Taking a glimpse of Grass Valley/Nevada City's interesting history

 

Today's article is a prelude to my next video project I am working on, which will be about Grass Valley and Nevada City. Hopefully, the video will be out in a week or two and maybe it will be out by the time you are reading this. Grass Valley and Nevada City which are in Nevada County, California 20 minutes and 12 miles north of Interstate 80 in Colfax. Grass Valley and Nevada City both got their start from gold mining during the 1850s California Gold Rush. Especially when hydraulic and deep shaft mining grew in popularity after advancements in technology from the pan, pick, and shovel. And after the riverbeds were cleaned of their gold deposits, people discovered the real source of gold was up in the hills in Nevada City. That the rivers used to flow differently than they do today and that there was still gold deposits buried deep within. Nevada City became the third largest city in the state during these days, with population estimates ranging from around 6,000 to 16,000. Unfortunately, there isn’t a really good count on this data because the census files weren’t stored properly and many of the men in the area moved around so much to the nearby creeks that they didn’t stay for the census. But the area was a magnet for Cornish immigrants who immigrated from England to head to the gold. A great majority of Grass Valley's population was of Cornish descent. Even up to 85% in 1890, many of which worked at the Empire Mine. And a remnant of that Cornish culture can be seen at Marshall's Pasties restaurant, which serves Cornish pasties(1)

Hydraulic mining was the name of the game for the area, as evidenced by the sight of Malakoff Diggins a few miles north of town in the historic town of Bloomfield. Unfortunately, the formation of this place proved the damage hydraulic mining could cause to valleys downstream with tons of rock, sand, mud, and debris washing down into the valley. And water contamination causing the death of fish downstream. As a result, in 1884, Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, a federal judge from San Francisco, ruled in the decision that would end large-scale tail-mining in California.

Grass Valley originally started as an area for cattle ranchers to graze their cows. It is home to the Empire Mine and the North State Mine, which were two of California’s richest gold mines producing the most gold in the county from 1900 to 1925. It was home to the first stamp mill in the state of California, at the former town of Boston Ravine which opened in 1852.

But gold mining is not all that Grass Valley and Nevada City are known for. If you watched my top five Christmas towns video, Nevada City and Grass Valley were the number one and two Christmas towns from my experience in Northern California. Nevada City was where the 2006 Hallmark movie Christmas Card took place, which the Methodist Church and the National Hotel in Nevada City and the South Yuba River had a piece in. Interestingly, Nevada City only receives 14 inches of snowfall a year and Grass Valley only receives 8.6 inches of snow. The towns are only at an elevation of 2,400 feet. But these towns have a history of having massive snowstorms, especially in Nevada City. In 1899 and 1890, the town received 10 to 15 feet of snow. Interestingly, I’ve heard the town doesn’t receive as much snow as it used to, even though it still receives 62 inches of rain on average and the mountains still receive a ton of snow. And the town broke its daily record of snowfall on February 28^th of this calendar year with 24 inches falling on the ground.

Nevada City also is home to the oldest theater in the West, the Nevada Theater, which hosted many famous stars, such as their own natives as famous opera star Emma Nevada (1859-1940) and entertainer Lotta Crabtree (1847-1924), though she was born in New York City, but moved to Grass Valley when she was four years old. Mark Twain made an appearance at the theater twice.

 

My favorite things about Nevada City and Grass Valley are that they both have charming historical main streets that are vibrant with mom-and-pop stores and restaurants that I like to spend time and visit at. From what I researched, Downtown Grass Valley has 59 stores, and 26 restaurants and Downtown Nevada City has 44 stores and 28 restaurants, which are both good sized since they are both small towns and less than 10 miles apart. And even though the 10-mile area has 66,576 people according to research I have done on cities, they are both off the beaten path since no interstate goes through the towns. But interestingly, the towns did have a railroad that connected them to the main railroad in Colfax from 1876 to 1942 called the Nevada City Narrow Guage Railroad, which the town has honored through having a museum dedicated to this railroad. But the town feels big enough to have amenities and close enough to big cities but feels far away enough and tucked away enough with the tall pine trees that it feels like a getaway from modern day life. In fact, this area has so far resisted many of the big box store chains and chain restaurants popular in most similar sized cities. No Walmart, No GameStop, No Chipotle, No In N Out Burger, No Home Depot or Lowe's. They don’t even have any new car dealerships. But they do have other chain stores. In fact, the area has been known to have some of the last or the last towns in the Northern part of the state to have certain chains that have been obliviated from statewide or nationwide life. Was the last town in the state to have Kmart, which closed in 2021 is now a Target(2). The last Ralphs grocery store in Northern California, which closed in 2006 is now Safeway(3). The last McDonald’s with an outdoor playground in Northern California to have avoided a remodel, which was remodeled in 2021 which created an indoor playground for the restaurant(4). It had one of the last Sears Hometown Stores up till 2022(5). Not the last. Auburn’s location outlived theirs by six months and there are still four Sears department stores in the state(6). It still has one of two Ben Franklin stores operating in California(7). And still has a movie rental store in Nevada City, Nevada City Video(8). And it went into 2020 with two video stores still operating(8). Video Library in Grass Valley sadly closed in 2020. And Grass Valley still has a downtown movie theater. And a strong arts and culture presence, which not necessarily a declining business, is still unique. Which is reflective of the area, with a strong hippie and new age presence and is in the only liberal county in the Foothills region(9), which as a conservative myself is unfortunate in my opinion. And interestingly, the Empire Mine and the Idaho Maryland Mines in Grass Valley were the last two major mining operations in California when they shut down in 1956. It operated for 105 years, which held the record for being the oldest continuously worked gold mine in the United States and was the largest hard rock mine in the state of California. Its history is preserved with it becoming a state park in 1975 where you can relive the glory days of the Gold Rush(10). And on the other hand, Nevada County was the first place to install a long distance telephone line in 1878, which went 60 miles from its starting point in French Corral going up the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And Nevada County had an airplane creator, Lyman Gilmore(11), who claimed to have flown his airplanes in Nevada County before Wilbur and Orville Wright did. Grass Valley and Nevada City have a very interesting history in my opinion, and I hope you found what you learned today interesting. If you enjoyed this article, please check my YouTube channel to see if this video has been uploaded yet and to check out the other videos I have created:https://www.youtube.com/@haydenlepore3924/videos.  I hope you enjoyed this article and Thank you for reading!!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

References:

1.https://www.comstocksmag.com/web-only/how-cornish-pasties-got-california

2.https://haydenbusinessblog.blogspot.com/2021/11/

3.https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/local-ralphs-not-one-of-16-set-to-close/article_fb41a9eb-66f3-5ce5-8282-ac0a17bcd9ce.html

3.https://www.theunion.com/news/ralphs-closes-its-doors-in-grass-valley/article_6664df65-5bd3-57e9-873e-479533c49356.html

4.https://foresitecc.com/project/updating-and-remodeling-a-mcdonalds-restaurant-in-grass-valley-ca/

5.https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/grass-valley-truckee-sears-hometown-stores-closing/

6.https://www.retaildive.com/news/sears-kmart-reopening-stores-distressed-retail/701340/

The 4 locations Sears still operates in California are in Concord, Stockton, Burbank, and Whittier

7.https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ben+Franklin+Crafts+%26+Frames/@39.2331331,-121.0406589,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x809b706121907e79:0xd5384aa65bda15bb!8m2!3d39.233129!4d-121.038084!16s%2Fg%2F1thml7hg?entry=ttu

8.https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nevada+City+Video/@39.2507543,-121.0232097,15.75z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x809b70828e28faed:0x5460403dce69b609!8m2!3d39.2528536!4d-121.0244927!16s%2Fg%2F1tdjrd7r?entry=ttu

https://www.theunion.com/news/last-one-standing-nevada-city-video-keeps-the-movies-playing/article_62adfed6-b48a-11ed-88f0-cbcc69c43bd5.html

https://www.theunion.com/news/business/video-library-calls-off-liquidation-sale-closure-for-now/article_7fb78ac5-950c-5a61-88c2-de5fec891417.html

9.https://nevadacountyca.gov/3120/November-3-2020-Election-Results

10.https://www.sierragoldparksfoundation.org/page/history-of-empire-mine/

11.https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/lyman-gilmore-an-aviation-pioneer-that-history-almost-forgot/article_0f2b0999-ff60-5ac5-9b07-5dd8bc2cf321.html