The Falls of Salmon Falls.

There were once falls at Salmon Falls, now inundated by Folsom Reservoir. The rocks were blasted away in the 1920s, helping with logging operations, which floated timber down the river. Below is a screengrab of our 1873 map of the Georgetown Divide showing the old townsite.

Salmon Falls got its start in 1849 with miners working the creeks, including Sweetwater Creek, which the town grew up next to. Once Folsom Dam was constructed, this entire area flooded. The town’s cemetery was exhumed and the bodies re-buried at the “Re-location Cemetary” at El Dorado Hills.

In low rainfall years, the town re-emerges from its watery fate, and you can visit some of the old town sites. Here is a link to more info on this area.

1873 map showing Salmon Falls. See the entire map here.

Leland Stanford and his store

This rare photograph shows a man, who is likely Leland Stanford, standing in front of his tent store. Leland and Thomas Stanford owned a couple of stores for miners, which is how they gained their wealth, selling supplies to the people doing the digging.

A closer view.

Leland's first store was in the town of Cold Springs, El Dorado County. That store wasn't making money, so he moved to Michigan Bluff, Placer County, and opened a store there. Meanwhile, Leland's brother Thomas ran a store at Michigan Flat, El Dorado County, just outside of Coloma.

An even close view is showing the sign with Chinese writing, alluding to the large population of Chinese workers in the area. Can anyone translate this for us?

The question I have for you, who may be more familiar with the topography of the areas in question, is this Michigan Bluff or Cold Springs.

The original photograph, located at the Stanford Museum, is here.

The Hogsback Mine near Foresthill

The Hogsback Mine on the Foresthill Divide was owned by the French “Compagnie des Mines d'Or du Forest Hill Divide," with headquarters, Paris, France. The following is from the Placer County Historical Society, “the regular force of men employed consists of 15 miners working 8 hours per day; 2 engineers, working 12 hours per day; 2 drivers, working 12 hours per day; two blacksmiths, working 10 hours per day; one timberman, working 10 hours per day, divided into three shifts, and working two 3 ½ -inch Ingersoll Eclipse drills on columns”.

This mine commenced work on April, 28th, 1888. here we read more from the Placer County Historical Society paper, “PROGRESS FOR A WFEK 48.7 FEET. 12 men, 7 days (84 days), at $3 $252.00 3 men, 7 days (21 days). at $3.25 68.25 1 man, 7 days (7 days), at $3.50 24.50 114 lbs. safety niter powder No. 2, at 13c. per lb. 20 52 350 feet triple taped fuse, at 72 c. per 100 feet 2 52 50 lbs. chemical wax candles, 14 oz , at 13c. per lb 6 62 2 boxes XXX blasting caps, at 80c. per box 1.60 224 feet lumber, at $22.50 per M 5.04 1040 lbs. steel rails (16 lb) (195 ft.) at 4c. per lb.. 41.80 Bolts and fish-plates, at 50e, per pair 4.00 Car oil .15 40 bushels charcoal, at 20e. per bushel 8.00 Wear and tear, etc 1.00 Total cost $435.80 Cost per foot $8.94 Not a timber was used in this ground, and it is still standing without any.”

Google Earth view of the mine and surrounding topography.

Pelton Water Wheel, Mammoth Bar Mine, 1895

This man is standing next to Pelton Water Wheel, located inside the wood cover. Lester Allan Pelton invented the Pelton Water Wheel in the 1870s. In 1860, while living in Comptinville, a gold mining community, he designed an efficient energy source that was able to turn water into power.

Figure from Lester Allan Pelton's original October 1880 patent

Mammoth Bar was a mining community located on the Middle Fork of The American River.

"Shafthouse of the Sherman Mine perched high up on the hillside overlooking the town".

It’s easy to forget just how many gold mines there were in El Dorado County at one time. Most have long ago closed, and the buildings torn down, burned down, or just fell. The above photo shows the Sherman Mine, c.1930s, which was located right in Placerville, behind the El Dorado Irrigation offices on Mosquito Road.

This description accompanied the photo. “The bottom of the triangular structure at center is skeletal while panels cover the top half. Another lightly-colored structure can be seen just behind the structure and extending to the left. While poles and other supplies sit in piles against the tall structure on the right, a man in a suit and hat lean on a post and look towards the trees on the right. More supplies and debris are scattered on the ground on the right and in the foreground while trees and bushes cover the small hill around the shafthouse”.

I found the location using Google Earth, where you can see the hill and where I think the mineshaft was. It was very active from 1905 to 1911, with a total production of $136,000. “The deposit, a five-foot-wide vein of gold-bearing quartz, was developed by a 750-foot inclined shaft with levels at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 750 feet; winze sunk from 750 feet and 5500 feet of drifts. The ore as treated in a ten-stamp mill.”

You would have heard that ten stamp mill, as well as other stamp mills in the area. One aspect of life in the foothills during the gold mine days we forget was the constant sound of stamp mills pulverizing rock to recover the gold better. The sounds were so ubiquitous in our area, that if they stopped, it could indicate problems at the mine. “Why did the mill stop”?

Below is a Google Earth view of the site.