). A few 

 blocks south of the main street on Mill Street is a beautifully built mill 

 building (Fig. 156) of rough serpentine, talc schist, and granite blocks 

 laid in lime mortar. The window and doorframes are of brick. Nearby, 

 across the street from the Lola Montez house is a dwelling (Fig. 157) 

 constructed in a style similar to that of the mill building. One 

 distinctive stylistic trait of the local architecture is leaving the outer 

 wall of the brick fireplace chimneys flush with the outer wall of stone 

 buildings (cf. Fig. 157). 



About two miles south of Grass Valley on the west side of the road 

 are the remains of a winery built of rough-quarried granite blocks set 

 in mud mortar. Several complete buildings still stand. Figure 154 shows 

 the brick-arched entrance to one of the cellars. 



NEVADA CITY 



Like many other settlements of the Mother Lode, Nevada City has 

 acquired a surface veneer of modern life, but has still not lost the 



peculiar charm which pervades these century-old towns. This charm 

 derives from and persists by reason of the old buildings which still form 

 the physical core of present business activities. Nevada City, like its 

 age-mates farther south and north, is a holdover, a tarriant, from the 

 booming 'fifties. And not until the old brick and stone buildings are torn 

 down and the towns laid out with a view to convenience will they lose 

 their particular flavor the Mother Lode town is something unique, and 

 something with universal appeal. This observation we submit as impor- 

 tant, since too many visitors (and guidebooks) are overhnpressed with 

 the romantic history which takes the form of a recital of lynchings, the 

 size of gold nuggets found, or how many million dollars in gold dust 

 passed through the doors of this or that building, and thereby fail to 

 appreciate the country and the old cities for what they are. 



The largest stone building here is the old brewery (Fig. 158), now a 

 cafe, built of quarried undressed granite. In the wall facing the alley 

 may be seen the distinctive trait of leaving the brick chimney flush with 

 the outer face of the main wall. The two-story brick firehouse (Fig. 159) 

 and the Ott Assay Office built in 1851 (now covered with a stucco front) 

 are typical of the early brick architecture of Nevada City. The common 

 stone in this area is granite, and one will see numerous retaining walls 

 along the sloping streets of this material. 



TOWNS IN VICINITY OF FRENCH CORRAL 



West of Grass Valley on Highway 15 lies Rough and Ready, first 

 occupied in 1848, and during the Civil War the scene of a local secession- 

 ist flurry. There are no outstanding stone buildings in Rough and Ready. 

 Beyond is Timbuctoo, named, it is said, for the birthplace of a negro 

 slave settler, which still exhibits one excellent brick-fronted, fieldstone- 

 walled store built in the early 'fifties. Turning east on the way to French 

 Corral one passes over the Middle Fork of the Yuba in the famous 

 covered bridge. Bridgeport can boast many excellent dry-laid granite 

 walls and fences. 



Two lone brick buildings mark the permanent remains of French 

 Corral. The Milton Mining and Water Company Building, which also 

 served as the Wells Fargo Express Office (Fig. 160) is remarkably well 

 preserved. Here in 1877, according to a brass plate affixed to its front, 

 the Ridge Telephone Company operated the first long distance telephone 

 line in the world. The line connected French Corral via Sweetland, North 

 San Juan, North Columbia Hill, North Bloomfield and Graniteville with 

 Milton and Bowman Lake, 58 miles away. The second brick building, 

 which now serves as a barn, was a store (Fig. 161). Four miles beyond 

 the traveler comes again to Highway 49 and not far north is North 

 San Juan. 



