 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(June 2011) |
Walloupa (also, Waloupa) [1] was a historic mining community in Nevada County, located about 1/2 mile south of You Bet. It was named by its white developers after a Nisenan chief, [2] and should not be confused with the Nisenan village of Walloupa, which was located about 15 miles to the west near Rough and Ready.
Miners from Little York crossed Steep Hollow Creek and began mining in the area in the summer of 1852. [3] Initial reports were that the area, which sits on an arm of an ancient gold bearing river bed that stretches from the San Juan ridge southeasterly to Dutch Flat and Iowa Hill, [4] was exceedingly rich in gold. As one paper put it, "[p]erhaps no claims in this part of the country have proved more profitable than those" around Walloupa. [5] That winter, the local press reported Brown Company miners averaging $50 per day, with three men taking up to $1500 on a good day. [6] However, mining was hamstrung by lack of year-round water. Accordingly, Charles Marsh, a surveyor who had constructed a number of water ditches in the Nevada City area, joined by James Churchman and John McConnell, formed the Chalk Bluff Company to bring water by a ditch from Steep Hollow Creek. [7] Delays in completing the 15 mile Williams ditch, as it was sometimes called, [8] led to one contemporary report that in 1853 "Walloupa starved to death." [9]
The town got off to a slow start. Marsh surveyed the area and sold lots in Walloupa to “greenhorn speculators.” [10] The winter of 1852-53 was a harsh one, the town at times being snowed in, with snow damaging several houses, and food being scarce. [11] Without water for mining, people began to leave. The owners of the Walloupa Bakery and Hotel put it up for sale so they could return to their home in the East. [12] Yet enough stayed, so that when the ditch was completed at the beginning of 1855, the town entered its heyday. [13] Soon, the town boasted fine houses, hotels, bars and stores. [14] It was connected by stage to Nevada City. [15] "Walloupa grew to a place of second-rate importance." [16] While no accurate population figure can be found, in a September 1855 election, 55 votes were cast there. [17]
As noted above, the water ditch had been completed in early 1855. The following winter, the miners went on strike, refusing to pay more than 25 cents for a miners inch of water. The ditch owners demanded 50 cents. The owners countered with 33 cents. The miners announced they would pay 25 cents and "nary cent over." [18] The owners caved and the miners returned to work in the spring of 1856. [19]
Around that time, miners discovered richer diggings to the north on the other side of Birdseye Canyon. There, in 1857, Lazarus Beard opened a saloon in what became the town of You Bet, and within a few years, as the Walloupa diggins played out, the miners from Walloupa moved north and abandoned Walloupa. [20] Newspaper references to Walloupa disappear after 1861, though it still appeared on Whitney's 1873 map. [21] Today, there are no readily visible remains of Walloupa.
Elizabethtown, California was a California Gold Rush town that began in 1852 in Plumas County, California. It was named after a woman in the miners camp called Elizabeth Stark Blakesley.
Graniteville is a small, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in Nevada County, California, United States. The town sits on the San Juan ridge separating the Middle and South Forks of the Yuba River, approximately 26 miles (42 km) northeast of Nevada City. The elevation of Graniteville is 4,977 feet (1,517 m) above sea level. As of the 2010 census, Graniteville had a population of 11.
Lake City is an unincorporated community in Nevada County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3300 ft. about 10 miles northeast of Nevada City as the crow flies, and about three miles southeast of North Columbia, and three miles southwest of North Bloomfield. It is located at the junction of modern day North Bloomfield, Back Bone and Lake City Roads. It was an important mining and transportation center in the second half of the 19th century.
Moore's Flat was a historic mining town located on the San Juan Ridge about 19 miles northeast of Nevada City, California and about 5 miles northeast of North Bloomfield, California. The town was about 1 mile south of the Middle Yuba at an elevation of about 4200 ft. On either side of it, lay the mining towns of Orleans Flat and Woolsey's Flat, each about I mile apart. All three were settled around 1851 and their histories frequently intertwine. Collectively, they are sometimes referred to as "The Flats." All three were part of Eureka Township.
Orleans Flat was a historic mining town located on the San Juan Ridge about 20 miles northeast of Nevada City, California and about 5 miles northeast of North Bloomfield, California. The town was about 1 mile south of the Middle Yuba River at an elevation of about 4200 ft. To the west lay the mining towns of Moore's Flat and Woolsey's Flat, each about I mile apart. All three were settled around 1851 and their histories frequently intertwine. Collectively, they are sometimes referred to as "The Flats." All three were part of Eureka Township.
Woolsey Flat or Woolsey's Flat was a historic mining town located on the San Juan Ridge, located about 17 miles northeast of Nevada City and about 3 miles northeast of North Bloomfield. The town was about 1 mile south of the Middle Yuba at an elevation of about 4200 ft. To the east lay the mining towns of Moore's Flat and Orleans Flat, each about I mile apart. All three were settled in 1851 and their histories frequently intertwine. Collectively, they are sometimes referred to as "The Flats. All three were part of Eureka Township.
Snow Point was a historic mining town in Nevada County, California on the San Juan Ridge about 2 miles east of Moore's Flat and about 6 miles west of Graniteville. It was located at an elevation of 4321 ft just off present day German Bar Road about midway between that road's intersections with present day Moore's Flat Road and Hagerty Road.
Alpha was a gold mining town in Nevada County, located about 2 miles southeast of the town of Washington, California and about 15 miles northeast of Nevada City, California. It lay at an elevation of 4120 feet, about 2 miles below the South Yuba River and just west of Scotchman Creek.
Birchville is a historic mining and agricultural community in Nevada County, California. Birchville is located about 10 miles northwest of Nevada City and about 2 miles northeast of French Corral. It is situated at an elevation of 1,765 ft (538 m) above sea level.
Baltimore Town, previously Wightman’s Camp, was a historic gold mining camp in eastern Nevada County, California that was founded in 1865. After gold mining stopped in the area, the town faded away around 1869.
Blue Tent is a historic 19th century gold mining community located about six miles northeast of Nevada City, California.
Cherokee is a former gold mining community in Nevada County, California. The community has also been known as Patterson, Melrose, and Tyler. It is located on the San Juan Ridge about 4 miles east of North San Juan. Its elevation is 2,516 ft (767 m) above sea level.
Spenceville was a ranching, farming and mining community located in the southwestern part of Nevada County, California, on Spenceville Road just east of Waldo Road, about 17 miles from Grass Valley. Its elevation was about 400 feet. The former townsite is now part of the Spenceville Wildlife Area.
Little York is the name of one of the first gold mining towns established in Nevada County, California as well as the name of the township in which it was situated. The town was located on the Lowell Ridge between Steephollow Creek and the Bear River, about 13 miles east of Nevada City, California and about 1 mile southwest of Dutch Flat, California at an elevation of about 2800 feet.
Hunt's Hill is a former mining camp in Nevada County, California, United States. Hunt's Hill was located in the Sierra Nevada foothills about 6 miles in a straight line southeast of Nevada City and about 2 miles northwest of You Bet, on the north side of Greenhorn Creek, not far from the present intersection of Red Dog and Buckeye Roads. Hunt's Hill was founded in 1852 by a miner named Hunt. It was located on one of the deepest parts of the rich Blue Lead channel of gold-bearing gravel. In 1855, one of the mining claims established by some French miners, was “jumped". During the fight, one of the French miners lost an eye. Thereafter, that mine, and sometimes the town, were called Gouge Eye. By 1857, the town boasted two saloons, a hotel, a blacksmith and stable, a butcher shop, a boot and shoe store, and several grocery stores. In 1858, a stage line from Nevada City arrived. In 1866, seven cement mills for extracting gold from the “blue cement” were operating in the area. By 1880, the town was reduced to a combined store and saloon and a few houses. In 1895, one directory summed up the state of the community thus: "At the present time there is not much doing there." Since that same directory identified the town's justice of the peace and constable, what little happened must have been interesting. Today, it is just a historic site.
Meadow Lake was a historic mining town in Nevada County, California. It was located on the southwest shore of Meadow Lake, about 18 miles northwest of Truckee as the crow flies. Situated at an elevation of 7,290 ft (2,220 m) above sea level, the reservoir of the same name is one of the highest lakes in elevation within the Tahoe National Forest.
Mooney Flat was an important mining and transportation hub in western Nevada County, California, just east of the Yuba County line. It was situated on modern Mooney Flat Road, about 1 mile north of modern Highway 20, at an elevation of about 800 ft.
Chalk Bluff is the name of the ridge which lies between Greenhorn and Steephollow Creeks in Nevada County. It runs in a northeasterly direction for about 10 miles, and sits atop a "lead" of auriferous gravel, which intersects the fabled "Blue Lead" which runs from the San Juan Ridge through Red Dog and You Bet towards Placer County. It was also briefly the name for the mining camp that grew into the important town of Red Dog, then the name for a mining camp east of Red Dog. It received its name from the prominent chalk bluffs on the Ridge.
Remington Hill is a historic mining camp in Nevada County, California which prospered in the second half of the 19th century. It was named for Caleb Remington, a prominent local miner who lived mostly in neighboring Little York, where he died in 1865. It lay at an elevation of 4052 feet. It was situated around present Chalk Bluff Road about one mile south of Highway 20 and about 5.5 miles southeast of the town of Washington and 6 miles northeast of Dutch Flat, as the crow flies.
Sebastopol was a historic mining community located on the San Juan Ridge, about 13 miles north of Nevada City. It lay midway between Sweetland and North San Juan, around the intersection of modern Sweetland and School Roads, at an elevation of about 2000 feet.
Municipalities and communities of Nevada County, California, United States | ||
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| Cities and towns |  | |
| CDPs | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns |
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| Footnotes | ‡This CDP also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |