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Wimpy's Fireplace

February 28, 2020 in Placer County History

This building still stands along California route 174, which is the old Highway 40, and before that the Lincoln Highway. just north of Colfax. It's an unusual shape for a house, so when I came upon this photograph, it helped to identify what it was. Wimpy's Fireplace served food during the era of Highway 40 before Interstate 80 bypassed this area.

This place is just past the site of the Quonset Hut motel, so it may well have been the place to get grub when staying the night in your Quonset hut. Notice how the building doesn't face the road straight on. The road used to pass right in front of the building and up the small hill.

Does anyone have more information about Wimpy's Fireplace?

Today’s view.

Today’s view.

Location.

Location.

Tags: Wimpy's Fireplace, Highway 40, Colfax
1 Comment
Sam Kyburz House. Photo: pitsenberger.com

Sam Kyburz House. Photo: pitsenberger.com

Sam Kyburz house, Clarksville

February 08, 2020 in El Dorado County History, Ghost Towns, Lincoln Highway, Sierra Nevada History

Pictured above is the old home of Sam Kyburz, located in Clarksville. Kyburz arrived in California from Wisconsin in 1846, just a couple of years before the gold discovery at Coloma. Kyburz was originally from Switzerland, and soon became friends with fellow Swiss emigre, John Sutter of Sutters Fort, in what would later be known as, Sacramento. Sam soon became Sutter’s foreman and may even have told Sutter that Coloma would be a great place to put a sawmill.

Kyburz operated the inn at Sutters Fort during the 1850s but fled to the nearby foothills when the disastrous floods of 1861-62 inundated Sacramento. Sam and his wife Rebecca found work at the White Rock Inn, just east of Clarksville. Either Sutter gave Kyburz 160 acres of land nearby, or he purchased it outright, the facts are not clear.

It was one of Sam’s sons, Albert, who purchased a resort along Silver Fork, east of Placerville. In his family’s honor, he gave the post office the name Kyburz.

The home pictured was built for the family by a Mr. Ball in 1868. This Mr. Ball would later marry their daughter. Samual Kyburz, Sr. was a charter member of the Clarksville Grange, one of the first Native Sons of the Golden West, a Territorial Pioneer’s of ‘49 and ‘50, and a Mason. Samuel Sr. died in 1898, and Rebecca died in 1903. Both Sam and Rebecca are buried in Folsom

10th Annual Clarksville Day’s, May 2, 2020

10th Annual Clarksville Day’s, May 2, 2020

The annual Clarksville Days will be coming up on Saturday, May 2, 2020. Its an opportunity to visit this historic town, which lies behind locked gates. The Lincoln Highway Association and I will be there, helping to explain and show the famous old road that comes right through this historic town.

This year the focus will be on raising enough funds to repair the rock built Pony Express station that requires shoring up. The Clarksville Historical Society says,” securing the walls will be complicated and expensive, but it is considered one of the iconic remnants of the historic town. Please help us preserve this asset by donating, volunteering, and spreading the word about our efforts to protect what remains. We are seeking $30,000 in fundraising to make this happen! Please donate today.”

On the Lincoln Highway, headed down the Bass Lake Grade, towards Clarksville.

On the Lincoln Highway, headed down the Bass Lake Grade, towards Clarksville.

El Dorado Hills, as well as all history enthusiasts, have an opportunity to save and protect this iconic historic community in its back yard. Go here for more information about Clarksville and the Clarksville Days event.

Tags: Kyburz, Clarksville, El Dorado Hills, El Dorado County, Pioneers, White Rock Road, Lincoln Highway, Highway 50, historic highways, California history
2 Comments
Image from: Placer County Museums

Image from: Placer County Museums

Tobacco growing in Placer County

February 07, 2020 in Placer County History

This photo shows the Whitney Ranch located in the today’s City of Rocklin. Joel Parker Whitney arrived in San Francisco in 1852 at the age of seventeen. Starting in 1855, Parker’s father and brothers began acquiring land in the Rocklin area and building a sheep ranch that they named Spring Valley Ranch. Eventually, the farm would cover some 128, 400 acres of land.

Whitney’s ranch included sheep and a wide variety of agricultural products, and as the above photo indicates, tobacco. During the 19th Century, there was a push to grow tobacco in California, where the climate was so conducive to producing so many different crops. The absence of summer rain was notable as late rains would harm the plant, which happened more frequently back in the southeast, and the southern US, where summer showers were a regular occurrence. This article below is from the Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895, talks about the exciting future for tobacco growing in California.

Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895

Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895

It appears that the growing of tobacco in California was a happening thing during the late 19th Century. Why it never took off, with most being grown in the southern United States, I don’t know.

Tags: cultivation, tobacco, Placer County, California history, farming, Rocklin, Whitney Ranch
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Photo from: Placer County Museums

Photo from: Placer County Museums

The Rolling Hills Hotel

February 05, 2020 in El Dorado County History

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.

Tags: Rolling Hills Hotel, Green Valley Road, Coloma-Folsom Road, roadhouse, hotel, El Dorado County, emigrant trails
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