Bourn Cottage

I believe that one of the nuggets of Nevada County is the Empire Mine State Park. Located in Grass Valley, nestled among tall pines, oaks and cedars, it has been brought back to its original grandeur of the mining days of old.

This is really one of the state parks that is a must visit. To mention some of the activities there are 12 miles of beautiful trails for hiking, mountain bike riding and horse back riding. I have ridden my mountain bike on many of the trails and the trails range from flat to very, very steep. Visting the park is like going back in time to the 49′s era, seeing how the miners worked and how the rich mine owners lived.

Hardrock Trail - Photo by Jeff Herman

Tours are available inside the Bourn Cottage, as Volunteers in period dress recreate characters from Empire’s colorful past. This two story country home of William Bourn, Jr., styled after the noble estates of nineteenth century England, was built in the late 1890′s. The architecture is distinguished by a remarkable redwood interior, leaded glass windows and massive granite walls. Cottage Living History tours are available every weekend May through mid-October.

A brief history of the mine:

“For more than a century, from 1850 to 1956, the grumblings and rumblings of the stamp mill could be heard for miles around Grass Valley. Twenty-four hours a day, huge banks of machines sent iron rods crashing into chunks of ore blasted from deep inside the Earth. The noise was a constant. Living near the Empire Mine was like living near an interstate highway: You got used to it, or you went nuts.

“People only noticed when it stopped,” says Donna Jones, interpretive ranger at Empire Mine State Historic Park. “And one of the few times it stopped was when Maude Bourn married. They turned it off for three days.”

Maude Bourn was the daughter of William Bowers Bourn Jr., who took over the mine from his father in 1887 and went on to become a big name in California, leaving, among his many legacies, the 43-room Filoli mansion in Woodside and the Greystone Winery (now headquarters for the Culinary Institute of America) in St. Helena.

Empire Mine was one of the first — and eventually the largest and most productive — hard-rock mining operations in California, having its start with the discovery, in 1850, of flecks of gold in an outcropping of quartz where the park’s main parking lot is now. Some 5.8 million ounces were eventually extracted from the vein.

The usual method of entering the mine was aboard a cable-operated “man skip,” which resembled a giant toboggan on tracks. Twenty men at a time would pile on for the rip-roaring, 600-feet-per-minute ride into the bowels of the Earth.

“They always put the new men in front so that, if they lost their breakfast, it wouldn’t affect anyone else,” Jones says dryly.”

Source Sacramento Bee

For more information of the activities, fees and tour dates visit Empire State Park

If you have visited the park, please leave your comments of your impression of the park.

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Downtown Downieville

 If you want a nice place to visit and a relatively short drive from Nevada City and Grass Valley then take a journey to Downieville. About forty five miles from Nevada City along scenic Highway 49, it’s a great drive, with a large portion of the trip along the North Fork of the Yuba River. Beautiful views of the river and forest, unsullied by human habitation! A group of us went up there last weekend to get away from it all. And we did!

We stayed at the Downieville River Inn a very nice Bed and Breakfast inn which is run by James & Diane Barnhard. Do not confuse this inn with the one right on Highway 49. I think this one is much quieter, definitely has more grounds and things to do (sauna, swimming pool, BBQ and lawn areas). Diane is a great cook if you come to the morning breakfast. You can even rent houses of various sizes for families who want to cook (or the whole place – there are 12 “units” but the place sleeps 40 people comfortably) for a group gathering or family vacation. Even many or the rooms have a small kitchenette, or refrigerator unit. 

After arriving at the inn, we took a one mile hike through town to the twin falls clear on the other side of the town. There are many other hiking trails, and the next day we took another mile hike along the river. Any time you are walking along and come across neighbors or people in the street, you can stop and talk to them. A visit to a restaurant is a time to start meeting the people next to you, where they are from, hobbies, and plans for the day. It is the friendliest town I have been to a long time.

Things to do while you are there includes, fishing, hiking, bicycle riding, there is museum and a couple of nice restaurants. There are numerous bike trails and many sponsored bike rides in the summer. Of course, there is also the natural beauty of the Sierras, with a confluence of the Downie River and the North Yuba River right in the heart of Downieville. When exploring the town, there is no need to drive your car, and the river is easily reachable to sit and just contemplate, or splash your feet.

Convergence of Downie River on the left & Yuba River on the right.

 It’s a great little place to visit and it hasn’t changed much from the time I was County Engineer and County Surveyor for Sierra County. When I was up there in the 70’s the population of Sierra County was a little over 3,500 people and now, it’s still a little over 3,500 people! The town has a great gold mining history, stores sell the local gold and jewelry made from it. The town also has a unique history, when in July 1851,  lynched a woman, Junita, from the bridge across the North Yuba River for killing a miner.  It remains the only lynching of a female in California history.

Sheriffs Gallows Downieville

There is also an original gallows, built in the town and used only, and still there for visitors to see. The gallows, called Sheriff’s Gallows, was constructed in 1885 for the specific execution of nineteen year old James O’Neill, a native of Ireland, who shot and killed his former employer, John Woodward, at Webber Lake, on the afternoon of August 7th.

The northern mines area was populated by a number of gold rush camps with colorful names, places like Brandy City, Whiskey Diggins, Poverty Hill, and Poker Flat. While many of these camps entirely disappeared after the gold rush, Downieville survived due both to its geographical location and status as the seat of Sierra County government

For information on camping, visit Downieville Ranger Station’s Campground Web Site. Also their telephone number is (530) 288-3231 

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On a rainy night in October, 1968, my family moved to Nevada City from Quincy, CA. My sisters, with me following, explored the old Victorian house in darkness, with lightening striking outside the windows. We opened what we thought was a closet, to find a narrow dark staircase curving up to the second floor. My sister Betsy began making up stories about a murder that had taken place in the back bedroom, just to spook us.

I had started Kindergarten in Quincy, and would continue it in Nevada City. At that time, the classes were in the building between Main and Winter St., just behind the Courthouse. Two of my sisters were in elementary school just up the street, and one was going to Seven Hills School which was on Zion Street, at the time.

Naturally, my memory of that time is mostly visual. I knew nothing of Nevada City and its environs. My experience extended in a triangular area between our first house on Nevada Street (rented) at one point, the Kindergarten yard at another point, and my parent’s print shop on Commercial Street, as the third point. Frankly my memories are not properly sequential, but I remember crossing the freeway at Washington St. I also remember climbing the wall across from the church, and sometimes going up the incredibly (still!) steep Court Street that connects Coyote to Main north of Washington. That winter, ice covered it, and we were nearly late for school trying to get up it. We could have gone around, but it was too much fun!

Through stories told by my parents I learned that Nevada City’s downtown was about half-occupied when we came in 1968. There were several bars, and not much else. I remember Scotch Broom and Grimblefinger Book store (this might have come later) across the street from my parent’s print shop, which was in the building where Mecca is now. It was called DeCrepit Press… With my father’s peculiar sense of humor he had created a “backstory” of the founder being one Lucius Van Der Lewellyn DeCrepit. I remember exploring the space on Commercial St. with it’s brick walls and iron shutters, and mysterious basement with a creek running through it!

As I grew up in Nevada City, I saw many changes. The preservation movement, which turned Nevada City from a run-down, past-its-prime, down-at-the-heels logging town with people longing for the good old days of mining prosperity, to being a historical tourist draw with art and culture aplenty. The burying of the phone and electricity lines and the installation of gaslights and the restoration of the Theatre and Ott’s Assay Office building that created all the momentum… the burst of population growth that followed in the late ‘70’s… There are certainly things I miss, but overall, Nevada City continues to be a truly great place.

I’m hoping a few people who read this will come up with their own memories to share. I’ve got a few more, as well: The first Malakoff homecoming celebrations after the state park was established, the burning of the Torino and the old Carriage house, the Nevada City Independent, and much more.

This post by Richard Webster