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Local History Grass Valley's history is part of the colorful lore of the California Gold Rush. The first notations about the area are from the late 1840's when a party of men searching for cattle came upon a "grassy valley". Shortly after, prospectors from Boston, searching the foothills for gold, pitched their tents along the Wolf Creek in "Boston Ravine". As word spread about the gold rush, prospectors flooded the foothills. The small settlement began looking like a village. Then, in 1850, a settler named George McKnight discovered gold in the quartz rock along Gold Hill and the real boom began. By 1851, thousands of people were living in the bustling town now know as Grass Valley and in the nearby town of Nevada, (later renamed Nevada City when Nevada became a state), Grass Valley suffered a disastrous fire in 1855, and Nevada City burned in 1863, but the towns quickly rebuilt and continued to grow. Soon people discovered that the real gold riches were in the underground quartz, not in the streams. They started now famous mines like the Empire, the Northstar and the Idaho- Maryland. As the underground mines grew, skilled hard-rock miners from Cornwall and Ireland arrived. They settled into their new hometown of Grass Valley, while mine owners and managers lived in Nevada City. Over the next 100 years, these mines extracted more than $400 million in gold, making Grass Valley California's most prosperous mining town. Unfortunately, gold mining declined in the 1950's and, eventually, all of the hard-rock mines were closed. The towns soon recovered from this loss, however, as people anxious to leave the cities were attracted to the small town lifestyle and fascinating history of the area. They built their own small businesses and started a new economy. Today, the towns are thriving again, and the beautifully restored historic buildings in the downtown areas remind everyone of the days gone by. |
Real Estate Broker
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(530) 265-8739 Office |
Jeanne Aldrich Real Estate Nevada City, Calif. 95959 e-Mail: Add this information to your address book; then click Open. |
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