Sunday 29th April 2007. Sacramento, California to Nevada

Here I am on Main Street Hangtown, the real and original Wild West. Gold Rush fever hit this area and put California firmly on the map in the mid-1800's.

Placerville with its street names like Stage Coach Alley and its historic Bell Tower was known for its swift despatch of justice in this lawless land, the original hangman's tree was a large oak.

Originally known as Hangtown, Placerville was incorportaed on May 13th 1854 after being established here on the banks of Hangtown Creek as a rich mining camp in the Spring of 1848. Millions in gold was taken from its ravines and hills and it was a supply centre for surrounding mining camps as well as a transport terminus for the famous Comstock Lode Gold Mine.

John M. Studebaker and Leland Stanford are amongst its sons who contributed to the early history.

However the most revered is arguably John A. Thompson or Snowshoe who carried 60 to 80 pounds of mail on skis from Placerville over The Sierra to Carson Valley during the winter months...the origins of the mail will always get through?

A must-see here is Placerville Hardware with its old store interior, this is the oldest continuously operating hardware store west of the Mississippi River.

Now part of this building are the former offices of the Mountain Democrat which is the oldest business in El Dorado County in contiuous operation; the second oldest continuously published newspaper in California and the oldest continuously published weekly in the state.

The paper began in the early summer of 1851 as the El Dorado Republican before a change of ownership brought a change of name. The Weekly Observer that was located here in the 443 Main Street section of the hardware store was consolidated with the Democrat in 1889.

After a disasterous fire in July 1856, the merchants on Main Street decided to rebuild with fireproof materials meaning that many of the Main Street buildings were now constructed of brick and stone (with a layer of sand between the ceiling and the roof) and iron doors and shutters.

The El Dorado County Historical Society's Fountain Tallman Museum (The Biggest Little Museum in the West)in Placerville was a real find.

Housed in the oldest building in Placerville (the building is a construction of rock rubble and hydraulic cement) this was the site of the town's first soda works where water was bottled and sold to the miners of the Gold Rush. The Fountain Tallman building dates from 1852 and today it houses Placerville's early history as a mining town where prospectors could purchase their supplies, get a hot meal and relax.

Marilyn Ferguson the guide took us outside to look at the rock formations and you know it is real handy having your own geologist on call.

After investigating the mylonite we headed for lunch at Z-pie...beef fajita pie and veggie chilli soup, how Californian?

From here we are off to Lake Tahoe via Bridal Veil Falls. The scenery is simply breathtaking amongst the digger and the ponderosa pines.

Da ow a ga…Lake Tahoe

For many generations the Washoe people spent summers here, living near the shores of Lake Tahoe. Known as da ow a ga by the Washoe, the lake provided a sacred meeting place where summer gatherings were a focus of Washoe life for thousands of years. The Washoe often returned to the same campsites (building homes of interlocking poles covered with bark) each year; where familiar fishing and hunting grounds waited and where as the fishing season slowed they would gather seeds, nuts and other foods.


So we headed up to Lake Tahoe and then crossed the border into Nevada just to allow me another state on my list of states visited.

After our visit to Tahoe Keys we had tea by the lake at The Beacon Restaurant at Camp Richardson where I dipped my feet into the crystal clear waters of Lake Tahoe.

The colour of the waters here are spectacular and after leaving the lake we headed to the emerald waters of Emerald Bay and off on a hike to Eagle Falls.

The Hermit of Emerald Bay.

Captain Richard “Dick” Barter found his way to Lake Tahoe in the 1860’s. He spent long winters in Emerald Bay as the sole caretaker of a summer villa owned by Ben Holladay Jr.

Originally an English sailor, Barter was known to row all the way to Tahoe City to visit the saloons. On one such trip in 1870 he was nearly killed. While rowing home his small dinghy capsized in a sudden winter storm. The 65 year-old sailor tied himself to the dinghy and he rode out the storm. Afterwards he is said to have amputated two of his frost-bitten toes with his carving knife; he saved the toes to show visitors.

This near death experience prompted Barter to select Fannette Island as his final resting place. He excavated a tomb on the island’s summit and erected a small chapel over it. Despite these preparations Barter never made it to the tomb.

Whilst rowing home one night in 1873 his dinghy was caught in a wild storm. This time the dinghy flipped over and his body was never recovered.

Emerald Bay by the way is 3 miles long and 1 mile wide and the area was shaped ten thousand years ago by glaciers which slid down the mountains and brought the boulders, rocks and soil that had accumulated in front and on the sides of the glaciers with them. After glacial retreat the rocks and soil (known as moraines) were left behind.

And I have to note that I saw beautiful Blue Jays and Sugar Pines on my walk today.

Tonight I dined at a real family diner and a Sacramento institution, Leatherby’s Family Creamery.