There is no better place to discover California's colorful past than in the Sierra foothill country. Color that history gold for that is what first attracted people to this land of forested rolling mountains, steep canyons and rushing rivers.
Today it is a gentle country of prosperous towns and communities. The gold is now in the form of ranches and towns like Sonora, Groveland, Columbia and Tuolumne which offer a myriad of activities for tourists from many places. Some come while visiting Yosemite, others to seep in the lore of historic communities that tell the story of miners who sought its gold.
But also of people who came to the land to settle and prosper in more mundane ways like operating grocery stores, saloons, hotels, restaurants and the other businesses that must be a part of every community.
On this Writer's recent trip of this fascinating country we headquartered in Sonora at the Sonora Oaks Best Western, a three diamond property which proved ideal for nearby explorations
For what to do and what to see we met with Nanci Sikes and Anna Davies of the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau which is located in Sonora. Besides the historic aspects of the region it offers all kinds of recreational activities from performing arts theatres to water sports and fishing on New Melones Lake and the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers to the Dodge Ridge Ski Resort in winter.
With Nanci Sikes, who is executive director of the Visitors Bureau, as our guide and mentor we drove to Groveland which is one of the gateways to Yosemite National Park. Groveland has a unique roller coaster history with times of bustling activity and some that were not. Founded in 1849 as a gold mining center its importance diminished as the gold did. Then in 1922 it enjoyed a second boom when San Francisco developed Hetch Hetchy for its water supply and built the dam, a railroad for its construction, and used Groveland as headquarters.
Today thanks to a new group of dynamic people Groveland is enjoying yet another renaissance. There is a new museum with Jane Dees firmly directing its course. We toured the museum which shows much of Groveland's past and the people who directed its growth.
We met with Peggy and Grover Mosley who have completed a million dollar restoration of the historic Groveland Hotel, first founded in 1849 and Lynn Upthagrove and Victor Niebylski, the husband and wife team who took over the Hotel Charlotte last year to immediate success. We had the good fortune to sample the hospitality of both and the cuisine we experienced in the Gold country rates a separate story which will appear in the next issue of Vittles.
Another day Anne Davies of the Visitors Bureau kindly acted as my guide. We donned our hard hats along with Al O'Brien, marketing manager and Mark Guy, Facilities Manager, of the Black Oak Casino, for a first hand view of the huge new addition to the casino which will include four restaurants including a fine dining house as well as lounge and stage for live entertainment.
We carefully moved among busy workmen who will have the new building completed in time for a December 15, 2004 opening.
Our next stop was at Railtown located in Jamestown. Rightfully called the Movie Railroad its trains, station and roundhouse have been featured in some 200 movies, TV programs and commercials. Even if you have never been within thousands of miles of the Gold country you have seen parts of Jamestown, its colorful rural countryside and its trains in movies from "High Noon" to "Back To The Future".
Being a long time rail buff this Writer spent a good deal of time in the Roundhouse which includes some of the historic steam locomotives and cars. Our guide was Bill Gillaspie who patiently explained the mechanics of steam locomotives and showed us the many 'movie props' that are used for different 'periods' of movie making. The original Railtown and its Round House and machine shop date back to 1897.
There was a time when the Stanislaus River was legendary for its mighty floods. The Bureau of Reclamation put these floods to an end when the New Melones Dam was completed in 1979. The dam is 625 feet tall and the lake behind it has a water surface of 12,500 acres and over 100 miles of shoreline.
The Lake has a most rewarding Visitor Center which includes stuffed animals of the region as well as a history of rock formations and the mining activity which brought so many people to 'Gold Country'. It is more than just a Visitor Center but truly a museum.
Houseboating is popular on the lake as is fishing and other water sports. Surrounding the New Melones Lake are 400 campsites and day-use areas.
One of the real highlights of our visit was a tour of the Hidden Treasure Gold Mine at Columbia. Gil Morrison, a lifelong resident of Columbia, owns the Hidden Treasure mine and conducts tours to it. We found that he knew just about everything there was to know about hard rock gold mining as well as the history of the early mining camps.
Our tour took us down the canyon of the north fork of the Stanislaus River to the fourth level shaft of the Hidden Treasure mine. Gil uses comfortable four wheel drive vans for these tours and gives a fine narration en route. At the mine we walked through the shaft which was hewed from solid granite rock almost 100 yards before coming to what the miners called 'pay dirt'. Here outcroppings of quartz and telluride showed clearly the specks of gold, the precious metal in its natural state.
Deep inside the mine Gil told us we had a thousand feet of solid granite above our heads. We decided that hard rock mining was not for this Writer. The tours start at Columbia which is a State Park and Jan Lewellen operates the Matelot Gold Mine store where gold can be bought or sold as well as jewelry and relics of mining. This is also where the tours begin and where to make reservations. Tour times vary with the season so call 209 532-9693 for information in advance.
Columbia State Historic Park is California's best preserved gold rush town, a living museum with hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, bars and shops just the way they were back in 1856 when the gold strike occurred. The creeks surrounding Columbia had gold in gravel beds which yielded to panning and millions of dollars was taken from the region.
Again our culinary experiences in Columbia will be narrated in the next issue. Our trip to Columbia concluded with two events, a ghost walk through the cemetery at night and a performance at the Fallon theatre which was showing somewhat more recent history, a musical entitled "8 Track--the 70's". This was a production of Sierra Repertory Theatre which also has a location in East Sonora. This year it celebrated its 25th anniversary season.
For more information contact the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau located at 542 West Sonora Road, in Sonora. Telephone 800 446-1333.
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