The record-union., 1897-03-19
A GOLD-PRODUCING COUNTY.
Something About the Nevada City and
Grass Valley Mines.
Two of CaIifornia'S Progressive
Mountain Cities Many rlen
Employed.

NEVADA CITY. March 1G.-A pleas
ant ride of a little over seventy miles
brings one from the State Capital to
Nevada City, the county seat of Ne
vada County.
The ride through Placer County is
one of interest You are whirled
through the Sierra Nevada foothills,
where every curve brings lovely seem
cry to view and here and there, on
both sides of the track, can be seen
fiourishing orchards and vineyards,
and beautiful country homes.
[ can remember the time when the
whole section was covered with noun
tain underbrush, when no one dreamed
of the present developments being
made.
I said no one--but l mistake. 1 was
told by q gentleman who was an init
mate friend of the late Governor Stan
ford, that on one occasion, while rid
ing with the Governor in his private
car through Placer County some TWEEN
ty years ago, he was asked what sec
ton of the State, in his opinion, would
eventually be the garden spot of Cali
fornia. The friend replied that prob
ably sonle of the valleys would afford
the spot
The Governor said, NO these very
hills we are passing over will be the
spot. They have the soil, the climate
the means of transportation and the
near proximity to commercial centers
of the coast. 1t may not be in our
time said he, but, mark my words,
it will come"
The prediction is coming true, and
yet the possibilities are just beginning
to be developed.
The fruit output of the county, when
prices are good, is already no mean fac
tor of the county's prosperity.
At ColfaX the passengers for Nevada
County change cars and take the Ne
vada County Narrow Guage Railroad,
which terminates at Nevada City,
twenty-five miles away.
1t is romantic ride, having the high
est railroad bridge in the State, long
tunnels, long stretches of wooded coun-
try, and, in many places, beautiful
views of the surrounding mountains
and the distance. Eighteen miles from
Colfax you come to Grass Valley, the
metropolis of the county It is beau
claimed, about 5000 inhabitants 1t
is surrounded by a mining belt, the
oldest and most permanent of any in
California. From the south and west
there is a large section of farming
country tributary to it. 1t is a pros
porous and permanent town. A four
mile ride from Grass Valley brings
you to the county seat
This is another mountain city, whose
history, like that of its sister town,
dates back to 1S49. 1t is purely min
ing town. The Deer Creek basin in
which it is located, has hundreds of
quartz lodeS, many of which are being
worked, and the money paid out for
labor in them amounts to from $50, 600
to $4,000 monthly. All kinds of tenn
perate fruits, grain and vegetables
flourish here, and a good many are en-
gagged in their cultivation, but the prod
uct is not sufficient to supply the local
demand.
The residents of the county seat are
progressive, social, and wide-awake
people. Travellers always are made
to feel at home, and the right hand of
welcome is always extended to them.
i
are commOdious churches of the differ
ent denominations, first-class schools,
fine business houses, public halls and
an opera house, beautiful residences,
the best hotels in the interior, well kept
streets, a good water system, gas and
electric lights, a substantial court
house a bank, the stock in which can
not be bought, and in short, it has all
the improvements of a modern town.
The county has an area of LOO
square miles 1t extends from the
eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley
to and beyond the summit of the Sierra
Nevadas. The highest elevation is
5000 feet, while the lowest is but
few hundred feet above sea level.
1t has every variety of climate from
almost tropic heat to Arctic cold. Ice
is harvested in the eastern part of the
county while in the western part stock
is seldom fed in the winter.
Several rivers, having their source
in the high mountains, plow their way
southwesterly to the valleys, which.
with their tributary canyons and
gorges, cut the county into a series of
ridges. in most of which mining has
Deen ana Is NOW Dtills pIoSeCultQ-
The facilities for water power are
unexcelled, and advantage was taken
of this fact in the early history of the
county After the shallow placer mines
We're exhausted. and the adjacent hills
were found to be rick, means had to be
resorted to to get the water for wash
ing purposes on top of them. This re-
CURED an aggregation of capital and
enterprise seldom equalled in a young
community One company alone, the
Eureka Lake and Yuba Company
Consolidated had a capital of SOD
coo. They built a main canal sixty
five miles long with several side
bitches, all complete. in the sixties-a
good part of the system being in oper-
alton many years before. This sys
TEN supplied what is known as the
San Juan ridge where were some of
the richest and most extensive gravel
mines in the State.