Life in Challenge Mills, 

Yuba County, California, 

1875–1915, With 

Emphasis on Its People, 

Homes, and Businesses

Philip M. McDonald and Lona F. Lahore

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Southwest 

Research Station

General Technical Report 

PSW-GTR-239

January 2013

DEPAR TMENT OF AGRICULT URE
Authors

Philip M. McDonald is a research forester (emeritus), Pacific Southwest Research 

Station, Western Forest Management Unit, 3644 Avtech Parkway, Redding, CA

96002; e-mail pmcdonald@fs.fed.us: and Lona F. Lahore was manager of the 

office at the Experimental Forest, Challenge, CA. Both are retired. They are 

members of the Yuba-Feather Historical Association, Forbestown, CA, P.O. Box 54, 

Brownsville, CA 95919.

Cover photographs: Original photos are on file at the Yuba-Feather Historical 

Association Museum.

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of 

multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, 

water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the 

States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National 

Grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service 

to a growing Nation.

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Prologue

Special areas in many national forests have been set aside for research in the 

natural sciences. These areas are called experimental forests and are extremely 

valuable, especially for long-term research. In California, the Pacific Southwest 

Research Station has seven experimental forests that span elevational ranges from 

near sea level to about 9,000 feet on the west side of the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, 

and San Gabriel mountains, and over the crest to the 5,000- to 6,000-foot range 

on the east side. In places, they form a continuum with every major forest cover 

type included. This increases the worth of the experimental forests because the 

progression of vegetation and forest development over a large elevational range 

can be followed without interruption. 

This report is about the people and their way of life in a small town in 

north-central California called Challenge Mills. It is surrounded by the Challenge 

Experimental Forest. This forest, dedicated in 1958 and now encompassing 3,500 

acres, is situated in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada at the 2,500-foot elevation. 

The soil is best described as fertile, deep, and well drained. It is inherently forest 

land and ideal for the growing of trees, which are mostly ponderosa pine followed by sugar pine, Douglas-fir, California white fir, and incense-cedar. Native 

California hardwoods such as California black oak, tanoak, Pacific madrone, and 

Pacific dogwood also are present as individual trees or in groves. Research in 

forest ecology, silviculture, soils, and tree physiology at the experimental forest 

has resulted in more than 80 publications to date. 

The saying “as goes the people, so goes the forest” applies well here. The 

people built a town, and used the land that became the experimental forest for 

wood products, food, water, and recreation. They traversed the forest with a 

railroad and other roads, harvested almost all the large trees, mined the streams, 

started forest fires, and were a major influence on the forest and its development. 

Understanding who they were, what they did, and when they did it provides valuable background for the research being conducted on the Challenge Experimental 

Forest today.
Abstract

McDonald, Philip M.; Lahore, Lona F. 2013. Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba 

County, California, 1875–1915, with emphasis on its people, homes, and businesses. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-239. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 55 p. 

A shout of gold, the groan of oxen, the whoosh of lumber down a flume, the shriek 

of a locomotive whistle, the laughter of children, and the distress of unemployment—all portray the people and their activities in and around Challenge Mills, a 

small lumber-mill town in the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada. This report 

is about the people of Challenge Mills and their way of life around the turn of the 

20th century. Native Americans and Chinese are included among its residents. All 

are inextricably linked to one dynamic individual, Andrew Martin Leach, whose 

strong business acumen, along with his lumber mills, 50-mile flume, and 6-mile 

railroad, were the mainstay of the town. Over 20 homes and businesses are listed, 

and many colorful stories are told about what they were, where they were located, 

and by whom they were inhabited. This report also denotes the species of trees 

and the topography of the Challenge Experimental Forest and suggests its value to 

long-term natural science research.

Keywords: Challenge Mills, California, people, homes, businesses, Andrew 

Martin Leach, logging, lumbering, flume, railroad, experimental forest. 
Summary

Historical documents are written in many ways. Some are lengthy and filled with facts 

and figures, while others are shorter, rigid, and to the point. This document is different. 

It focuses mostly on the way of life in the small lumber-producing town of Challenge 

Mills, California, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada around 1875 to 1915. 

It concentrates on the people: where they lived and how they lived with many small 

(perhaps not well-known) details about their social customs and especially their humor. 

Many colorful vignettes are told—some funny, a few sad, but always entertaining. 

Times and dates are included where possible, and together with the adventures of 

the people, tell the history of the area. It begins with gold mining at higher elevations 

above Challenge Mills, describes transportation through Challenge, denotes specific 

activities of the logging and sawmilling industry, details the contribution of the 

patriarch of Challenge Mills—Andrew Martin Leach—and transcends to the boom 

and bust of his enterprise and eventually that of the town. 

Chinese and Native American people are part of the history of the area, and they 

and their way of life contribute to the color and intensity of the town as well. 

The foresight and energy of Andrew Martin Leach is a story in itself. Leach came 

from a Vermont family that was familiar with the dynamics of logging and lumbering. This background proved to be an advantage to Leach. When an opportunity to 

buy land and sawmills presented itself, he bought them; when the cost of transporting 

lumber and wood products to the only market available (in the Sacramento Valley) 

became prohibitive, he devised a long and expensive flume to get it there; when the 

cost of transporting logs to his mills became too expensive, he built a railroad; when 

his big mill at Challenge burned, he constructed two smaller ones. 

Leach also had many valuable employees who contributed to his enterprise. Most 

were local residents, but a few came from far and wide. Most were poor by today’s 

materialistic standards, but rich in terms of families, friends, and how they took care 

of each other. For example, when food was scarce, a deer was shared; when someone 

was ill, he or she was looked after; when someone died, he was dressed nicely and 

given a decent funeral. 

A few of the not-so-common stories told by the oldtimers include snowshoes for 

horses, use of a gimlet (a small boring device) by teamsters for tapping whiskey kegs, 

obtaining title to land with an 18- by 24-inch cabin, the running of sawdust, turpentining, riding the flume boat, decorum at dances, buying groceries on the cuff, one 

night per week for bathing, and the politics of working on the roads. 

In the 1890s, financial panic racked the business world, much like the “bubbles” 

of today. The harsh winter of 1889 and the panic of 1893 cost Andrew Martin Leach 

dearly. Burned sawmills, a washed-out flume, and borrowed money combined to ruin 

his enterprise—ending it in 1894. Today, Challenge has no businesses, and unless 

rebuilt, few habitable homes. Hopefully, the mapped townsite and related stories of the 

people mentioned here will help Challenge Mills to live on in memory of yesteryear.
Contents

1 Introduction

4 Transportation

9 Native Americans

11 Chinese

12 African Americans

12 Spanish Explorers?

13 Challenge Mills—Early Days

15 Andrew Martin Leach

18 Flume

23 Railroad

29 Some Aspects of Life in Challenge

35 The Town of Challenge

50 The Decline

53 Acknowledgments

54 Literature Cited
1

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Introduction

It started with the challenge: “I can cut more timber in a given day than you can,” 

said a sawmill operator in northern Yuba County to a mill owner up the mountain. 

Although clouded in history as to who made this challenge, the name stuck; and the 

little hamlet at the foot of Pike County Peak became known as “Challenge Mills.” 

The history of Challenge Mills (reduced to Challenge in 1895) is more fascinating than fiction. Few locations can claim title to the “Old West” more emphatically 

than Challenge. Gold mining, lumbering, farming, fluming, railroading—all played 

a part in its history. However, a major part of the historical record at Challenge is 

that of its hardy and intrepid pioneers.1

 Their lives often were governed more by 

the basic need to provide for their families and keep a roof over their heads than 

anything else. At times, life was hard as the 1857 graves on a hillside overlooking 

what was then a pretty valley indicate (fig. 1). Undoubtedly, the work and play of 

families and individuals in this setting and in this era have been reported elsewhere. 

However, the authors have strived to describe the history of Challenge and the lives 

1 Most of the material for this paper is derived from personal interviews by the authors 

of oldtimers listed under “Acknowledgments.” Other sources, in descending order, were 

newspapers, diaries recorded by members of the Yuba-Feather Historical Association, and 

written histories.

Figure 1—Graves of Rachael (died January 4, 1858 at age 40) and Henry Hollomon (died December 

23, 1857 at age 10 months) overlook what was then a peaceful meadow on the Challenge Experimental Forest. A four-line epitaph on each gravestone brought tears to the authors’ eyes.

The history of 

Challenge Mills 

(reduced to Challenge 

in 1895) is more 

fascinating than 

fiction. Few locations 

can claim title to the 

“Old West” more 

emphatically than 

Challenge. Gold 

mining, lumbering, 

farming, fluming, 

railroading—all played 

a part in its history.
2

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

of its pioneers, perhaps in more detail, and with more intensity, color, and humor 

than portrayed elsewhere. 

Shortly after gold was first found at Coloma, California, in January 1848, the 

northern and central Sierra Nevada fairly exploded with prospectors. Gold was 

discovered at Bidwell Bar on the Feather River in 1849, and 20 miles north of 

Challenge on Rabbit Creek, now La Porte, in December 1850. By the summer of 

1851, gold had been found in quantity at numerous locations in both the Yuba and 

Feather River drainages at the 3,500- to 5,500-foot elevation. Lesser amounts were 

found at lower elevations as well. In places, a piece of bare land became a tent town 

overnight, then a real town with permanent structures, and finally a supply point 

and place of refuge for miners when the winter snows closed their operations. 

The “diggings,” as the gold fields came to be called, could be rich, and the land 

along almost every likely stream was claimed and mined. At places the diggings 

were called “ounce diggings,” meaning that with hard work, an ounce of gold could 

be attained by a miner in 1 day. Another early term to describe the richness of the 

site was “tincup,” indicating that a tin cup full of gold was expected for a day’s 

work. The gold was termed “free” in the sense that it was in the form of nuggets, 

flakes, and dust. Its extraction was called placer mining as opposed to hardrock 

mining where the gold was entombed in solid rock and needed to be crushed and 

accumulated before it could be used as a medium of exchange. Placer gold was 

collected in sluice boxes, pans, and cradles, and was the primary type of mining 

employed in the Challenge area. Two creeks near Challenge were mined: Little 

Oregon Creek to the southeast and Dry Creek to the southwest. The west branch of 

Dry Creek was particularly rich and was described as ounce diggings when 

first mined.

Some placers became huge depressions in the ground as the overburden and 

gold-bearing earth was blasted away with powerful streams of water. Challenge 

never had any large placers, but many towns at higher elevations did. Some placers 

had colorful names like Secret, Whiskey, Spanish, and Independence Diggings, and 

the towns near them were equally piquant, with names such as Port Wine, St. Louis, 

Scales, Howland Flat, and Gibsonville being typical. It was not until later that the 

gold in the streams was traced to its source in a mountain or under a lava cap. Here 

hardrock mines were located and lasted for a time.

Located at 2,500-feet elevation, Challenge was “on the trail” of all who journeyed above it in northern Yuba, southeastern Butte, and southern Plumas Counties 

(fig. 2). Not only was it a gateway to the diggings, it also was a place where several 

trails from the foothills came together. One route went from Marysville to La 

Porte via Browns Valley, Brownsville, Challenge Mills, Woodville, Clipper Mills, 

Located at 2,500-feet 

elevation, Challenge 

was “on the trail” of all 

who journeyed above 

it in northern Yuba, 

southeastern Butte, 

and southern Plumas 

Counties. Not only 

was it a gateway to the 

diggings, it also was 

a place where several 

trails from the foothills 

came together.
3

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Strawberry Valley, etc. Another route went from Oroville to Forbestown, Mount 

Hope House, Woodville, and on to La Porte with a cutoff to Challenge Mills. In 

terms of topography, Challenge lies astride a rather narrow ridge that separates the 

canyons of the North Fork of the Yuba River from the South Fork of the Feather 

River. Not only are the canyons deep, but also far below the ridgetops, and often 

involve a 1,500- to 2,000-foot change in elevation within a horizontal distance of 5 

to 10 miles. Slopes typically are steep and covered with dense brush, oak groves, 

or forests. Rocky outcrops, precipitous cliffs, and steep slopes make travel across 

streams and ridges nearly impossible. Thus travel is along the main ridges, and this 

is as true of the Native American trails of centuries ago as it is of the paved highways of today.

Figure 2—This sketch of Yuba County, California shows the location of Andrew Martin Leach’s lumber 

mills and railroad. 

Oroville

BrownsValley

Bangor

Oregon House

Dobbins

Woodleaf

Strawberry Valley

ClipperMills

Challenge

Rackerby

Brownsville

Marysville

Cottage

Empire

Owl Gulch

Deadwood Clipper

Forbestown

Beanville

Woodville

Yuba County

California

ð

ð ð

ð ð

ð

N

Leach Railroad

Lumber Mill

Cities

ð

ð

ð

ð
4

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

For every entry about a mine or mill in the old ledgers, a record of forest fires is 

noted threefold. For example, one oldtimer noted on September 29, 1902: “The wind 

blew all night, which fanned forest fires in good shape. Challenge was in danger 

at one time last night. People got many things packed ready to go.” It was standard 

practice for the citizens of Challenge to turn out to fight fire at least once each summer. Backfiring saved the town several times. It is not surprising that wildfire was 

common. Trees and brush hid the telltale mineral veins from the miner; vegetation 

impeded the logger in his quest to extract logs for lumber, and trees competed for 

land farmed for crops, orchards, and pasture. That fire was employed deliberately 

by some people to further their occupations is inescapable. Truth be known, people 

were just plain careless with fire. Many times, fires from the homes and ranches in 

the foothills below Challenge would get away, and whipped by the wind, burn all 

around the town. Early-day logging techniques and machinery also started fires 

from sparks or the friction of metal on rocks. Only the knot-free section of tree 

boles was utilized, and great masses of highly inflammable slash were left in the 

woods. Several old-timers mentioned that wildfires burned out of the southwest 

nearly every fall. The land survey of 1886 speaks to great length about the commonality of wildfires; some were ground fires, but others were devastating crown 

fires that blackened all in their path.

Transportation

The earliest routes into the mountains were primitive trails over which mules, 

horses, and pack trains journeyed. Rudimentary roads then were built, and with 

time were improved as streams were crossed with bridges and mudholes were filled 

with gravel. These often were toll roads, which tended to be better constructed and 

maintained than the earlier dirt roads, but they too were dusty and muddy, depending on the season. Toll roads typically were built by someone with money, like store 

owners or freight companies, who then charged a small toll to pay for the work. 

Much of the forest in northern California in the mid-19th century consisted of mile 

upon mile of virgin timber, broken only by rocky areas and the paths of old forest 

fires. Ponderosa pine and sugar pine were the most common trees in the Challenge area, with Douglas-fir, incense-cedar, and California white fir less common. 

Hardwoods like California black oak, tanoak, and Pacific madrone brought color 

and diversity to the landscape. The forest surrounding Challenge Mills was mostly 

virgin, often with large trees that contained a fortune in high-grade wood.

In the late 1860s, the demand for wood products was changing from declining 

use by the mines and towns in the mountains to increasing use by the burgeoning 

cities and industries in California’s Central Valley. Transporting the product from 
5

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

the forest to the valley, a distance of 20 to 30 miles with a drop in elevation from 

2,000 to 4,000 feet, was daunting. Lumber traditionally was transported by heavy 

wagons with six to eight horses in draft. Often two wagons with up to 12 horses 

were used. Each horse moved about 1,000 pounds of freight. Moving heavily loaded 

wagons downhill for many miles required a lot of braking, and in those days, 

wooden brake blocks were used. One enterprising fellow spent part of each winter 

making brake blocks for freight wagons out of sugar pine. One day he sold six pairs 

and they “went like hotcakes.”

Transporting supplies and machinery to the many towns and mines in the 

mountains was a big job in the early days. Eight to ten wagons per day would pass 

through Challenge with some being double wagons joined by a short tongue. Fall 

was an especially busy time as supplies were sold to people who would be snowbound for the winter. One lady stated that her father was a teamster. “His teams 

were slightly different as he used both mules and horses. The lead animals were 

mules and wore bells so the wagons could be heard coming around the many turns 

of the road. A jerk line was used to guide the animals and a man had to be strong 

to use it. My brother and I would wait for the sound of the bells and run to see our 

father coming home. The animals made the trip so often that they knew their way 

home and did not need anyone to guide them the last few miles.” 

Where the roadway was steep, stage stops were stationed every 4 miles or less. 

These were not really stage stops but more accurately “freight wagon” stops where 

horses were changed. Just above Challenge the road was both steep and full of ruts. 

If the day was hot and the wagons fully loaded, the teamsters would drop the rear 

wagon in Challenge, pull the other wagon up the grade to the top, drop it there, 

unhitch the team, and return to town. If he had timed it well, he could overnight at 

the hotel, have a “snort” or two and a good meal, and swap “windys” with his fellow teamsters. While enroute, and he had a bit of dust in his throat, he remembered 

that small kegs of whiskey often were part of the backhaul up the mountain. Most 

teamsters had a gimlet, which was a little boring device. It was easy to bore into 

the top of the keg, use a small straw to extract the whiskey, and replace the whiskey 

with water. The hole was then plugged with axle grease that sealed and concealed 

the mischief. 

Gold bullion from the mines was usually taken at night by a fast-moving team 

escorted by heavily armed guards on horseback. 

In the early days, the town of Marysville in the Sacramento River valley was 

the main supply point for many towns and settlements in the extensive placer mining area around La Porte. One teamster hauled freight on this route for many years. 

He had one wagon and four big horses, and took 8 days to complete the journey. 

Transporting supplies 

and machinery to 

the many towns and 

mines in the mountains 

was a big job in the 

early days. Eight to 

ten wagons per day 

would pass through 

Challenge with some 

being double wagons 

joined by a short 

tongue.
6

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

One time when he came home, he laid three $20 gold pieces on the table, much to 

the joy of his wife and children. That was a lot of money in those days. 

The Marysville-La Porte road gained rapidly in elevation and often was beset 

with heavy snows in the winter. This led to a special feature of travel unique to the 

area—snowshoes for horses, introduced in 1865 (fig. 3). At first, square wooden 

plates were used, but the damp snow clung to the wood and made them heavy and 

awkward. Iron was then substituted, followed by thinner plates of steel with rubber 

lining on the bottom for which the snow had no affinity whatsoever. The plates 

were 9 inches square, and fitted to the horse’s hooves. They had to be fitted to each 

horse, as their feet varied in size—a task that took about 2 hours for one man to 

shoe a four-horse team. When first put on, some of the horse’s legs were cut above 

the feet, but they soon learned to adopt a wider stance to avoid this malady. A few 

became good snow-horses at once, most took a while longer, but others seemed 

incapable of learning to use the shoes at all. One correspondent mentioned that 

“Some of those horses were smarter than I was. My father had one that sat down. 

Yes, he sat down and held his foot up. A lot of people didn’t believe this, but we 

have a picture of it.” 

Figure 3—In the heavy-snow country above Challenge, the horses actually wore snowshoes to get 

the mail through. The story goes that one horse actually sat down and held his feet up to facilitate 

the process. 

A special feature of 

travel unique to the 

area was snowshoes 

for horses, introduced 

in 1865. At first, 

square wooden plates 

were used, but the 

damp snow clung to 

the wood and made 

them heavy and 

awkward. Iron was then 

substituted, followed 

by thinner plates of 

steel with rubber lining 

on the bottom for 

which the snow had no 

affinity whatsoever. 
7

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

In the winter, sleighs were used. If the snow was shallow, sleighs were pulled by 

horses with no snowshoes, and then as the snow became deeper, horses with snowshoes. Snowshoes or no snowshoes, there were times in the winter when no animals 

could get through. The teamster then would strap on his own snowshoes and pack 

the mail on his back to the next station. No one told him to do this; he simply did it 

because it was his job to do. “My father would grow a beard in the winter to keep his 

face from freezing” said one lady. The company that had the contract paid him $60 

per month to deliver the mail. 

Travelers, usually singles or couples, were the main occupants of the stages, 

along with varying amounts of freight. A four-horse stage ran from Oroville, 

through Challenge, to La Porte and carried six to eight passengers. Stage stops were 

located every 4 to 12 miles along the road, depending on the grade, either to change 

horses or to feed and water them. At major stops, pork, chicken, or beef and “fixins” 

was standard fare for travelers, with an occasional haunch of venison, steak of bear, 

or mess of trout thrown in. Homemade pie was a treat and doughnuts were worth 

their weight in gold. People who traveled in the dry season were subject to clouds of 

dust. To counter this malady, most everyone wore a duster, which was a light coat. 

Women travelers also wore a veil over their hats and faces. Winter travel often was 

precarious with washouts, deep snow, and fallen trees impeding the right-of-way. 

The Marysville Appeal of November 19, 1915, noted: “The Marysville-La Porte 

stage line has started on its winter schedule of leaving Marysville at 3 o’clock in the 

morning instead of at 4, which is the time of departure in the summer. On account 

of the bad roads of winter, it takes several hours longer each day to make the trip.” 

Winter wasn’t the only time that accidents could happen. On March 2, 1903, a 

run-away was noted: “Smashed up the stage, seriously hurt two horses, and slightly 

injured the driver.”

Over the years, Oscar and Julius Pauly had several stage routes in northern 

California. They began work in the transportation business beginning about 1880, 

at first driving freight wagons and then stagecoaches. Sometime later, Oscar had 

the dubious distinction of being held up by Black Bart.2

 “He took everything from 

the stage and the passengers too.” Oscar also was one of the first people to see Ishi.3

On one of his runs in the summer of 1911, he noticed a wild-looking fellow huddled 

against a fence who didn’t have any clothes on and looked like he was in trouble. He 

then called the sheriff, who fed and clothed him. 

2 Black Bart, alias Charles E. Bolles, was a notorious stage robber who operated in the 

Marysville-La Porte area in the early 1880s. He always wore black clothes, a black bandana 

over his head, and a black hat, hence his name. 

3 Ishi was the last member of a “lost” Indian tribe (Yahi) who lived in the foothills of 

several counties in north-central California. He was befriended by anthropologist A. L. 

Kroeber and his wife, Theodora, who documented his way of life and that of his people.

There were times in the 

winter when no animals 

could get through. 

The teamster then 

would strap on his own 

snowshoes and pack 

the mail on his back 

to the next station. 

No one told him to do 

this; he simply did it 

because it was his job 

to do.
8

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Around 1910, the Paulys had at least 10 stages; 8 operating and 2 in reserve. 

From about 1900, the mail was delivered by virtue of star route mail contracts, 

which were bid for every 4 years. Each stage coach had “Wells Fargo Express” 

displayed on the sides because they always carried Wells Fargo material along with 

the mail. A big help monetarily were passengers. Oscar always got his passenger 

franchise from the State of California Public Utilities Commission, and in his words 

“owned” these routes. In 1914, he was the first one to drive an automobile on the 

star route mail lines. His first trucks were black Model T Fords, and then a Reo, 

followed by a Federal. It had a chain drive and hard rubber tires. It was no surprise 

that Wells Fargo bought every one of the stagecoaches when the Paulys switched to 

automobiles. Wells Fargo got a lot of good publicity out of those coaches. At first, 

gasoline was hard to come by and Oscar had a 150-gallon tank in back, but it wasn’t 

a problem for long.

“Julius and Oscar gave an awful lot of free service to people along the route,” 

remarked a son. Many times, local citizens would give them a shopping list and ask 

them to pick up items in town and deliver them to places along the way. Of course, 

they were paid for the items, but given nothing for shopping or delivery. There was 

no welfare in those days and employers tended to take care of their people. For 

example, the Paulys kept several employees on the payroll for years whether they 

worked or not. One long-time and valuable employee was a Native American, who 

had a very large family. Oscar supported the entire family for years. 

For local transportation, people walked or rode on horseback. A 2-mile walk 

was regarded as nothing, and 5 or 10 miles on a horse was thought of as being 

equally easy. For longer trips, say to town, a two-horse wagon was used. A wagon 

was a necessity as a load of supplies often needed to be hauled back home. Only 

well-to-do people had buggies, and not many people in Challenge had them.

People and supplies were not the only users of the road. In 1910, about 3,000 

head of cattle went through Challenge on their way to higher elevations. About 

30,000 sheep made the journey that year as well. The sheep traveled all the way 

to Quincy in Plumas County where the lambs were sold. They then left Quincy, 

circled down through Downieville, and eventually to the foothills where the home 

ranch was. Some sheepmen began their trek at Downieville and ended at Challenge. Jim and Charley Brown ran big bands of sheep. As for cattle, a man named 

Carmichael ran 1,000 head, and another with the moniker Scott moved about 500 

head into the Howland Flat area before 1910. Other ranchers ran cattle into the Lost 

Creek country as well. Like one gentlemen said: “In general, the cattlemen and 

sheepmen had no trouble, largely because this was big country and there was room 

for all.”

There was no welfare 

in those days and 

employers tended 

to take care of their 

people. For example, 

the Paulys kept 

several employees on 

the payroll for years 

whether they worked or 

not. One long-time and 

valuable employee was 

a Native American, who 

had a very large family. 

Oscar supported the 

entire family for years.
9

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Like most small towns at lower elevations in the Sierra Nevada during 1875 

to 1915, a network of small roads radiated out from Challenge Mills. They linked 

small settlements and homes and farms of individuals to each other and to the town 

itself. Some of these inhabitants were Native Americans, Chinese, and a few rugged 

individuals. 

Native Americans

The Native Americans associated with the Challenge area were the Maidu or more 

specifically Southern Maidu. Because no large encampments in the local area are 

known, their occupancy apparently was more transitory than permanent. Plentiful 

game and a plethora of acorns and berries in the fall guaranteed their presence during this season, and numerous holes in several large rocks attest to the grinding of 

acorns. Over the years, a few obsidian arrowheads have been found that indicated 

hunting for both deer and birds. 

The Maidu had a high degree of social organization in terms of hunting, food 

gathering, worship, and especially basket weaving. Their baskets were the coiled 

type, made of peeled willow or unpeeled redbud (Cercis spp.). Nellie was a familiar 

Native American woman in the area. She made beautiful baskets that were finely 

woven with various designs and shapes. She even covered a bottle with a fine, 

tightly woven design with hinges for straps to be inserted. It took Nellie 4 years 

to weave a large basket (fig. 4) to burn in a special ceremony honoring her dead husband. A local woman saw the basket and said that no husband was worth burning a 

beautiful basket like that. Nellie replied “You bad women you.”

The Maidu burial ground (a small one north of Challenge) was enclosed by 

a pole fence and within this enclosure were wooden platforms about 10 feet high 

with cross bars on each. These cross bars held the clothes and food to be burned for 

the departed. The cross bars contained shirts, shoes, pants, and hats for the Indian 

men; waists with no buttons, skirts, and bandanas for the women; and smaller items 

for the children. A neighbor said that she could hear the participants wailing and 

mourning all night. 

The mourning anniversary known as “burning” or “cry,” as practiced by the 

Southern Maidu, took place annually in early autumn, about September or October, 

often on the cemetery site or near it. The purpose of the ceremony was to supply 

the dead. The amount of property destroyed must have been immense by aboriginal 

standards. At one burning in northern California, Kroeber (1976) remarked “As late 

as 1901, 150 poles of baskets, American clothing, and the like were consumed at a 

single Maidu burning. Each family prepares its own poles, which are strung from 

top to bottom with objects of one kind or another. Larger articles and quantities of 

It took Nellie 4 years 

to weave a large 

basket (fig. 4) to 

burn in a special 

ceremony honoring 

her dead husband. A 

local woman saw the 

basket and said that 

no husband was worth 

burning a beautiful 

basket like that. Nellie 

replied “You bad 

women you.”
10

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

food are placed at the base of the pole. The ceremony lasts a night and a day. Beginning in the evening, the participants sit in a circle for an hour or two.” One visiting 

White lady stated “not a whisper could be heard, the atmosphere was profound, and 

all my religion came back to me.” Later, she shed a wealth of tears for a young girl 

who had died a few months earlier and was being remembered.

During the night, each group of mourners remembered its dead and sang its 

own songs, independently of the others. At the first sign of dawn, the poles were 

lifted down and the objects stripped from them, and thrown into the fire with much 

swaying and wailing. This plainly was the climax of grief.

Part of the ceremony was to place items in the basket that could be used in the 

afterlife. One gentleman mentioned that some items were gotten from the Challenge 

store. The proprietor looked forward to the Native Americans visiting the store, 

whereby a single boot, a small pair of pants, one work glove, some very old smoking tobacco, and other items of a similar nature were cheerfully extended at a very 

reasonable price. Obviously, the items were more symbolic than for everyday use. 

However, in her diary of October 30, 1896, one young lady joyously noted “Father 

bought two baskets for me. They had not burned yet.” Consequently, at least a few 

“treasures” must have been placed in the baskets. 

Figure 4—This exceptionally large and beautiful basket was woven by Native American Nellie 

Johnson to be filled with items that, after burning, would comfort her husband in the afterlife. 
11

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Chinese

A small Chinese settlement was located on the northeastern outskirts of Challenge 

in the 1880s and 1890s, and burned in 1905. It consisted of a small store, a building 

for gambling, and several cabins. A typical cabin consisted of one room and housed 

five or six Chinese. They usually had a garden enclosed with sapling poles to keep 

out the deer. They would carry 5-gallon buckets (kerosene cans) from the stream to 

water their gardens. At the garden, they would use smaller cans with holes punched 

in the bottom for sprinkling cans. They cooked over their fireplaces, which were 

built of rocks and local clay. At least one cabin had an exquisitely decorated jar that 

contained sticks of incense, which were lighted after dark each night to ward off 

evil spirits.

Most inhabitants were single men, but a notable exception was Jim Ah Wah, 

who had six children. Jim, who was well known in the community, died at age 60. 

His obituary was noted in the Marysville Democrat of March 2, 1897. Most of the 

Chinese worked at whatever they could find. They may have helped to build the 

railroad. Some eked out an existence scratching for gold, and evidence of their work 

has been found along the east fork of Dry Creek and in the gulches and draws of 

upper Little Oregon Creek. They were hard-working and very thorough miners who 

gleaned gold from cracks and crannies that the early miners had missed. 

Another Chinese citizen of note was Lum—a solitary Chinese gold miner who 

lived on the west fork of Dry Creek. Lum had a small cabin there. He liked to play 

pool and borrowed a pool table from Ray Gordon, of the pioneer Gordon family 

who lived nearby. Lum also liked children and always had candy for them. Indeed, 

local children would find some excuse to go by his cabin as often as they could. He 

liked one lady and every spring he would bring her a Chinese lily in a dish filled 

with rocks. In return, he was directed to go out and catch a chicken for dinner. 

One lady mentioned that the Chinese had a small cemetery across the road from 

their settlement. Apparently, they also believed in taking care of their ancestors 

and would place food in small dishes at the head of the graves. However, as soon as 

possible, the bones were interred and sent back to China. Not a trace remains today.

A couple of miles south of Challenge was a small community of Chinese men, 

who mined a small tributary of Dry Creek for 2 or 3 years. It only flowed in the 

winter, but apparently was next to an area of shallow bedrock that was rich in gold. 

One oldtimer remembered selling a 200-pound hog to the Chinese for one dollar. 

Another oldtimer recalled that the Chinese wanted what we would now call “liver 

galls,” probably for use as a medicine. They would pay neighboring boys 50 cents 

for a rattlesnake gall and 25 cents for a skunk gall. That was a lot of money for a 

“young-un,” so several would carry a big stick to and from school and a thread in 

Lum liked one lady and 

every spring he would 

bring her a Chinese 

lily in a dish filled with 

rocks. In return, he was 

directed to go out and 

catch a chicken for 

dinner.
12

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

their hat band with which to wrap the gall. Consequently, the population of both 

these creatures decreased dramatically in the area for a time.

One local fellow spent many a day prospecting deep in the wilderness. One 

time while lost, he stumbled on a small cabin in a remote area inhabited by an 

elderly Chinese man, who seemed rather lonely. As it was late in the day, he was 

invited to dinner and to spend the night. After a pleasant evening and much talk 

about gold mining, he heard the unmistakable sound of a rattlesnake. The Chinese 

man also heard it and went over to a corner of the cabin, loosened a little knot in a 

board, and up popped the head of a very well-fed, full-grown rattler. “Not to worry, 

not to worry” said the Chinese “he my friend, I feed him.” Understandably, the 

fellow did not spend that night or any other night in the cabin. 

One rugged individual owned property north of Challenge, grew several crops, 

and raised sheep. A forest road bears his name today. He was described as a real 

character by a person who knew him as an older man. The story goes: “I remember 

the old fellow. He never took a bath. He would come to the store to buy a new shirt, 

but he left the old one on. The old one would rot away and he would reach in under 

his undershirt to pull out pieces. He used to wear stag overalls. They were the color 

of red dirt (the color of the native soil in the area). I remember his cabin; part of it 

fell over. He just moved an old water trough in under the edge of the cabin. That 

was where he slept. He would say if Christ slept in a manger, why he could sleep in 

a water trough.” He just smiled when someone remarked that he hoped the drain in 

the trough was open when it rained.

African Americans

Not many African Americans lived in the Challenge area. However, one well-liked 

fellow lived just south of Challenge. He was a former slave, quite old, had a beard, 

and read the Bible all the time. He would come over and stay with one family’s 

children when the parents went to the dances.

Spanish Explorers?

Stories of a very early (1600–1700s) Spanish presence in the area persist. For 

example, a logger fell into a small tunnel or mine shaft and found a piece of armor 

like that worn by Spanish soldiers. A miner found an old shovel and part of a 

firearm at the bottom of a deep natural shaft where the 19th century miners could 

not have been. The Marysville Appeal of October 14, 1915, stated “The first White 

men could have been Spanish as they passed through to a rumored gold mine north 

of Challenge.” No record of Spanish explorers or soldiers being this far north in 

California during this period are mentioned in the history books, but the stories 

persist, are tantalizing, and might even be verified someday.
13

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Challenge Mills—Early Days

Challenge as a hamlet did not exist until about 1862, when a small sawmill at 

Strawberry Valley, located about 10 miles up the road from Challenge, was moved 

to the relatively flat ground just west of the present-day school. Union Lumber 

Company was the owner. This company was truly a pioneer industry in the Challenge area. It was established in 1852 by W.K. Hudson and Samual Harryman as 

Hudson and Company. It then went through several ownerships and name changes 

until 1864, when it officially became the Union Lumber Company with W.K. 

Hudson, president, and A.P. Willey, vice president (Thompson and West 1879). By 

1873, the Union Lumber Company had 15 mills in Yuba County and manufactured 

4 to 6 million board feet of lumber annually.

The Union Lumber Company eventually sold this sawmill, several others, and 

all their timberland to Andrew Martin Leach. Here some confusion exists. We 

know that Leach began negotiations with Hudson and Willey of the Union Lumber Company for most of the land and mills in 1873 and 1874. We believe Leach 

acquired the Challenge mill in 1874. Purchase of the remaining land and mills was 

consummated by 1879.

This web of ownerships and the frequent relocation of mills were typical of 

the industry in the early years. At first, the product from the mill was sold “at the 

saw”—meaning that the demand was nearby. It also meant that logs for the sawmill 

were nearby as well. And because the early mills were powered by water, a stream 

or pond in close proximity also was mandatory. The mills themselves were relatively simple and usually contained a single circular saw that cut 4,000 to 20,000 

board feet daily (Cronise 1868). As the timber was cut, the logs had to be moved 

from farther and farther away. Eventually, the available timber was gone or the 

distance of moving the logs was too great, and a new tract of land was needed. Sale 

to a new owner and the moving of the mill often occurred at this point. Moving the 

dismantled mill, usually by a “sled” or heavy wagon pulled by horses, was a fairly 

easy task.

Transporting the logs from the woods to the mill was by oxen, with four or 

five yoke to a team (fig. 5). They pulled heavy wagons, called trucks, which usually carried just one or two large logs. The four wheels on the trucks were made of 

solid wood and sheathed with iron rims. Of course, when dry, the wood shrank and 

needed to be tightened up with wooden pegs. Even then, they “made quite a chuckling noise when rolling along” said one oldtimer. Each ox wore a heavy yoke across 

his shoulders and a chain that fastened him to the next ox. They also had rather 

large and sharp horns that could be dangerous. Instead of sawing them off each 

year, one operator placed round brass tips on them that sparkled in the sunlight. The 

Challenge as a hamlet 

did not exist until about 

1862, when a small 

sawmill at Strawberry 

Valley, located about 10 

miles up the road from 

Challenge, was moved 

to the relatively flat 

ground just west of the 

present-day school.
14

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

animals were powerfully built across the shoulders and capable of moving amazing 

loads. The oxen were driven mostly by talk and an ox-driving stick. Each ox knew 

his name and worked by it. No one beat the oxen with the stick, but prodded them 

if they didn’t work on command. Like mules, oxen could be temperamental and 

sometimes required a little sweet talk. One oldtimer drove an ox team for Leach 

for many years and then for another mill. One cool morning, the oxen had to pull a 

loaded truck up a short, but steep, hill near the mill. They moved right along until 

they got to the base of the hill, and after that, not one step further, profanity and 

pleading notwithstanding. Another oldtimer was summoned. He went up one side 

of the team and down the other, put his arm around each ox, and softly called it by 

name. Then he went behind the team, let out a yell, and up the hill they went. 

The standard method for loading the logs onto the truck was with a “crosshaul.” 

This was facilitated by cutting a small trench into the hillside next to the truck 

and just slightly above it. Logs were piled just above the trench, and by means of 

peaveys and bars (fig. 6), individual logs were hand-rolled into the trench and onto 

the truck. Larger logs were loaded with the help of oxen. The first members of the 

team were unhitched, placed on the other side of the truck, and used to pull (crosshaul) the logs onto it. 

Figure 5—The size and number of logs, and method of conveyance by oxen and truck, were typical 

of the Challenge Mill era. Henry South (by wheel) worked for Andrew Martin Leach for years. 
15

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Andrew Martin Leach

The saga of Challenge Mills begins about the time that Andrew Martin Leach 

began to acquire land and mills. Indeed, there probably would never have been a 

Challenge Mills as a community had it not been for Leach. Of course, where there 

is industry, there are jobs, and income, and money to be spent. In turn, the industry 

and its employees need homes and supplies. Because Leach was the kingpin of the 

community, we begin by describing his operations; portray some aspects of life in 

Challenge at that time; transcend to the businesses, homes, and people of Challenge 

during the next 40 years; and end with the decline of Challenge as a town. 

Born December 7, 1841, Andrew Martin was one of three children from a 

prominent family that had extensive lumbering interests in Vermont (Leach 1925). 

Andrew Martin (fig. 7) arrived in the foothills of Yuba County in 1863, and started 

to build his lumbering empire. As noted earlier, he began purchasing sawmills and 

timberland in 1873, and by way of negotiations that became final in 1879, became 

owner of the Deadwood, Cottage, Clipper, Diamond Springs, Empire, Woodville, 

and Challenge mills, and cutting rights to many acres of timberland. A few years 

later, he owned at least 3,500 acres outright (Mansfield 1918). Later, Leach constructed two additional mills: Beanville (built about 1888) and Owl Gulch (built 

about 1892). A colorful story is told about how Leach acquired some of his holdings. In those days, 160-acre homesteads could be claimed by building a cabin 18 

Figure 6—Woods workers and their tools: from left: bucket of water and tin cup, cant hooks, log 

jacks, ax, and peavey (point on end of handle).
16

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

by 24 feet in size and living in it for 5 years. Leach had several cabins built 18- by 

24-inches in size, with a handle on top, that were placed in the middle of vacant 

government land by employees. After the claim became recognized as legal, it was 

then turned over to Leach. An oldtimer stated that “This is how my uncle homesteaded 120 acres for Leach.” Another remarked the law at that time was such that 

a person could claim everything he built a fence around, so he built a fence “by 

falling one tree and then another end-to-end, and claimed both sides of it.”

A more common way of acquiring land was to have Leach employees file on 

a quarter section, furnish them with lumber to build a real cabin, issue them some 

groceries from his store in the winter months, and attend to all legal requirements 

connected with homesteading. When they had lived on the land long enough to get 

a title, he would give them a small amount of money and have them sign their land 

over to him.

When Leach first bought the Challenge mill, it was rather small and cut about 

18,000 board feet per day. With continuous enlargement and the installation of a 

Figure 7—Andrew Martin Leach. Photo taken at Woods 

Photographic Art Gallery, Odd Fellows Building, Marysville, 

California, 1878.

To obtain land Leach 

had several cabins 

built 18- by 24-inches 

in size, with a handle 

on top, that were 

placed in the middle 

of vacant government 

land by employees. 

After the claim became 

recognized as legal, it 

was then turned over to 

Leach.
17

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

steam engine and boiler, production increased to 40,000 board feet per day (fig. 8). 

Employment jumped from a few men to over 50. In the course of expansion, the 

mill became a complex of over 20 buildings and the support center for all of Leach’s 

mills and machinery. It is not clear if 50 men included the workers that were 

employed in felling the trees and bucking them into logs, and skidding, loading, and 

transporting them to the mill during the “season.” Six to eight months generally 

comprised the season, no work being done in the winter. 

Figure 8—Leach sawmill and crew at Challenge, California, in 1885. Note barrels of water on roof to 

quench potential fires. 

In addition to the sawmill, the Challenge mill complex contained numerous outbuildings including a company store, Leach’s home, office, boiler house, blacksmith 

shop, and huge warehouse, at least 200 feet long. The company store was described 

as having all kinds of tools and groceries where his employees, contractors, or even 

residents could get their supplies. The blacksmith shop was described as being 

state-of–the-art for its day. One correspondent recalled that just west of what is now 

the Yuba-Feather Union Elementary School “immense quantities of lumber were by 

the side of a balloon-shaped railroad track, one-third of a mile in length.” Barns and 

loafing areas for oxen and horses were nearby, with one oldtimer indicating an area 

across the Marysville-La Porte road where a deep well for watering stock had been 

dug. At least two correspondents mentioned a Leach bunkhouse for single men that 

was located just north of the mill complex. 
18

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Apparently anyone could buy what they needed at Leach’s store, which was 

the only store in town. Often, credit was given in the form of script. Although the 

company owned the store, Challenge was not a company town in the sense that the 

company owned the houses. Clearly, people owned their own homes on their own 

property. The store carried just about everything imaginable, including groceries, 

work clothes, boots, and tools. Miners traveling to the mines above Challenge were 

good customers. They lived mostly on sardines and mackerel, which required no 

more work and time away from mining than to open the can. Boots and material for 

tents also were good sellers. Many miners made their own tents out of yard goods 

and sail needles. One lady noted “The store also carried fabrics, and for those who 

could afford it, each child would choose material for a dress. However, most of the 

time, mother made our clothes from dresses given to her by friends. The dresses 

were made over and handed down many times. We were taught to take good care of 

our clothes.”

After the mines played out, the amount of merchandise needed up the mountain 

was not enough to offset the cost of transporting lumber to the valley. Moving the 

lumber from where it was manufactured to where it was needed was prohibitive. 

As the San Francisco Bulletin noted, the teamsters had no competition and set the 

freight rates themselves. At a rate of $10 to $12 per thousand board feet delivered, 

the millmen were at their mercy. 

Flume

This situation was intolerable and Leach solved it with a water-filled V-shaped 

flume. He began its construction in late 1877, worked on it in 1878, and finished 

it in 1879. “The flume cost $80,000 and is a very great success” (Williams 1887). 

It is likely that crews worked on the flume at different places with close adherence to grade. At the upper end, thick boards were made at the Diamond Springs 

mill and for a time these boards, and supports for them, made the flume its best 

customer. The flume was built in sections, called boxes, each 16 feet long. After a 

few sections were constructed, water was put in the flume and lumber for the next 

sections was floated down to where it was needed. This technique saved much time 

and money, particularly in rough country. The desired grade was 1 inch of fall per 

box or 27 feet to the mile. This grade could not always be maintained, and at two 

places along the flume, lumber in it attained a speed of at least 50 miles per hour. 

The flume was 12 inches wide at the bottom with 30-inch sloping sides, and 48 to 

60 inches wide at the water line. It was made of horizontally placed boards with all 

bracing outside. Additional boards were attached outside at points of extreme wear 

such as around curves. 
19

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

The flume directly served the Empire, Deadwood, Woodville, Challenge, and 

Owl Gulch mills, and indirectly the Beanville operation. The Cottage, Clipper, and 

Diamond Springs mills were not on the flume. Apparently the Diamond Springs 

mill was short-lived as a November 16, 1880, entry in an old diary noted “A fearful 

fire at the Diamond Springs Mill. Leach takes men from Challenge Mill to fight 

the fire.”

The flume received its initial charge of water from Slate Creek, with contributions from other creeks along its route such as Whiskey, Jackass, Deadwood, Owl 

Gulch, Empire, Hampshire, and Slapjack (McDonald and Lahore 1984). Regulating 

the amount of water in the flume for its entire length was a tricky business. Some 

of these streams were small, some large; some yielded large amounts of water just 

after a storm, and some did not provide storm water until later. Flows tended to 

be high in late winter and early spring, and much lower in summer and fall. High 

water in any or all of these streams could destroy the flume. To mitigate storm 

damage and to regulate flow, a series of headgates and smaller feeder flumes were 

constructed at several places along the route. The main flume was placed in a ditch 

wherever possible, and in tunnels and on trestles where necessary.

To get water from Slate Creek, the head of the flume had to be located well 

above the elevation of the mills. After leaving the Slate Creek canyon, the flume 

traversed the canyon of the North Fork of the Yuba River and spanned many creeks 

and gulches, including Owl Gulch Creek. Here a large trestle 166 feet high was 

necessary (fig. 9). 

Figure 9—To flume across Owl Gulch creek and canyon, a trestle 166 feet tall was required. Note the 

mill and typical size of logs in the foreground. Although unknown, a tramway probably carried the 

lumber to the flume. 

Regulating the amount 

of water in the flume 

for its entire length 

was a tricky business. 

Some of these streams 

were small, some 

large; some yielded 

large amounts of water 

just after a storm, and 

some did not provide 

storm water until later. 

To mitigate storm 

damage and to regulate 

flow, a series of 

headgates and smaller 

feeder flumes were 

constructed at several 

places along the route. 
20

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

The flume then continued into a tunnel, along hillsides, and over many trestles. 

After it crossed the Alabama Bar Trail to the Yuba River, it contoured along 

the sheer face of a granite bluff, 500 feet in length. In such areas the flume was 

anchored to iron pins laboriously drilled into the rock, and ingenuously braced by 

stout timbers placed against the cliff. Between Hampshire Creek and the crest of 

the ridge east of Woodville, the terrain was extremely rugged and an intricate series 

of trestles and a tunnel was needed. Near Empire Creek a long tunnel and a 116-foot 

trestle had a combined length of one-half mile. Maintaining the proper grade was 

a rigid requirement because any deviation meant many more feet of costly hillside 

flume. Such construction was extremely expensive. For this section, the amount 

of timber required was about 130,000 board feet per mile. On the plus side, the 

deteriorating mining industry meant that men skilled in boring tunnels in hard rock 

were available for work at a reasonable wage. 

After leaving the crest, the flume traversed much easier terrain, curved around 

the head of Slapjack Creek, and followed along just below the stage road to the 

top of the Challenge hill. Here it passed under the road by means of a tunnel. 

It then plunged down the hill, and crossed the county road where the Catholic 

church is now. The flume then wound around in back of Brownsville to the top 

of the Hansonville grade, catapulted down it, and threaded its way through the 

foothills to its terminus at Moore’s Station. Here a planning mill was constructed 

that employed about 40 men who dressed a million board feet of lumber each year 

(Williams 1887). A box factory nearby processed about the same amount of lumber. 

It also was here that all the products from the mountain mills could be loaded into 

boxcars of the California Northern Railroad for shipment to cities and ports far and 

wide. Specific ownership of these operations and the people associated with them 

are largely unknown with one possible exception. George Wolters is mentioned 

in the Marysville Appeal of May 2, 1885, as having a partnership with Andrew 

Martin Leach that was dissolved by mutual consent. The paper then mentioned that 

he [Wolters] will “continue the business at Moore’s Station,” which implies that he 

either owned or managed one or both of the operations there.

Written accounts of the flume suggested that it was 40 to 80 miles in length, 

and certainly because of all the turns and twists, was difficult to quantify. However, a more recent endeavor now estimates its length at about 50 miles. In 1976, 

oldtimer Charles Adams walked the flume location above Challenge and knew of 

key locations below. He drew the route of the entire flume on U.S. Forest Service 

topographical maps. Checking of aerial photos and on-the-ground verification by 

knowledgeable Forest Service employees and other oldtimers interviewed by the 

authors verify Adam’s location with only minor changes. 

Written accounts of the 

flume suggested that 

it was 40 to 80 miles in 

length, and certainly 

because of all the turns 

and twists, was difficult 

to quantify. However, a 

more recent endeavor 

now estimates its 

length at about 50 

miles.
21

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

A large variety of products from wood were placed in the flume, but no logs. 

The most common articles were various sizes of timbers such as 2 x 4s, 2 x 8s, 

etc., 16 feet long. Some timbers were 4- to 12-inches-square and up to 24 feet long. 

The larger pieces often had a little round piece of iron attached to the downward 

end to smooth passage around the ends of boards that stuck out a little at joints in 

the flume. One man’s job was hauling a wagonload of these devices back to the 

various mills. 

Other products that were placed in the flume were posts, bundles of shakes, 

railroad ties, and 4-foot lengths of firewood. In 1889, Chinese laborers cut large 

amounts of wood on Indian Creek, hauled it to the flume, and stacked it. Because 

maintaining a steady flow of products was based mostly on experience, only Leach 

employees were allowed to place them in the flume. Settlers clearing land found the 

flume to their liking: “All the wood that can be supplied is taken at $2.25 per cord 

at any place along the flume.” In 1886, for example, about 6,000 cords were sold. 

Another “windfall” product from the flume was an occasional trout. One lady who 

lived near a headgate would catch trout, up to 14 inches long, when it was drained. 

Apparently the flume was closed during the winter, as were the mills. 

The flume was open, and valuable products floating by were vulnerable to theft. 

Little of this apparently happened. Occasionally a jam or breakout occurred and 

wood products would spill down the hill. Company workers rarely put this material 

back into the flume. Men called flume tenders constantly patrolled the flume to look 

for problems and to ensure that the material was moving along. They would walk 

the upper side of the ditch, but on trestles a 12- to 18-inch-wide plank served as 

the walkway. Because some trestles were high aboveground and the narrow planks 

often were slick with spray or ice, a tender had to have a certain amount of internal 

fortitude. Near one of the mills, Chinese employees were the patrolmen (Bean 

1970). 

At strategic places along the flume, cabins well stocked with a stove, bunks, 

and groceries were built for emergencies. Should a serious problem arise, requiring 

several days of work and perhaps a crew of men, such foresight served the fluming 

operation well. Sometimes lumber was flumed at night. If a can full of pebbles hung 

above the flume kept rattling, the lumber was coming down in good fashion; if it 

stopped, a patrol up the flume was in order. Each flume tender carried a short-handled curved picaroon (fig. 10), as it was called, to reach in and hook an offending 

piece of lumber. Around Challenge, the tenders were local citizens. Each patrolled 

about 4 miles of flume. 

Many stories have been written about the “travelers” who journeyed down 

the flume in “boats.” These were nothing more than V-shaped “pig troughs” with 
22

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

boards nailed across the top for seats. Occasionally, a celebration in the mountains 

with a good supply of tarantula juice (slang for cheap whiskey) resulted in a dare for 

an individual to ride the flume. This must have been a gut-wrenching, hair-raising 

event as the boat careened around curves, wobbled over the trestles, and plunged 

down the Challenge and Hansonville grades. Because the flume splashed into the 

millpond at its end, the rider was guaranteed a dunking in cold water. No inebriated 

traveler was ever known to be anything but stone sober after such a ride.

Occasionally, a badly wounded person from a remote location in the mountains 

was placed in a flume boat as a last resort. One hopes that placement was below 

at least one steep grade and that he was well protected with blankets and oilskins. 

Shipments of trout and venison, well packed in snow, also made the trip to the 

valley below. 

Leach was well known as forward-thinking, and one of his ideas was to sell 

the water from his flume to farmers in the valley (Bean 1970). Placing much of the 

flume in a ditch, for example, was no accident. Indeed, Williams (1887) suggested: 

“This supply [of water], three hundred miners’ inches, is sufficient to irrigate three 

thousand acres, and all of it will soon be used for that purpose.” Try as he might, 

however, Leach could not justify extending his flume farther into the valley just to 

sell water. 

Figure 10—The long-handled, sharp-pointed tools displayed by this crew were called picaroons and 

used to position lumber and other wood products in the flume.

Because the flume 

splashed into the 

millpond at its end, the 

rider was guaranteed a 

dunking in cold water. 

No inebriated traveler 

was ever known to be 

anything but stone 

sober after such a ride.
23

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

After Leach went broke and no one was present to maintain the flume or to 

regulate the amount of water in it, the flume probably deteriorated rapidly, especially in the mountains. However, parts of it must have been present at least until 

1908, because in that year, an oldtimer, aged 95, but sound of mind, remembered 

parking his buggy under one of the trestles because it was nice and cool there. As 

mentioned earlier, a bustling community called Moore’s Station4 existed at the end 

of the flume. It was here that Leach’s box factory and planning mill existed along 

with other buildings that supported his operations and housed his workers. In April, 

1990, the authors were shown the exact location of Moore’s Station. Not a trace 

remained; no foundations or relicts of any kind could be found. Even the sides of 

the mill pond were gone. They apparently had been leveled and the land plowed. In 

1990, the site was open pastureland.

Railroad

With the advent of the flume, not only could a higher volume of material be shipped 

to the valley markets, but also products from lower grade logs. These were not 

low-grade products, but not just “highest” grade as before when only horse-pulled 

wagons journeyed to the valley. The net effect of this was an increased harvest not 

only per acre, but also over a larger amount of land. This, in turn lengthened the 

distance that the logs had to be transported to the mill, and this soon became too 

costly. Plainly, a more cost-efficient method of transportation was needed. 

A narrow-gauged railroad seemed to be the answer. In June 1884, a locomotive and a tender, construction number 7362, were ordered from the Baldwin 

Locomotive Works by R.E. Woodward for delivery at Moore’s Station (McDonald 

and Lahore 1994). Mr. Woodward was a civil engineer “of more than ordinary 

ability,” noted a newspaper article, and probably responsible for the engineering 

and construction of the railbed. At some point, this locomotive was named “CHAS 

KOHLER,” a sobriquet that was printed on both sides of the cab just below the 

windows (fig. 11). Why this name, and who it was, have never been determined. 

The locomotive was a rod engine, meaning that it had an external horizontal drive 

system. It had no pilot wheels in front, three sets of large wheels directly under the 

boiler, and no wheels after the large ones. To trainmen, this designation is termed 

0-6-0. The middle pair of the six was “blind” in the sense that it served only to 

promote stability and distribute weight. The diameter of the cylinders was 8 inches 

and the stroke 12 inches. The locomotive weighed about 15 tons, which was a 

4 The name Moore’s Station became obsolete in 1878 when the post office was named 

Honcut, which is a present-day hamlet close to where Moore’s Station was located.
24

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

relatively small engine. It had a fast-steaming boiler and fairly small drive wheels, 

which meant that it had to have good track, not too much grade, and not too tight 

curves. Consequently, the railbed and trestles were well constructed with sawed 

crossties and timbers, as opposed to the round ones, that were traditionally used in 

logging railroads.

As best as can be determined, and this only by photographic evidence, the rolling stock of the Challenge Mill railroad consisted of seven flat cars for hauling logs 

and lumber. No boxcars or gondolas (for ballasting the railbed) are known. Long 

after Leach was gone, a forester found the remains of these flat cars in a gulch near 

Owl Gulch. “Marysville Foundry 1870” was inscribed on the wheels. Because this 

was before Leach’s railroad, he must have purchased these “flats” second hand.

Construction of the railbed probably began a little before the arrival of the 

engine in 1884 and continued intermittently as needed for the next 8 years. One 

oldtimer stated that the “Chinese [from the settlement near Challenge] built the railroad.” After the railroad left Challenge, it curved for 2 miles southeastward around 

Pike County Peak, then forked. One fork extended a short distance above Little 

Oregon Creek and ended close to where a small settlement called Wrangletown was 

located. The other fork turned northeastward and continued around the Peak at a 

4- to 5-percent grade. Because the track was perpendicular to the drainage pattern, 

many small bridges, cuts, and fills were needed to maintain this grade. Cuts and 

fills, pieces of burnt trestles, and in-place railroad ties are visible today.

Figure 11—The steam locomotive and loaded flat cars of the Challenge Mill railroad, 1887.

The rolling stock of the 

Challenge Mill railroad 

consisted of seven flat 

cars for hauling logs 

and lumber.
25

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Wrangletown was a “logging town” and its inhabitants “dirt poor,” said an 

oldtimer. A cutout on the hillside indicated where the principal building was 

located. Artifacts on three sides of the cutout included many lead-soldered cans, 

old shoes, broken ax heads, and shards of broken Chinese rice bowls and bottles. 

Enough of the broken bottles were left to categorize them as whiskey, chutney, 

spice, and medicine. All dated to the late 19th century. Several pieces of early 

logging machinery and a large iron rim for a wooden wagon wheel were deposited 

along the hillside and near the stream bottom below. The town was not Chinese, 

said the oldtimer, and poor White folks could have utilized the cheaper oriental 

crockery. Judging from the small amount of one age of cans and bottles (the time of 

the railroad), Wrangletown was short-lived. 

By 1887, the rails had penetrated for another 21⁄2 miles into the forest to Beanville Creek, where a new, but smaller, sawmill and supporting structures were 

constructed. The railroad now switched from hauling logs to the mill to hauling 

lumber to the flume (fig. 12). A portable, steam-driven donkey engine snaked at 

least some of the logs out of ravines to a landing (fig. 13), where the oxen could then 

move them to the mill. The Beanville mill operated from 1888 to 1892. Eventually, 

the railroad extended across Beanville Creek, over to Indian Creek, and up it for a 

short distance. It never crossed Indian Creek. The total trackage from Challenge to 

its farthest point was about 6 miles.

Figure 12—Numerous cuts and fills were needed to maintain the rail grade from the Beanville mill 

to the Challenge flume. 
26

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Beanville was a small settlement connected to Challenge by rail and probably 

by road. We know it existed in 1889 and 1890. The sawmill shut down during 

the winter and the people went elsewhere. A cutout in the hillside pinpointed the 

location of the boiler and probably of the mill itself. A plethora of old bricks, saw 

teeth, and square nails nearby support this contention. Today, a large decomposing 

sawdust pile, well dotted with ferns, bleeding hearts, and buttercups cascades down 

the hill into Beanville Creek. Artifacts of glass and metal along the old railroad 

right-of-way leading to the mill verify at least temporary living quarters for the mill 

workers. 

Speaking of a sawdust pile, it was common practice in those days for a sawmill 

to “run their sawdust” by means of a small water-filled flume beneath the headsaw. 

The water carried off the sawdust downhill and deposited it into what often became 

a huge pile. At one of Leach’s mills, an enterprising fellow tunneled into the pile, 

hauled in blocks of ice, and had a ready-made refrigerator there for years. Of 

course, cold drinks could then be supplied to thirsty passersby for a small remittance. 

By 1892, Leach again needed more timber. He already owned a tract of land 

containing a large amount of superb sugar pine about 8 miles above Challenge in 

the Owl Gulch area. And his flume was nearby. Here he constructed a sawmill of 

the same name. He also needed his railroad to move the logs to the mill, so he built 

Figure 13—This little, wood-burning, steam donkey engine and crew snaked logs out of the woods 

enroute to the Beanville Mill in the early 1890s.
27

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

a short railbed there that was about 3/4 of a mile long. Moving the mill machinery, 

engine, and flat cars uphill to this location was no easy task. Leach apparently constructed a road to Owl Gulch, purchased a wood-burning, iron-wheeled road engine 

(fig. 14), and somehow transported everything, together or in pieces, to the site. The 

Owl Gulch mill operated until 1894. 

Figure 14—Road engine and empty log truck in front of Leach’s home at Challenge Mills in 1892.

The lumbering empire of Andrew Martin Leach probably peaked in 1886. 

Although the Diamond Springs mill had burned in 1880 and the Cottage mill had 

closed, the remaining mills were producing well and the flume was mostly paid for. 

The Woodville and Challenge mills alone were producing about 8 million board 

feet annually. A celebration was called for and what better way to celebrate than 

with a train ride (fig. 15). 

Gus Batt was about 17 and suffering with asthma in 1876. His doctor advised 

him to go to California and settle in a mountain town with pure air. Gus had to be 

carried on a stretcher to a train in Buffalo, New York, bound for California. We 

don’t know how he happened to choose Yuba County, California, but he settled in 

Brownsville where his health began to improve. His first job was cutting cordwood. 

He eventually went to work for Leach, progressed to being woods boss, and then to 

superintendent at the Challenge mill. 

The Empire mill possibly was unique in three respects. The first was that 

the mill was located below the flume and a tramway was constructed to raise the 

lumber to it. The second was that Leach built a skidway of peeled logs up Empire 

Creek for a mile or more and skidded peeled logs down it to the mill. A correspon-
28

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

dent remarked that there was still a big pile of rotten bark on the creek where the 

skidway started. The third respect was that production lasted longer at this mill than 

any other of Leach’s original mills. It closed in 1894. 

After 1886 a series of disasters hit. According to an article in a widely circulated trade journal of the time, Pacific Coast Wood and Iron (1887): “Leach’s mill at 

Challenge, Yuba County, burned, completely destroying (also) about half a million 

feet of lumber. The loss will run into the hundred thousands. Not more than $5,000 

insurance is on the entire property.” Six months later, the planning mill, adjacent 

box factory, and a loaded boxcar at Moore’s Station also were destroyed by fire. 

Most of the lumber piles were saved, however, by using water from the pond at the 

base of the flume. Several weeks later, the Woodville mill also was consumed by 

fire. Even the weather conspired against Leach. The winter of 1889 was termed the 

“big snow” by several oldtimers, with the snowpack being 12 feet deep on level 

ground at Woodville and 20 feet deep at higher elevations. Indeed, tunnels were dug 

to doors and windows of some homes and businesses for egress and light. Worst of 

all, the big snow took out whole sections of the flume, usually in the most inaccessible and most expensive places to repair. The Deadwood mill ceased to function 

about this time as well. 

Figure 15—Never one to miss an opportunity for a little favorable public relations, Andrew Martin 

Leach decked out his train in 1886, probably for a Fourth-of-July celebration. 

After 1886 a series of 

disasters hit. “Leach’s 

mill at Challenge, 

Yuba County, burned, 

completely destroying 

(also) about half a 

million feet of lumber. 

Six months later, the 

planning mill, adjacent 

box factory, and a 

loaded boxcar at 

Moore’s Station also 

were destroyed by fire.
29

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

At this point, his empire was crumbling, but Leach continued on. The Beanville 

mill and extension of operations to Indian Creek and later to the Owl Gulch area 

are witness to his persistence. Financing to repair the flume, build the new mills, 

and keep operations going was vital. Some money was realized as deeds from the 

county recorder’s office show that several parcels of land were sold in 1889 and 

1890. Nevertheless, Leach must have braved the financial jungles of San Francisco 

and borrowed heavily at this time. The winter of 1890 again was severe, and the 

newspaper Daily Mercury of Oroville, California noted “This has been a disastrous 

season for sawmills in the mountains. The rains have kept the ground so soft that it 

is impossible to haul. The Challenge mills have been idle most of the time.” 

Ever optimistic, Leach talked of extending his flume farther down the Feather 

River, forming a new company, and building two mills. However, no record exists 

of this ever happening. To make matters worse, the depression of 1893 was very 

bad. Another article in the Pacific Coast Wood and Iron (1893) stated: “The lumber 

interest in California looks black. The depression in general business has affected 

the entire trade and millmen are going slow. Some mills have shut down and other 

mills are working only part time. The only thing for lumbermen to do is wait. 

The present state of affairs cannot last always, and soon brighter times may be 

expected.” However, brighter times did not emerge, and sometime in 1894, Levi and 

Greenwald of San Francisco closed the books and took over all of Leach’s holdings 

on the ridge, even his house. 

When asked about the Leach insolvency, several oldtimers seemed philosophical about it. Almost all lumber mills eventually go broke, one said. Another 

remarked that “Leach did more for this part of the northern Sierra than any other.” 

Some Aspects of Life in Challenge

Stories of the inhabitants of Challenge Mills are always poignant, sometimes happy 

or sad, and at times fulfilling or giving evidence of a struggle. For good times, one 

lady noted that “not much time was spent away from home. In the winter evenings, 

we often would sit around the fireplace and our father would read to us. Mother and 

the girls did a lot of sewing and crocheting. Once in a while, we, or some of the 

neighbors, had parties with singing, dancing, games, and outdoor get-togethers (fig. 

16). This and an occasional school function were about all the entertainments we 

had in those days. We also had baseball and horse-shoe throwing for men and boys 

in the summer and skiing and sledding in the winter.” An example of winter fun 

was told by a fellow, who as a child would build homemade skis out of old barrel 

staves. These were remarkably unstable and a tumble in the snow often resulted. 
30

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Soon, the skis evolved to sleds made of several barrel staves. If the hill was steep, 

a backstop of tree limbs would be built at the lower end to make a sort of cushion. 

Crashing into that was part of the fun. Of course, autumn was the time of harvest 

and most everyone had a garden and orchard. In the later part of October, entire 

families would take their lunch and visit their orchard in a horse-drawn wagon. “We 

would spend the whole day picking and packing apples and playing. We children 

also picked berries and had a lot of fun.” Christmas time was one of great joy for 

the family. Most families had a Christmas tree decorated with popcorn and paper 

chains.

For tough times, another correspondent stated: “Mother became janitor for the 

school and my oldest sister and I were her helpers. We used to beat the chalk erasers 

against the old flag pole and dust out the desks. Mother’s pay was a few dollars a 

month and a sack of flour. She also baked bread for the miners and washed their 

clothes using an old wash board. Clothes were pressed with an iron kept hot on the 

wood stove. The children’s job was to keep the wood box full, and to pick berries 

and work in many ways.” 

The way of life at Challenge during the 1875 to 1915 period is told no better 

than to portray the Kelly family and in particular some thoughts of Edna (Kelly) 

Heenan (fig. 17). The Kelly family moved to Challenge in 1888 from Brush Creek, 

Figure 16—Young people, all dressed up in their Sunday best, at Lover’s Leap near Challenge in 1914 from left include Gus Kelly, 

Arta Blodgett, Martin Costa, Bob Roy, Mrs. Blodgett, her family, Viola Kelly, Gertrude Mellon, Marie Mellon, and Phil Kelly.
31

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Butte County, and lived in two cabins joined by a breezeway (fig. 18). One cabin 

was mostly bedrooms. There were six kids in the family; four boys and two girls. 

All were born at Challenge except the oldest, Albert. Edna Kelly was one of the 

girls. Her story was different from that of most children at Challenge because she 

went to college. Her brother, Albert, worked for the Forest Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and the money he earned helped put her through teachers 

college. Edna attended school in San Francisco and after becoming a teacher taught 

school in several places, including Marysville and Live Oak. She married well, had 

children who were successful in business, and lived a long, full life. 

Figure 17—Edna Kelly in 1909 at age 18. 
32

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Edna told us: “We always had an immense garden on a whole acre of ground 

where we grew all kinds of produce, including winter vegetables. My mother used 

to can all of our vegetables and meat. She canned everything for the winter because 

there wasn’t much money coming in around that time. It was kind of tough picking 

for all of us. My father had a cow and raised hogs. He would butcher them and put 

the meat down as salt pork. He smoked the hams in the smokehouse. We also had 

lots of eggs. We didn’t lack for anything to eat, and I can’t say that we really suffered any. It was the money that came in that was scarce.” Indeed, one individual 

recalled being in the Challenge store in the winter and observing a client purchasing 

several sacks of groceries. When it was time to pay, not a word was said; he simply 

tapped the cuff of his jacket. “On the cuff” was how many families got through the 

winter. For most, it was a badge of honor to pay the bill as soon as a paycheck was 

coming in. This process of borrowing and paying back often was repeated year 

after year. 

Edna attended school at Challenge and remarked that she had one change of 

clothes in her wardrobe. Her mother would buy bolts of material at the store and 

sit up nights sewing clothes for the two girls. Her mother and father had shoes, as 

did the girls in the family. When there wasn’t any rain or snow, her brothers went 

to school barefoot. Her shoes came from the catalog, and although they didn’t fit 

very well, she was proud of them. Because money was short, the shoes were worn 

Figure 18—The Kelly family and home at Challenge, circa 1890. In the front row are Viola, Augustine, Philip, and Ellen (Feeney) Kelly and in the back row are Gus, Albert, Edna, and Ernest. The 

family lived in one part and slept in the other. The bedroom part was not heated, and long-johns were 

standard bedtime garb in winter. 

Because money was 

short, the shoes were 

worn long after the 

children’s feet had 

outgrown them. “That 

is the reason I have 

bunions now. If the 

shoes squeaked, that 

was the nice part of it. 

As I went up the isle 

to the blackboard at 

school, they squeaked, 

and everyone knew I 

had shoes.” 
33

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

long after the children’s feet had outgrown them. “That is the reason I have bunions 

now. If the shoes squeaked, that was the nice part of it. As I went up the isle to the 

blackboard at school, they squeaked, and everyone knew I had shoes.” 

As to social decorum, Edna noted: “We had long dresses in those days with 

white underskirts. They tended to drag in the dust, but we had soft water up here 

and they came out nice and clean after washing. I remember my grandmother 

telling my mother that the girls should wear dresses longer. We weren’t allowed 

to sneak around much like the kids do now. My father never allowed me to go out 

alone with anyone even when I was up all night going to the dances. Sometimes he 

even told me who I couldn’t dance with, and when I came back he would ask me. I 

always told him the truth. I had to be very, very careful. My oldest brother looked 

after me. If anybody danced with me too often he was told. He got into a big scrap 

one night because of that. I remember the big Fourth-of-July celebration at Woodville very well. It was at that dance that they brought me the letter that I had passed 

the teachers examination. Did I ever celebrate.”

There were no churches in Challenge at the time. A Catholic priest would go 

to the different houses and have services there. “He came to our home quite often. 

Mother would sit on our beds at night and teach all six of us our prayers. That was 

where we learned them. Father Toumey was one priest that I remember. He was on 

his way to Challenge one winter evening and had to cross Dry Creek. It was very 

swift and his horse and buggy was swept away and he was drowned.” 

The Forest Service arrived in the Challenge area about 1908, first as part of 

the Tahoe National Forest and then as a component of the Plumas National Forest. 

The Forest Service’s main job was to protect the forest from fire and its best known 

presence was the lookout near the top of a pine tree (fig. 19) on the summit of Pike 

County Peak. The platform for the observer was none too large, and rather flimsy. 

Observers (lookouts) were required to climb up and check for smoke several times a 

day, and if any was spotted, they had to hike to the spot and put out the fire (Mossinger 2006). Henry Foss was the lookout there for 15 years. One elderly lady and a 

dear friend would flash him with a looking glass at noon every day to let him know 

that the older lady was all right. One oldtimer remarked that he was “scared spitless” up there. Other Forest Service employees at Challenge during this period were 

Elmer Gleason, Charlie LaValle, and William Hayes.

When asked, one oldtimer could not remember any hangings or shoot-outs 

in Challenge. “There were individual shootings aplenty however. Generally the 

sheriffs were pretty good guys. When a man was shot, the sheriff would come up 

and investigate. He would ask around and if told the guy was a no-good s.o.b. and 

deserved to be shot, he’d write down ‘shot by another while shooting in self defense, 

The Forest Service 

arrived in the 

Challenge area about 

1908. The Forest 

Service’s main job 

was to protect the 

forest from fire and its 

best known presence 

was the lookout near 

the top of a pine tree 

on the summit of 

Pike County Peak. 

The platform for the 

observer was none too 

large, and rather flimsy. 

One oldtimer remarked 

that he was “scared 

spitless” up there.
34

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

investigation closed.’ However, if the man did not deserve to be shot, the shooter 

went rather quickly and decisively to jail.”

Like today, the cold was the most common illness followed by appendicitis, 

heart attacks, and kidney malfunction. Pneumonia often followed a cold, as the 

many miners in the hills breathed a toxic mix of rock dust, powder smoke, and bad 

air. Many deaths simply were recorded as “cause unknown.” 

Figure 19—U.S. Forest Service lookout on top of Pike County Peak in 1909.
35

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

In the smaller towns and mining camps, doctors were unavailable. Treatment 

was by family and friends and often surprisingly effective. Medicines tended to be 

homemade with the most common elements being sulfur and syrup. A cold was 

universally treated by greasing one’s chest with turpentine and lard and then wrapping it with a big flannel cloth. Being “mustarded” was another treatment. A raw 

potato in your pocket was good for rheumatism. Pain from a bad cavity in a tooth 

was alleviated with a piece of cotton swabbed with carbolic acid. Typically, only the 

larger towns had a doctor. If someone was sick, a friend or relative would travel to 

a town that had a doctor, describe the symptoms, and get a bottle of medicine. If an 

emergency, the doctor would travel to the victim. However, in the winter, a trip on 

snowshoes often was necessary. 

Sometime in 1894, one oldtimer sadly remembered that it was about this time 

that typhoid fever became rampant and several people died. “Typhoid continued to 

stalk the countryside and no one knew when he might be the next victim.” Tuberculosis also was common throughout the area. There was a County Hospital located in 

Marysville for the indigent. County aid was $5 per month. “Many an old prospector 

lived on it,” said one fellow. 

The Town of Challenge

Little is known about Challenge Mills as a town before the coming of Andrew 

Martin Leach. Undoubtedly, a few structures were present to support the early-day 

sawmill, as well as those of miners, farmers, and other minor industries. A stagestop also must have been present. 

By the 1860s, mining for gold in the small creeks around Challenge was 

depleted, but a new industry emerged. This was the gathering of sap from pine trees 

for the manufacture of rosin and turpentine. The Civil War had cut off the supply of 

these products to the North (Bancroft 1890), and the California legislature offered 

premiums as an incentive to produce them. J.W. Jacobson of Marysville gained the 

first incentive, and in 1864 fully 350,000 pounds of crude pitch were collected. His 

three distilleries made over 7,000 gallons of turpentine and 1,150 barrels of rosin. 

Each tree yielded about 3 gallons of crude. Cronise (1868) stated that “The homemade article is equal to the imported, and could be produced in almost any quantity 

and at less price than the Eastern were it not for the cost of freight from the interior 

to San Francisco, the central market.” The cessation of war virtually ended this 

endeavor. A few large pines with almost healed-over scars can still be seen in the 

forest near Challenge today (fig. 20).

Plentiful sunshine, abundant rain, and good soil suggested that the Challenge 

area would be a good area for farming. The 1886 land survey denoted “cultivated” 

The California 

legislature offered 

premiums as an 

incentive to produce 

rosin turpentine from 

pine trees.
36

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

land surrounding Challenge and to extend south and east of it about three forths of 

a mile. All was described as “being won from the forest.” Cultivated land, however, 

must have included pasture and grazing land as well as orchards and small fields of 

oats and barley. One oldtimer mentioned that a grist mill was located below a small 

waterfall on Dry Creek in the experimental forest, but only a few bricks and pieces 

of crockery are all that remain today. 

Figure 20—A cat-face scar from turpentine extraction on a large ponderosa pine tree on the Challenge Experimental Forest in 1980. 
37

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

As Leach’s operations became established and grew, new houses and businesses 

were built in Challenge. All were constructed of wood because it was plentiful and 

cheap. From 1875 to 1887, Challenge was a vigorous, bustling, expanding town with 

an aura of unbridled optimism. Most of the homes in Challenge were constructed 

during this time of maximum prosperity and were reasonably well made and 

furnished. Many homes had several owners, and those denoted on the schematic 

(fig. 21) are named for the family that lived there either first or the longest. In a few 

instances, the authors knew a house was present in a given location but received no 

information as to the owner. Of course, most homes also had one or more outbuildings like the ubiquitous outhouse, barns for livestock, sheds for tools, and root 

cellars for potatoes, tuberous vegetables, and apples. Most businesses in Challenge 

arose after the sawmill burned and Leach’s empire crumbled.

Figure 21—Schematic of homes and businesses in Challenge in 1914. Houses: 1–Henry South, 

3–no information, 9–Ashburn, 10–Cartland, 11–no information, 12–Wilder, 13–Willey,

14–Leach, 15–Mellon, 16–Pike, 17–Costa, 18–Kelly, 19–Pieratt, 20–Mulock, 23–Clemons.

As Leach’s operations 

became established 

and grew, new houses 

and businesses were 

built in Challenge. 

All were constructed 

of wood because it 

was plentiful and 

cheap. From 1875 to 

1887, Challenge was 

a vigorous, bustling, 

expanding town with 

an aura of unbridled 

optimism.
38

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Below is a numbered listing of the homes, businesses, and other prominent 

structures in Challenge in the 1886 to 1890 era. Most are long gone with numbers 1, 

2, 10, 13, 14, and 20 remaining. Of these, most are abandoned. More description and 

stories of some of them follow in the same order. 

Number Description Number Description

1 House (Henry South) 13 House (Willey)

2 Store (Hendricks) 14 House (Leach)

3 House 15 House (Mellon)

4 Store (H. Clemons) 16 House (Pike)

5 Small barn 17 House (Costa) 

6 Blacksmith shop 18 House (Kelly) 

7 Large barn 19 House (Pieratt)

8 Hotel 20 House (Mulock) 

9 House, (Ashburn) 21 Boarding house (Leach)

10 House (Cartland) 22 School

11 House 23 House (Clemons

12 House (Wilder)

Number 1. Henry South was a long-time employee of Leach who worked in 

the woods and at the mill. He drove an ox team and may have been one of the early 

engineers on the railroad. Later, Isaac Ryant was an engineer on the railroad that 

ran from Challenge to Beanville.

Number 2. After Leach went broke, there were two relatively small stores in 

Challenge. Frank and Nell Hendricks had a grocery store, which after many modifications and additions became the Challenge store. It closed in 2010.

Number 3. No history.

Number 4. Belle and Henry Clemons had a general store at this location, 

where they sold a general line of hardware and merchandise. One of the Clemons 

was described as a good dresser and a good talker. He spent most of his time in the 

store playing poker with his pals. He was a real good poker player, said one fellow 

rather wistfully.

Number 5. At one time, two barns of note existed in Challenge. This, the 

smaller one, was next to the hotel and served as the stage barn. 

Number 6. Blacksmith shop operated by Henry Coupe. Numerous horse and 

ox shoes, square nails, and pieces of heavy metal were found nearby. Henry logged 

and did timber work for Leach for several years. One day, Henry and several of 

his friends were standing around and discussing the weather, news, and current 
39

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

events. Business was slow, so out came the bottle, and they all had a few. Henry 

liked cigars, and at one point put one in his mouth, lighted end first. It was said that 

he never even flinched, laid the cigar down, spit out the ashes, remarked that he 

had burned his blankety-blank tongue, turned around, and walked out. His buddies 

howled with laughter and he never did live it down. 

Number 7. This large barn (fig. 22) was used by the many teamsters who traveled the Challenge roadway. It had doors at both ends and thus was easy to drive 

through. Barns were important in the old days as horses were the sole link with the 

outside world. Consequently, the animals were well kept and well fed. The barns 

were filled with oats, barley, hay, and straw in the fall. It was a big and expensive 

job to put away feed for the animals. It also was here that the kids, sitting on the 

corral fences, and hearing the men when they changed horses, learned how to cuss. 

Figure 22—This large barn at Challenge served commerce in the area for many years. 

Number 8. The big 2-story Challenge Hotel was built in 1886 by J.W. and 

Susan Ribble at a cost of $4,000 to $5,000. They also lived in it. Doctor J.J. Van 

Male bought the hotel in 1909-1910 for $1,800 (fig. 23). It burned on November 12, 

1914. The hotel had 16 rooms, described as “nice” with an even nicer bar, said one 

fellow. Drinks were two for a quarter, a bottle of whiskey cost one dollar, and gin 

traded hands at 75 cents a fifth. Most rooms had a bed, a wash stand with bowl and 

pitcher, a drinking water pitcher, soap dish, and of course a chamberpot. 
40

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

A person had to have either lamps or candles for lighting. The lamps burned 

kerosene and they constantly had to be filled and cleaned. Almost all hotels had 

one big galvanized bath tub, and Saturday was bath night. One individual remarked 

“There must have been quite a scramble for everyone to get a bath that night. All 

water would have to be heated and carried.” There were large tanks for water on the 

cook stove in the kitchen.

Each town along the road had a big dance at least once a year. Challenge had 

the New Year’s dance; Forbestown—Christmas; Brownville—Thanksgiving; 

Woodville—Fourth of July. The dances started on Saturday and wouldn’t end until 

all hours Sunday night. For some, going home was painful because of too much 

strong drink, but Monday was a work day, so home they went. Music was by oldtime fiddlers and pianists; sometimes with a cornet or banjo. Two-steps, quadrilles, 

waltzes, and an occasional polka were offered. Of course, good food and the nice 

bar enhanced the celebration. The Challenge Hotel would actively advertise its 

big dance with posters put up near and far. People would come from miles around 

and dance until daylight the next morning in the big dormitory upstairs. We have a 

conflict here, as one correspondent mentioned that several bedrooms were present 

upstairs in the hotel. 

Figure 23—As the center for local social life, the Challenge Hotel was built by J.W. Ribble in 1886 

and served the community until November 11, 1914, when it burned to the ground. The automobile is 

a 1914 Henderson, Model 54, roadster. 

Saturday was bath 

night. One individual 

remarked “There must 

have been quite a 

scramble for everyone 

to get a bath that night.
41

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Shortly after the hotel burned, the first permanent physician in Challenge, 

Doctor J.J. Van Male (fig. 24), built his home where it had been. “Doc” Van Male 

graduated from the California Medical College in December 1887 with the degree 

of M.D., and practiced his profession in various locations in San Francisco and 

northern California before moving to Challenge in 1897. Doc was head of the 

County Hospital in Yuba City before coming to Challenge. He was the only doctor 

in the area and a rather colorful character. 

Doc had a sense of humor: One oldtimer needed a medical exam and the test 

included looking at his eyes, ears, etc. Doc had a big old watch that sounded like a 

threshing machine. The story goes that he held it a few feet from the man’s ear and 

said: “Can you hear that?” After an affirmative, he kept backing away asking all 

the time: “Can you hear that?” Finally, he went clear into the next room and asked 

again. When the answer was “yes,” he came out and said: “You’re a dam--d liar.”

Doc had a rig in the ceiling with pulleys that had hand grips. It came down and 

had a leather collar to put around his neck. He would raise that up and those hand 

grips would stretch his spine. Another time he was observed coming from his house 

grumbling and cussing a little: “The woman just had another ‘young-un’ and hasn’t 

paid the $5.00 she owed from the last.”

One day in November 1911, another correspondent had a badly cut hand, and 

was brought to Doc Van Male, who stitched it up. “He used one heck of a big 

needle; just like the one they use to sew sacks shut. One man had to hold me down 

while the sewing was done.” This operation must have been successful, because 

the hand was good for another 60 years. Another fellow broke a finger. Doc put 

some stinky powdered medicine on it, wrapped it up, and returned 2 weeks later to 

remove the bandage. It was all healed. 

In general, the folks at Challenge got along pretty well, but an occasional 

dispute arose: “Complaint has again been made to the office of District Attorney E. 

Ray Manwell by Dr. J.J. Van Male of Challenge regarding the alleged maintenance 

of a nuisance in the freedom allowed hogs by F.C. Cuddeback, a neighbor of the 

complainant. Several months ago a similar complaint was lodged by Van Male 

resulting in an investigation and arrest of Cuddeback for a violation of the law in 

allowing his hogs to pollute a stream of water used for drinking purposes. The case 

was dismissed after Cuddeback agreed to remedy the condition. Van Male now 

complains that his neighbor has a larger band of hogs than ever and that he is much 

annoyed. Manwell will endeavor to settle the dispute through diplomacy.”

Doc Van Male also served residents in the small towns above Challenge whom 

he would visit via horse and buggy. Summertime charges ranged from $3.50 to 

$5.00 per visit and included medicines or pills. Wintertime was much different, and 
42

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Figure 24—Doctor Van Male and wife, circa 1900.
43

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Figure 25—Ashburn house, circa 1914.

Between the Ashburn and Cartland houses was a building occupied at one 

time by the Order of the Owls, which was a fraternal organization. In later years, 

it was known for its dances and wild parties. We did not denote it on the schematic 

because we were not sure where the original “Owl’s Nest” was located, nor if it was 

in our time period. 

Number 10. Known at one time as the Gephart or Cartland house (fig. 26), but 

no other history known. 

Number 11. No history.

Number 12. Could have been called the Blodgett house. Later owned by Hugh 

Wilder. In 1910, he was an old white-haired man and a noted musician who could 

play the piano, violin, and cornet. 

a trip on snowshoes cost several times more money. This was not surprising as such 

trips often took several days and were much more risky, given the possibility of 

severe winter storms, fallen trees, and avalanches. 

Visits by dentists and eye doctors also tended to be seasonal. Care was given 

only in the summer months when a traveling dentist or optician would come to 

town and open temporary offices in the Challenge Hotel. 

Number 9. In July 1915, C.E. Ashburn and wife turned their private home (fig. 

25) into a hotel for a short time. 
44

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Number 13. Aileen M. Willey (fig. 27) and mother were agents for the telephone exchange in Challenge beginning in 1904. The switch board was located 

in the Willey house. Aileen also had the Post Office in 1909 and for many years 

afterward. 

Number 14. Andrew Martin Leach house (fig. 28). This large two-story 

house was described as well made with fine siding, and plastered and beautifully 

appointed inside. After Leach, several families lived here over the years. One 

family was Doctor and Mrs. S.C. Gearhart who practiced medicine in the area after 

1910. He was highly regarded, said one correspondent. 

Number 15. First known as the Pratt house, and then the home of William J. 

Mellon (fig. 29). Henry S. Pratt was the head sawyer for Leach for many years. 

Mr. Mellon moved from Butte County to Challenge in 1889 where he engaged 

in lumbering and mining. In February 1895, Mr. Mellon was nominated on the 

Democratic ticket as county supervisor of the fifth district of Yuba County and took 

the oath of office in March 1895 (fig. 30). He served as county supervisor from 1895 

to 1938, being elected every 4 years. Mr. Mellon was described “as a pleasant and 

capable supervisor. He had an old sorrel horse that was as old as he was. He loved 

that horse. He also was described as someone who was a nice dresser, wore kid 

gloves, and was always sober. He never drank. He also was a good politician. In an 

Figure 26—Nestled among the incense-cedar and locust trees, the Cartland house overlooks the 

Marysville-La Porte highway. 

Mr. Mellon was a 

good politician. In an 

election year, he would 

visit certain areas and 

give the people there 

a job working on the 

roads. He helped me 

out more than once to 

get a job on the road. 

The pay was $2 a day. 

I worked for him many 

a time and my brothers 

did also.
45

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

election year, he would visit certain areas and give the people there a job working 

on the roads. He helped me out more than once to get a job on the road. The pay 

was $2 a day. I worked for him many a time and my brothers did also. Everybody 

around, he gave them all work. We hauled gravel on the road. When asked if he 

voted for Mr. Mellon, the answer with a smile was yes, more than once. When not 

Figure 28—Leach house, 1914.

Figure 27—Willey house. 
46

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Figure 29—Pratt house and then home of William J. Mellon. 

an election year, local folks would say: road bad, big holes. Mr. Mellon would shake 

his head and say: “We don’t have any money—just have to get by with the roads 

that we have.” 

Number 16. This house was described as large, rectangular, and surounded by 

a white picket fence, fruit trees, and flowers. It was built in 1883 and probably lived 

in by George Wolters and family (Mossinger 2006). After 1885, it was known as the 

Pike house where a big family with two boys and several girls resided. It was built 

Figure 30—Yuba County Board of Supervisors, 1895. Mr. Mellon is at far left, front row. 
47

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Figure 31—Children at the Challenge School. Note the bare feet of the two boys in the center of 

the picture. 

with square nails and had a porch all around that was good for sleeping during 

the summer

Number 17. The Costa family were pioneers in the Challenge area and at least 

one member lived here. 

Number 18. The Kelly family suffered from at least one burned home, but lived 

here the latest. More on the family was told earlier by Edna (Kelly) Heenan. 

Number 19. Known as the Pieratt House, but no other history is known.

Number 20. Original owners unknown, but lived in for many years by Mr. and 

Mrs. Mulock.

Number 21. Leach boarding house. 

Number 22. School house. The Challenge school began in 1881 and operated 

for 8 months during the winter. It had only one room with one teacher for 25 to 45 

pupils from first grade to 10th grade (fig. 31). For some children, the school was 2 or 

3 miles away. “We didn’t mind walking a few miles in those days,” said one young 

fellow. There was one row of single desks and two rows of double desks. The subjects were much like those of today: arithmetic, English, penmanship, geography, 

and history. Some of the teacher’s names were Ida Ruff, Ben DeVore, Elsie Pottle, 

George Johnson, and Mabel Kumle (fig. 32). One lady told of her brother attending 

the Challenge school: “It was a very good school and he had no trouble when he 

attended schools elsewhere.” This extended to college as well. 

The Challenge school 

began in 1881 and 

operated for 8 months 

during the winter. It 

had only one room 

with one teacher for 25 

to 45 pupils from first 

grade to 10th grade. 

For some children, the 

school was 2 or 3 miles 

away. “We didn’t mind 

walking a few miles in 

those days,” said one 

young fellow.
48

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Figure 32—A native of nearby Brownsville, Mabel Kumle taught school at 

Challenge from 1906 to 1909 and was featured on the cover of the graduation 

program in 1907. 

Number 23. Mrs. Addie Clemons had a little, square, white house near the 

intersection of the present-day La Porte and Greenville roads. Her children Henry, 

Dave, Fred, Nell and another daughter lived there. Mrs. Clemons lived in this house 

at the same time Nell (Mrs. Hendricks) and her husband, Frank, had the Challenge 

store. Dave Clemons used to haul their provisions out of Marysville with a twohorse wagon.

Less than a mile north of Challenge was a gold mine, called the “Horseshoe.” It 

was located by Fred Clemons in 1908–09 and owned by him for several years. Initially, he took some good gold out of the mine, and built a small stamp mill nearby 
49

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Figure 33—Earnest Kelly on the trail to the Horseshoe gold mine.

to crush the ore and a cyanide mill to extract the gold from it. Later, it became 

tough going because the rock was faulted. It would be good rock for one foot and 

bad the next. Many a boy would go up to the mine for target shooting on warm 

afternoons when the rattlesnakes were sunning themselves on the rocks. It was 

quite common to see a fellow coming down the trail with 18 or 20 snakes, said one 

lady. After one close encounter, Earnest Kelly (fig. 33) and some friends dynamited 

the den. They counted over 300 dead snakes after the blast; they were all over; even 

hanging from the trees.

Two important businesses in Challenge were the Post Office and the Telephone 

Exchange. These were not given a number because they were located in several 

homes or buildings over the years.

Before it had a Post Office, mail for Challenge Mills could be collected at the 

Post Office in Brownsville to the south or at Clipper Mills, Butte County, to the 

north. The Challenge, Yuba County Post Office was established on April 29, 1895 

(General Services Administration 1975), with its location being in the homes of 

several people. Postmasters were Elijah B. Sparks 1895, Mrs. Susan E. Ribbel 1899, 

Charles E. Congrave 1903, Eunice Reed 1905, and Aileen M. Willey 1909. In 1897, 

some people that had gotten mail at Brownsville continued to do so even after the 

Post Office at Challenge came into being.
50

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Telephone service at Challenge was officially opened on February 28, 1906, 

but the town got its first telephone a few years before the turn of the century. This 

was a long-distance public pay station. An 1897 telephone directory showed J. W. 

Ribbel as agent for the line. One fellow talked to a friend through the telephone and 

remarked that this was his “first experience in such witchery.”

In 1902, oldtimer Alex Moran said: “I worked for the Pacific Electric Company 

for some time. In the early days, the telephone line followed the county roads. 

They would buy poles from anybody that could secure them, dig the holes, put up a 

bracket for the insulator, and string just one wire. They would put a telephone here 

and there, three or four miles apart. Somebody would take charge of it and kind 

of handle it. People would come and phone. Of course, it was a ground-and-return 

system and was quite noisy and awfully hard to carry on a conversation. They 

had many calls from different bells along the line like the long-short-long, two 

longs and a short, and all that kind of stuff. They would be ringing those. People 

that wanted to find out what the news was would get on the line. Pretty soon you 

couldn’t hear anything with too many people on to hear what the news was.” 

Many humorous stories were told on how to get chronic listeners off the line. 

Sometimes an outrageous story would be told to a listener who was suspected 

of being on the line for hours. When the tale was repeated, the listener was then 

known and rather strongly told to keep off the line henceforth. 

Moran continued “The poles didn’t last but a few years. Then they had to stub 

them to keep them holding the wire up. A hole was dug beside the pole and a heartcedar post about 7 to 7 1⁄2 feet long was planted there. Then a bolt was put through 

and a couple strands of wire were wrapped around the pole and the stub.” A few of 

these stubs can be seen along the Marysville-La Porte highway today.

The Decline

With the sawmills gone, employment was hard to find, and most men worked at 

anything that they could get. They would even leave their families if the only work 

available was out of town. Money was always scarce, and in winter was even harder 

to come by. A few businesses took the place of Leach’s store and blacksmith shop, 

and a smaller sawmill was constructed in the Challenge area after 1915. Few, if any, 

new homes were built. 

The population also began to decline: an oldtimer remarked “One by one, they 

(the miners) started dying off. Many a night I spent sitting up with them ‘till they 

died. The men here would bathe and shave them and put them in their best clothes. 

Someone else would take a wagon over to Brownsville where the general store had a 

drug department, and get a coffin. There was a cemetery there and that is where most 

With the sawmills 

gone, employment 

was hard to find, and 

most men worked at 

anything that they 

could get. They would 

even leave their 

families if the only 

work available was out 

of town. Money was 

always scarce, and in 

winter was even harder 

to come by. 
51

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

of the people from Challenge were buried. Everybody generally turned out when 

there was a funeral and someone would read the Book. It was a very simple life.” 

Hunting and trapping helped to supplement food and meager incomes. Both 

were commonplace. One fellow noted “In those days there were no laws governing hunting and there was no such thing as limits or closed seasons. We needed 

meat, especially in the winter, and would kill deer, squirrels, and other small game. 

We did not hunt unless we needed the meat. If someone was lucky, he might kill 

a couple of deer and then go around to a neighbor and offer a hind quarter. Upon 

acceptance, dinner often was offered in the next few days. That’s the way it was 

with neighbors.”

One fellow had a favorite bear story: It seems like some fellows killed a deer, 

wrapped it in an old mattress, and placed it in part of a fallen-down cellar. That 

evening a bear came along and eloped with the deer, mattress and all. The next 

morning one fellow followed the bear tracks into the woods until he came upon the 

mattress lying against some brush. Upon poking the mattress, some loud grunts 

ensued and out came a thoroughly aroused bear. After a moment of sheer fright, the 

fellow went one way and the bear the other—both in record time. 

Before 1900, there was good trapping around Challenge for coons, civet 

cats, foxes, coyotes, and small game. Some animals were used for food and their 

pelts for useful items around the house. Sometimes a pelt could be sold for a bit of 

income. 

After going broke, Leach apparently stayed in the Challenge area for a short 

time, trying to square-up with his employees. For many, this meant payment 

in goods from the company store or even assigning them a small piece of land. 

Another oldtimer’s father was given a white horse named “Flora,” 25 years old, to 

repay a loan. Soon after, the two remaining mills (fig. 34), locomotive, track, and 

flume were simply abandoned. In 1899, one oldtimer, then a boy, remembered the 

locomotive and tender, and especially the bronze bell. Another old timer remarked: 

“I remember seeing the locomotive when I was quite small. My uncle hauled it out 

from Owl Gulch with eight horses and a deadax (meaning no springs) wagon minus 

the wheels. He hauled it to Marysville and it was shipped someplace. This was 

about 1902. The brass bell was still on it.” Apparently the wheels of the locomotive 

were transported in a separate wagon. The flatcars simply disappeared, but were 

noticed from time to time in the Owl Gulch area by local fishermen. In 1943, they 

were salvaged as scrap to support World War II. In the 1920s, an engine with the 

same wheel configuration turned up near San Rafael, in the San Francisco bay area. 

It apparently had been barged to this area in the early 1900s and possibly used in a 

nearby quarry (McDonald and Lahore 1994). 
52

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Figure 34—A stark reminder of the demise of the Leach lumber operation was the deteriorating Owl 

Gulch mill and flume. Compare the structures in this photo to those in figure 9.

Although the cab was gone, the similarity of engine type and design, the timing 

of departure from Owl Gulch and arrival near San Rafael, and the lack of any other 

0-6-0 tender locomotive for use in California by Baldwin in the 1880s, suggest that 

this was the final resting place for the locomotive of the Challenge Mill railroad.

Not all was completely lost when the flume and the railroad were no longer 

used, however, because boards and rails from them still had value. A local correspondent remembered seeing “a bar made out of a single 30-inch-wide gorgeous 

sugar pine board from Leach’s flume.” Another remembered his father getting 

boards from the flume to build part of a fence near his house. Later he built his barn 

with some flume boards. Still another stated “We got lumber out of the flume and 

built a chicken house. Everybody in the whole country up here got lumber out of the 

flume to build buildings on their places.” In the 1920s, a few hardrock mines above 

Challenge were still working and when rails were needed in their tunnels, they were 

salvaged from the old railroad. 

By then, most of the mines had closed and the timber harvested. Farmers also 

departed, finding much to their sorrow that late spring frosts and hot dry summers made farming a fruitless enterprise. Buildings in Challenge declined as they 

weathered, were moved elsewhere, burned, or torn down. However, the Challenge 

store persisted along with a few smaller and temporary businesses, selling goods 

and services to an occasional hunter, fisherman, hopeful miner, or a few loggers 

traveling to higher elevations. Not until the Great Depression of the 1930s did 
53

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Challenge again awaken as desperate men eked out an existence “sniping” for gold 

in Dry Creek, Oregon Creek, and other streams. Today, all businesses are closed, 

and the few remaining old homes, unless restored, are falling into disrepair. All that 

remains of Challenge is a school that serves it and five neighboring towns, a Post 

Office, a U.S. Forest Service work station, and two churches.

Acknowledgments

The authors interviewed many gracious oldtimers who laboriously searched their 

memories for the events in their lives that gave us this history. It is mostly their 

stories and photos that we present. In alphabetical order they are: 

Adams, Charles (Bud) Kelley, Arta

Ahart, Pete Kelly, Earnest

Bird, John Kumle, Mabel

Chittenden, Warren Moran, Alex 

Costa, Tony and Effie Nelson, Ralph 

Cummings, Ruth Pauly, Arvid 

Donald, Ray Taylor, Ben and Ruth 

Gordon, Ray Sr. Travis, Margie

Heenan, Edna (Kelly) Veercamp, Worthy

Keith, E.F. Wedgeworth, Bill

Special thanks and recognition are given to Rosemarie Mossinger of the YubaFeather Historical Museum who gave us much needed advice, supplied several 

valuable photos, and kindly reviewed this manuscript. 

In spite of constant checking and laborious cross correlating, some discrepancies exist and some conflicts remain unsolved. We have strived to keep our material 

in the 1875 to 1910 period and some confusion has arisen because changes were 

made during this timeframe. Hence a home was given a family name in one interview and a different one in another. Both probably are correct. It is our hope that 

readers will be tolerant and only smile if a discrepancy is found.
54

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PSW-GTR-239

Literature Cited

Bancroft, H.H. 1890. The Works XXIV. History of California. Volume 7, 1860–

1890. 826 p. 

Bean, W. 1970. The Vee Flume. Typewritten copy on file with the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, 3644 Avtech Parkway, Redding, CA 

96002. 5 p. 

Chamberlain, W.H.; Wells, H.L. 1879. History of Yuba County. Oakland, CA: 

Thompson and West: 92–96. 

Cronise, T.F. 1868. The natural wealth of California. San Francisco, CA: H.H. 

Bancroft & Company. 642 p. 

General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service. 

1975. (May 1). Letter to Ms. Lurene Williams, Challenge, CA. On file with: 

Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, 3644 Avtech Parkway, 

Redding, CA 96002.

Kroeber, A.L. 1976. Handbook of the Indians of California. New York: Dover 

Publications, Inc. 429–431.

Leach, F.P. 1925. Lawrence Leach of Salem, Massachusetts, and some of his 

descendants. Volume II. St. Albans, VT: The Messenger Press. 1002 p.

Mansfield, G.C. 1918. History of Butte County, California. Los Angeles, CA: 

Historic Record Company: 283–284. 

McDonald, P.M.; Lahore, L.F. 1984. Lumbering in the northern Sierra Nevada: 

Andrew Martin Leach of Challenge Mills. The Pacific Historian. 28(2): 19–31.

McDonald, P.M.; Lahore, L.F. 1994. The Challenge Mill railroad. The Californians. 11(3): 40–43.

Mossinger, R. 2006. Images of America: Yuba Feather Hills. San Francisco, CA: 

Arcadia Publishing. 128 p.

Pacific Coast Wood and Iron. 1887. 8(5): 71.

Pacific Coast Wood and Iron. 1893. 20(2): 70.
55

Life in Challenge Mills, Yuba County, California, 1875–1915

Thompson and West Document. 1879. (April 14). (microfilm #134). Letter to H.S. 

Wells from A.P. Willey. Yuba County Library, 303 2nd Street, Marysville, CA 

95901.

Williams, C.E. 1887. Yuba and Sutter Counties, California. San Francisco, CA: 

Bacon and Company. 33–35. 

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