excerpts from “Prose for Posterity”, by Donna Howell
Hotaling was the company town for the California Iron Company named for one of
the partners. Anson P. Hotaling was a successful brewer in San Francisco. His
liquor warehouse building, the largest on the West Coast at that time, still
stands at he corner of Hotaling and 429 Jackson St. The settlement included 12
buildings, a dining hall, office, cottage for families and a school. The
following article appeared in the Placer Herald: “January 1, 1881 - Iron Town
Flooded - a week ago last Friday night the dam of the Iron Mine Company’s
reservoir located in the ravine about a quarter of mile above the works, broke
away and an estimated six to eight million gallons came down the ravine with a
rush completely flooding the little town to a depth of four to six feet.
Considerable damage is reported”.
As far as can be determined, the site was just to the west of the nature center.
No evidence is left, probably destroyed when new homes were built in the area..
. .
The following article is from the Placer Republican, December 18, 1889,
Geography Series: “Hotaling, like many other mining towns, has had its day.
Though not a railroad town, it is within seven miles of Auburn and five miles of
Clipper Gap, yet a visitor is a rare sight in this almost “deserted village”.
There are at present two families living in the town, but a few years ago, this
ghost of its former self was replete with life and activity. Upon the discovery
of iron ore in this vicinity, about thirteen years ago, a company was formed,
works were put in, in the course of construction, and soon the songs of birds
and the musical rustling of leaves gave place to the discordant sounds of hammer
and saw. What had been the haunt of rabbits and squirrels was transformed into a
town, and was christened “Hotaling” after Mr. Hotaling of San Francisco, who
owned a large interest in the mine. Laborers flocked to the newly settled
district and by the time the furnace was in full blast, the population numbered
about 500. But the shutting down of the furnace, three years ago, (that would be
1886 meaning the plant did operated again after the 1881 closure), was the
signal for the death-knell of this interesting place. It seems strange that the
project would fail, considering that Hotaling contained the only furnace in
California in which iron ore was reduced to pig iron.
The town consists of the iron works, from fifteen to twenty cottages, a
boarding-house, two stores, and the school house. The expression “deserted
mining town” generally conjures up a picture of dilapidated houses and
tumble-down fences. Such is not a description of Hotaling. The neat buildings
and fences are painted dark red, the one street, shaded by branching oaks, more
nearly resembles a road through the woods than a thoroughfare through the heart
of town, and cottages are so nestled in among the trees that the solitude
attendant upon the present condition of the “Iron Town” carries with it no
suggestion of desolation. . .”
More information on Applegate, Christian Valley, Clipper Gap, Meadow Vista and
Weimar may be found in Donna Howell’s book available at the Gift Shop. (See book
list for location)