El Dorado County Museum and Gold Bug Mine

On Friday 25 Jun 10, I traveled east from Folsom along Highway 50 to visit the El Dorado County Historical Museum in Placerville, California and the Gold Bug Mine about 1mile north of Placerville.

This area of California has towns started during the gold rush which started in 1849 and is dotted with many abadon gold mines. As a matter of fact the famed Sutters Mill, which started the rush, is 8 miles north Placerville.The Museum, which is next to the county fair grounds, has many artifacts from this California County from the Native America baskets to covered wagon Studabarkers, gold mining equipment and old county stores. Very well presented with the long ago life in the county and the various eras which makes this area very interesting.



Afterwards I drove north on Bedford Ave to the former gold mine of Gold Bug Mine. There is a self guided tour of the mine with audio device which tells you of the various aspect of the mine at different location along the 352 feet long mine or drift. The give you a helmut as the low ceiling would allow you to hit your head on the sharp rocks.



The audio device played at 13 stations along the mine explaining how the mine was made, how the gold ore was removed and the geology of the mountain. Lots of dripping water inside the mine and nice an cool.

Part of the mine tour was also a visit to The Stamp Mill where an old Joshua Hendy Stamp Mill was perserved in its original location. Funny thing is I use to work at Northrup Grumman in Sunnyvale, the original site of the Joshua Hendy Ironworks, even worked in the original building. What a small world. The mill was used to crush the gold ore in a continuous manner using a cam and muliple piston crusher. In the Mill there is a working scale model of the Stamp Mill. The docent turned the model on and it was very noisy, can't image what the sound was like when the full scale mill was working. Docent said that the people of Placerville can hear it even at night, that if the mill broke, the silence would wake the folks up. The Cornwall Mineral Collection with specimens from all over the world is on display in the building.


Had a great time seeing the history of this part of America and California, a very nice day to learn this history.

More photos can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62622&id=1507778102&l=424f10f53d

Going into the mine

The Stamp Mill







Working Scale Model of a Stamp Mill







Entrance to the Museum

Inside the Museum



The original Stamp Mill

Visited Nevada City, California

On Saturday 19 Jun 2010, I traveled 57 miles north of my home in Folsom, California to the historic gold mining town of Nevada City, settled in 1849 at the start of the gold rush. Took longer to get there then I had hope as many people were on the roads on this nice day.
Nevada City is a nice little town with many shops, arts gallery, history sites and unique restaurants. There was a farmers market when I got there with many folks singing and selling produce. The town is full of very eclectic folks with many Buddhas and Hindu images everywhere. Also there are several art galleries and wine tasting areas.

There a many artifacts to its gold mining history including hydraulic mining tools, stone crushers and water power wheels. Along Broad Street many of the building have plaques stating their history from the gold rush era. I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and was informed that every Father's Day, there is a bicycle race in town. Well I should have gone the following day.

Many Cornish immigrants(from southwest England) brought their mining expertise to the Nevada City. The city has a twin city of Penzance in Cornwall, England to commerate this relationsip. Found out there are some exchange of artifacts between the two cities but City Hall was closed and could not see them.
Really nice place will stop by again.

Photos can be seen in the public Facebook Link Below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61881&id=1507778102&l=a8d2ce9c14

Folsom Prison Musuem

Visited the museum at world famous Folsom Prison located in Folsom, California. The prison is still active and the small museum has many artifacts from this site. This is where John Cash performed his "Folsom Prison Blues" in 1968. Prison openned on 26 July 1880.

Lodi, California High Party

On Saturday 5 Jun, I headed about 1 hour south of Folsom, where I currently live, to the town of Lodi. A friend from San Jose had invited me to join a get together in her home town. The party was at the home of one of her classmates parents. This is where the hung out during their high school days, which was during the mid-1970's.

I met lots of fun people, there was lots of food, drink and happy people. Most are in their 50's with lots of gray but shared stories of those days in high school and what they were doing today. Many had moved out of the area of the years and returned for this day.

What was funny was seeing the childred of these Alumni hanging out together near the backyard pool. Someone stated that was the next generation.

I was eating most of the time, can't resist a good bar-b-que and had several glasses of wine during the course of the day. At night many of the folks had their guitars and sung many songs from their era.

The night was very memoriable with so many great people and everyone just having a good time. I gave my contact information to some of them who live in the area and hope to catch up to them in the near future.

Below are some pictures of this party.

The rest of the album can be seen in the Facebook site below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60247&id=1507778102&l=9fc632268e






Me and a couple of Lodi High School Alumni.

Heading to Lodi, California tomorrow(5 Jun 09)

I was invited by a friend in San Jose, California to be an invited guest at a high school reunion party in Lodi, California on Saturday 5 Jun 10. I never been to Lodi and it is only 1 hours south of Folsom, California where I currently live. The party startes around 1pm until the time people pass out. I'm bringing some cookies, wine and appetizers. My friend is from the area but don't know anyone, I hope to make new acquinatances when I am there. Might stay overnight but hope to leave in the evening as I wish to make it make to Folsom for Sunday morning.

The only thing I ever heard of Lodi was an old song by Creedence Clearwater Revival called Lodi with the chorus "Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again,". It is also the birthplace of A&W Rootbeer considered to be the first fast food place established in 1919.

Well hoping for a good time. The weather is expected to be great. I will of course take lots of pictures.