Green Valley Road History Tour, Part 2

We continue our Green Valley Road history tour, Part 2. We are now on Malcolm-Dixon Road, which was the old route before the re-alignment of Green Valley Road. Just after turning onto Malcolm-Dixon Road, we come to the site of an old roadhouse named "New York." The New York House, located on the south side of the road near New York Creek, has quite the history.

The information for the New York House comes from Doug Noble's Green Valley Road history. The New York House, owned by Constantine Hicks, a carpenter from Vermont, had quite a reputation having been involved in a scandal concerning election fraud, as well as trying to claim "squatters rights" on 640 acres of surrounding land. He was defeated in part by the Central Pacific Railroad, which owned land intended for the transcontinental railroad, which eventually passed through Placer County to the north.

The story of Constantine Hicks gets brutal after this when his daughter eloped with a "hired hand." Hicks and friends overtook the man at the Rolling Hills house down the hill, horsewhipped him to death, then took the body back to the New York house and buried him on a hill across the road.

Live Oak School.

Continuing our journey, we come to the Live Oak School, which is still standing! The photograph at the top of the page shows the 1895-96 class with the teacher, Miss Donovan. L-R front row: Pete Leik, Annie Hughes(later Mrs. Louis Mettie), John Hughes, Frank Koffman, ___ Courtamarsh, &___Courtamarsh. 2nd row: Luke Avery, Maggie Hughes, Annie Leik, Lizzy Ricker, Lilly Orr, Cora Avery, Kitty Ricker, MamieGrace, and the teacher Miss Donavon.

The area around the schoolhouse has been approved for development by the county, with 2.2 acres around the school, as well as the building being preserved for history, while the rest will be developed.

The Green Valley Road History Tour

We now head up the old road where it will eventually lead us back to Green Valley Road, where we will turn left and head up the hill and the site of the Green Spring House, located on the south side (right side as your driving) of Green Valley Road, on a old alignment of the road. The Green Springs House was built by Rufus Hitchcock, who would run the place until 1851 when he died of smallpox. William Dormody ran it until he died in 1876 when his widow Sarah F. Dormody took it over. According to history, it was a favorite place to hold weddings.

Take Green-Valley Road towards Rescue, and our next stop on our tour, Deer Valley Road. We will discuss that in part 3 of our Green Valley Road history tour.

Tour map found here.

The Rolling Hills Hotel

Here we see Oscar Fleming driving a wagon past the old Rolling Hills Hotel on the Coloma-Folsom Road. Now known as Green Valley Road, the road was heavily traveled with miners and others using it to reach the goldfields from the Sacramento Valley. Along the way were "Roadhouses," which were the motels of their times. Horses, and people needed to eat, sleep and get supplies as they traveled, and the roadhouses often supplied these.

The first roadhouse one would have reached after crossing the county line into El Dorado County was The Kentucky House, which we talked about here. Just past the Kentucky House, was the Rolling Hills Hotel, owned by Charles Post, pictured above. The Hotel, built in the 1850s, was about halfway up the hill that rises from Folsom to El Dorado Hills, just before Francisco Drive. The Hotel was a large two-story frame building, which by 1912, as seen in the above photo, was already falling apart.

The W A Thomas Store, Roseville

The W. A. Thomas Store, located on the corner of Atlantic and Lincoln Streets, was the first store in the new town of Roseville, California. Built-in 1865 by W A Thomas, who had run the 15 Mile House near Sylvan Corners for the previous 16 years. It had only been the year earlier that this new town of Roseville has its name mentioned in newspapers, relating to the 1864 presidential election.

Sylvan Corners had been a busy place with the hundreds of teamsters and wagons passing by. However, with the railroad's completion, the wagon road business fell off, so W A Thomas moved to the new town next to the railroad tracks, Roseville.

The Thomas store provided goods for sale, rooms for rent on the top floor, bakery, and the local post office. Thomas would also buy up grain from local farmers and had a wagon shop as well.

Photo: Placer County Museums

Thomas’s son, Lee Dignus Thomas joined the business in 1870 and for the next few years was one of the towns leading businesses. The building was torn down in 1910.

The most massive advertisement on the storefront in both historic photographs is for “Oliver Chilled Plows.” What's a "chilled plow?" Before the 1850s, farmers used wooden plows that had a metal edge. They would break easily, and the dirt would stick to the blade. In 1857 James Oliver patented his “chilled plow,” which featured metal that had been “chilled” while in a mold, making for a much harder edge, that soil would fall off quickly instead of sticking to it, revolutionizing the plowing of fields.

Be sure to check out the Roseville Historical Society website, which I highly recommend for information regarding the history of the town.