The Leaves have begun to change colors and days are shorter and the temperature has dropped here in the Mother lode. The Rivers are at there lowest but getting colder and colder with each passing day. Lets take a drive down highway 49 to two of my favorite Gold rush towns in the Mother lode Dowieville and Sierra City along the North Yuba River to see what the water levels and the fall colors of the leaves.
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Downieville
is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Sierra County, California, United States. Downieville is on the North Fork of the Yuba River, at an elevation of 2,966 feet. The 2020 United States census reported Downieville's population was 290.
Elevation: 2,966′
Population: 99 (2020)
Area code: 530
ZIP codes: 95936
Gold was discovered here by Francis Anderson on September 14, 1849. Anderson had joined Phil A. Haven that same year along the North Yuba River.
Downieville was founded in late 1849 during the California Gold Rush, in the Northern Mines area. It was first known as "The Forks" for its geographical location at the confluence of the Downie River and North Fork of the Yuba River.
It was soon renamed after Major William Downie (1820-1893), the town's founder. Downie was a Scotsman who had led an expedition of nine miners, seven of them African American men, up the North Fork of the Yuba River in the Autumn of 1849. At the present site of the town they struck rich gold, built a log cabin, and settled in to wait out the winter. By 1850, Downieville had 15 hotels, 4 bakeries, 4 butcher shops, and numerous saloons
Josefa Segovia, a young Californio resident of the town, was lynched by a mob on July 5, 1851.] The lynch mob held a mock trial, and accused her of killing an American miner. The mock trial quickly led to hanging her from the Jersey Bridge in town. Segovia was the first and only hanging of a woman in the history of California.
In 1853 Downieville was vying to become the new state capital of California, along with fifteen other California communities to replace Vallejo. The capital was moved to Benicia for a year, and then in 1854 to Sacramento.
The Northern Mines area of the gold rush had a number of mining camps with colorful names, such as Brandy City (originally known as Strychnine City),[10] Whiskey Diggins, Poverty Hill, Poker Flat, and Camptonville. Many of these camps disappeared after the gold rush or became ghost towns. Downieville had reached a peak population of over 5,000 people in 1851, but by 1865 had significantly declined.[8] It survived due to its status as the county seat of government in Sierra County, and from its geographic location between Sacramento Valley and Tahoe region/Nevada destinations.
Sierra City
is a census-designated place in Sierra County, California, United States. The elevation of Sierra City is 4,147 feet, and the town is situated in the canyon of the North Yuba River on California State Route 49, twelve miles northeast of the county seat of Sierra County, Downieville.
Elevation: 4,147′
Population: 84 (2020)
Before the California Gold Rush, only Native Americans had ventured into the area, which lies northwest of Lake Tahoe on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and which lay between areas inhabited by Maidu, Nisenan, and Washo peoples
A settlement was established in 1850 by Philo A. Haven and Joseph Zumwalt, who were also involved with the settling of Downieville (Sinnott). In the Winter of 1852-53, however, an avalanche of snow destroyed the settlement, which was not rebuilt for several years. Ferdinand, Gustav, and Christian Reis purchased several mining claims near the Sierra Buttes and began to resettle Sierra City, which had a peak population of 3,000 during the decade after gold was discovered in California (1849).
Numerous hard-rock gold mines were developed on both sides of the North Yuba River Canyon near Sierra City. These include the Colombo Mine, the Independence Mine, the Keystone Mine, the Monumental Mine, the Great Sierra Buttes Mine, and the William Tell Mine. The Monumental Nugget, weighing over 106 pounds avoirdupois, was recovered in September 1869.
Placer mining was also practiced and continues today on the banks of the North Yuba. On February 10, 1963, Alec M. Ostrom of Sierra City discovered a nugget weighing 8 troy ounces while placer mining (Sinnott.)
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