Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-28
OLD Ell DORADO.
TRIP TO c0LoMA, WHERE GOLD WAS
FIRST DISCOVERED.
Ruins of Early Mining Camps-Remi-
niscences of the Historic Pioneer
Days in California.

At 7:30 A. NJ. boarded the Sacramento
Valley train and soon was spinning out of
town en- route to Placerville. The trip is a
! delightful one. The balmy air of morning,
the green vineyards and orchards heavily
laden with fruit, the stately country resi-
| dences in the midst of groves of trees, lend
! charm to the scene that is INDISPENSABLE and
only to be found in the Sacramento valley
as we approach the foothills.
The Natoma vineyard, the orchards of
Stephns, Studerus and Reuter-, and the
hop fields of Menke are all of immense size
and superior in the quality and quantity of
their products.
We arrive at Folsom shortly after eight
| o'clock and find that here the valley proper
ceases and the foothills begin.
Folsom is an old town, for many
years the terminus of the only railroad in
the State, and the point from which all the
freight to Amador and e. Dorado counties
was shipped. 1t had large Touring mill,
numerous wholesale establishm ents, rail-
road shops, was the center of rich min
| ing section, and put on metropolitan airs.
Its glory has somewhat departed. 1t is no
longer the terminus, but only way station
| on the road which has advanced forty
| miles farther into the foothills Its large
wholesale houses have dwindled into little
country stores, its mills are things of the
past and its mines were long since ex-
| hausted.
| But Folsom has future more grand than
anything of the past. 1t occupies the only
natural point for manufacturing centeri in
the great valley, and soon il will be known
as the Lowell of the Pacific coast The
water power of the American, that has run
| to waste since the world began is here to
/ be utilized to turn the wheels of numerous
industries, and within short space of time
| looms, planning mills machine shops, paper
mills and plants of every description that
can be run at 8 profit with cheap power
| will line its banks.
California soil raises every product that
| is known to the husbanGman in any por-
ton of the Union, and with her flax fields,
her cotton plantations, her wool that is
produced on a thousand hills, and the
| product of her silk worms, she will pro-
duce every fabric used by her people, and
Folsom will become famous the world over
! for her manufactured articles.
At Folsom we see the first dunes and
dug-outs, the first gravel banks and sluice-
ways, the remnants of what at one time
was the only industry in the State-placer
mining. They are now abandoned, as the
gold is no longer found in paying quanti-
ties. Here and there are to be seen few
| Chinese with rocker scrapipg over the
| bedrock and washing over the debris for
the few glittering particles that escaped the
| pioneer.
From Folsom to White Rock, the next
| station is rolling prairie land, owned by
| dairymen. Here their stock is win
tered and kept until late in the
| spring, when they are driven into the
valleys high up in the Sierras, where they
roam at will through green meadows until
the SHOWS of winter cause them to again
seek their home in the valley.
The next station of importance is La
trobe. Here we lost two agreeable COM
panions-young ladies-who took the stage
for Plymouth. One of them had a SPLEEN
did head of golden hair, and the male con-
tingent counted twenty. seven light colored
equines along the route.
Cal Duden, the genial agent, was on the
platform to greet his friends, and answered
many questions regarding the fruit crop,
| dove shooting, ETC., that were piled TO him
I by those interested in horticulture al d
field sports. He seemed to know what to
say to the reporter, and they both smiled
The fruit crop, he said, was good, while
the dove shooting at Dugan's was excellent.
| Henry johnson, the conductor, called out
"All aboard y and as the train turned
around the frat bend. Duden could be seen
assisting the red headed girl into the
| Plymouth stage, as an old fruit farmer
! drove up behind white horse on the 3D.
posite side of the depot
Single Springs, the next station, is q
! dilapidated- looking town. Here is depot
over quarter of mile in length that is
deserted. Long before the Central Pacific
| had reached Dutch Flat all the freight for
the State Of Nevada was shipped from
Shingle Springs, including the ponderous
machinery used on the Comstock. At
| first mule pack trains carried the freight
over the mountain trails and the old emf
grant road through Strawberry valley,
down through Carson valley, and out on
| the plains OF Nevada. In a short time toll
roads of wide and easy grade were con-
| structed over the mountains, and soon the
pack trains were superseded by eighteen
and twenty-mule teams, drawing prairie
| schooners," with two, three and four back
| actions, and soon a teamsters association
was formed that was as far reaching as
any railroad combination of more recent
| times.
! 1t was no unusual thing to see thirty and
| forty teams day loading at Single Springs,
and the road from that point to Genoa was
one continuous procession OF teams with
their jingling bells, aud wayside inns and
| hotels were built along the entire route
only few miles apart
Besides the freighting. the staging was
the largest and most profitable ever carried
on in the world. The California Stage
| Company, a corporation of immense CAPT
tai, carried the mails and passengers from
| Single Springs TO st. Joseph, Missouri.
! Six and eight coaches left Shingle Springs
every day. drawn by six horses each.
They had relays of horses every twelve or
| fifteen miles, and good time was made. 1t
was over this route that Hank Monk was
immortalized by getting Horace Greeley
through on time"
! There is nothing left of Single Springs
| former greatness except the abandoned de-
pot, the large Planters Hotel, a row of
residences, a store and blacksmith shop.
DR.. Hunter, an old resident, who has an
abiding faith in the natural resources of
| that section, is the publisher of The indie
pendent, bright and spicy weekly news
paper.
From ShiDgle Springs to Placerville the
road recently constructed is picturesque,
and traverses an excellent fruit belt This
portion of the route has variety of seen
cry of unusual grandeur. The shrubbery
of the valley disappears, the hardy oak, the
stately pine and the sturdy cedar grow to
immense size, while the mauzanita, the fir
and the fragrant madrone add beauty to
the scene.
1 A long tunnel through hill, bridge
crossing canyon at hight of over 100
feet, and sharp curves around mountain
bluffs are evidences of engineering skill
AT 10: 40 we arrived in the town of Pla-
ceryille- Here is found new depot and
! the hotel, buses backed up to receive the
passengers reminds one of a metropolitan
town. We stepped into the Cary House
bus, and in few moments were shaking
| hands with our old-time friend, mine host,
James Borland.
! Piaceryille Is the county seat of Ell Do.
RADIO county, has population of nearly s.
! 600, and is one of the best mountain towns
! in the State. II is in q prosperous section,
is well built, has city water works, an ef-
feciive FIRE department, excellent schools.
numerous churches, and support. three ex-
cellent papers-the Observer, Mountain Dem.
ocrat and III. Republican.
After dinner we went to Stevens livery
stable, procured a fine span of grays and a
double carriage and set cut for Coloma.
| There were four in our party, two of them
l