Excerpts from “Western Placer County & Lincoln According to History” Vol I, 1849-1900
by Jerry Logan, Lincoln Historian
The first big flood to be noted in Western Placer was in 1852 . Sacramento was completely under water. But mining camps were just beginning to spring up in the Lincoln area, so there was little here that could be affected. There were no bridges to be washed away. There was also no local newspaper yet to report any damage which may have occurred.
In 1860 rains started during the first week of October, and culminated in a big storm March 23-28. Great damage was reported from farms and mines along Coon Creek, Auburn Ravine, and Bear River. Major roads were impassable for weeks.
1861-62 was even worse. By the 25th of January over 25 inches of rain had fallen in the area. Lincoln had just been founded as a railroad and stagecoach center. The Lincoln-Folsom railroad was closed. The Auburn Ravine Turnpike was severely damaged and closed. Mining debris caused Bear River to change its channel well to the south of its original course. Almost all travel and commerce came to a standstill until the end of January. The only major bridge left unscathed was the one across Bear River at Johnson’s but that didn’t help, because the river had changed course. The bridge no longer reached the other side.
Other floods during the remainder of the century were less severe, and less general in nature. At various times floods and bridge washouts were reported on Pleasant Grove Creek, Auburn Ravine, Doty Ravine, Markham ravine/Slough and the bridge on the Auburn Ravine Turnpike at Fox’s Flat. Just before Christmas 1871, John O’Hara, a prominent farmer, was swept down Pleasant Grove Creek with a wagon and four horses and drowned.
1875 brought floods along Bear River, destroying the bridge to Grass Valley from Sheridan. In 1880 levees were finally being constructed along Bear River.
The mountain towns in Placer County were destroyed by fires more frequently and more completely than were the valley towns. The mountain towns had narrow, crooked streets, and the houses and blocks were closer together. The entire downtown section of Auburn, Placerville, Ophir, Grass Valley and other towns were burned down several times in the 1850's and 1860's. Although fires visited Lincoln several times, the wide streets and spacious sites usually limited the fires to a single block. The smaller mining towns in Lincoln area were never swept by large fires.
On October 19, 1867, Lincoln’s newest and largest business burned down in a spectacular fire. John Ziegenbein had completed a flour mill on the block between 7th and 8th on the west side of G Street in 1866. After just one year of operation, the $50,000 mill and several railroad freight cars were consumed. Arson was suspected. The mill was never rebuilt
*unfortunately, this series of books is no longer in print. Other excerpts will be added from time to time.