The Empire Mine is the site of the oldest, largest, and richest gold mine in California. From 1850 to its closing in 1956, it produced 5.8 million ounces of gold.This 5.8 million ounces of gold would fill a box 7 feet on each side. It is estimated that this represented only 20% of the available gold…80% remains. The Park contains many of the original mine buildings, the owners cottage and the restored gardens and grounds as well as the entrance to 367 miles (the equivalent of a round trip from Grass Valley to San Jose) of abandoned and flooded shafts and tunnels. The park consists of 845 acres of forested back country and 12 miles of trails for hikers, bikers and horseback riders.

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The need for rail service in the semi-mountainous and wooded area of Grass Valley and Nevada City was precipitated by mining operations subsequent to the California Gold Rush. In addition, timber operators wanted to make their land accessible to the Southern Pacific Company in Colfax. On March 20, 1874, the California legislature and Governor Newton Booth approved the right to build and operate a narrow gauge railroad from Colfax, through Grass Valley, to Nevada City. On June 20, an Act of Congress granted the railroad right of way through public lands.

J. H. Bates estimated that construction and equipment would total $411,132. Only one bid came in and it was for $500,000, signed by M. F. Beatty; he received a lump sum of $500,000. Construction began January 1875. Knox were subcontracted for earthwork. John Flint Kidder was the chief engineer. Within two months, 600 men were employed in the railroad’s construction.

Construction included two bridges, two tunnels, and five trestles. After leaving the Colfax depot, the road headed north, parallel with the Central Pacific Railroad, then crossed Bear River, and into Nevada County. One of the first stations was at the town of You Bet which serviced the Goodwin Drift Gravel Mine. The road proceeded into Chicago Park, a fruit and grape growers colony, and then continued into Grass Valley. All cars and locomotives had Westinghouse railway brakes, and cars used for passenger service had Miller Platform couplers. As the first contractor, Beatty, was unable to complete the project, a second, J. K. Bynre, was brought in; construction was completed in the spring of 1876. The inaugural train, from Colfax to Grass Valley, ran on April 11 and by May 20, the first train reached Nevada City.

The company’s first President was John C. Coleman, president of the North Star Mine. Kidder, the builder, decided to settle down in Grass Valley, becoming the General Superintendent, and in 1884, became the second president. Upon his death in 1901, Kidder’s widow, Sarah, took over, becoming the first female railroad president in the world.

In September 1907, a 3.56 mi (5.73 km) “cut-off”, at a cost of $132,285 was built, bettering the grade. The following year, construction was completed on the Bear River Bridge. By 1912, the NCNGRR was running three mixed trains daily, each way, between Nevada City and Colfax, while a fourth mixed train ran daily, each way, between Grass Valley and Colfax. Sarah Kidder sold her interests in 1913 and retired to San Francisco.

In 1926, Earl Taylor and his associates purchased the railroad for $1. With the outbreak of World War II, they sold it in 1942 for $251,000 to Dulian Steel Products Company and the last train to run over the line was on May 29.

Each combination coach had a small iron safe in the baggage compartment. Though $200,000,000 in gold was hauled out of Nevada County by the NCNGRR during its operation, there was never an attempted robbery.

Resources for further information:

Nevada County Narrow Gage Museum

Approximate location map of the museum on Kidder Court, map is a little off of exact location. But this will get you there.

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Momument to Sheriff David Fulton Douglass

This monument to Sheriff  David Fulton Douglass is located just off of Airport Road near Nevada City, California.  It lays in the woods all by itself, with no houses nearby.  The monument represents where, on July 26, 1896, Sheriff Douglass, along with a bandit, shot and killed each other.  They are both buried at this spot. The story of what happened on that faithful day is as follows:

David Douglass, Sheriff of Nevada County, California, followed the footprints of two road agents through the underbrush, his big Colt .44 at the ready. Suddenly Douglas stepped into a clearing where, a short distance away, a man was swinging a pistol in his direction.

Douglas was quicker with the .44 and it kicked in his hand as he thumbed off several shots. Hit twice, the man with the revolver fell, mortally wounded.  The date was July 26, 1896, and within seconds, Sheriff Douglass himself would lay dead.

How this all started a few days earlier, William Engle’s freight wagon was held up on the Lake City Road.  Engle turned over $14 to the man. On the 18th, a fruit peddler, traveling the same road, found himself looking down the barrel of a revolver. The view cost him $30.

On July 26th, learning that footprints had been seen not far from Sugar Loaf Mountain, a mile or so behind Nevada City, Douglass drove out in a buggy to check the tracks. He tied the baggy to a tree and started following two sets of footprints.  They led him to the little clearing where he met the man with the revolver, and his own death.

Years later, in 1961 a third man living in Sacramento would confess that he had been the one who killed Sheriff Douglass.

Source The Mystery of the “Third Man” American Cowboy

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