• PRICES IN 1849

Extracts from an account book kept in 1849 at Barnes’ store on the North Fork of the American River, by P. M. Backus. It shows the prices of eatables and drinkables thought necessary by the miners of those days. The accounts, which were published in the Placer Herald, of January 25, 1873, are all for the months of June, July and August 1849. (From Placer and Nevada Co. History, Lardner and Brock, 1924).

A very complete list continues on page 97, 98, 99, PCHP&NC. See book section for the listing of this book available at the Placer County Museum Gift Shop.

• AN INCIDENT IN THE GOLD RUN MINES

  (submitted by Robert B. Elder, grandson of Norman J. Baker)

  Norman J. Baker was a young man from upstate New York who came west during the Gold Rush and obtained a position as foreman of a crew of workmen in the Gold Run hydraulic mines.
  
  One of the duties of the foreman was to watch for mud slides and avalanches which were frequent. They were caused by pouring streams of water against the steep cliffs of the mines, and posed a serious threat to the miners working in the sluice ditches below.
  
  One day, Baker saws a slide starting down the wall. He might have got out of the way and saved himself, but he chose to run ahead of it, calling a warning to the miners below. They heeded the warning and got out of the way, but Baker did not. He was caught in the slide and lost his life. 
  
  He left a young widow, only twenty years old, and two infant children destitute of support. But the Gold Run miners, in appreciation of the fact that Baker had lost his life in saving theirs, obtained a piece of land and built a home for his wife and children. 
  
  His widow ultimately married again and as Mrs. Annie Merrithew became one of Gold Run’s best known and longest time residents. She raised six children and continued to live in the house the miners built for her until her death in 1944 at the age of ninety.

• This interesting publication is from the collection of Placer Historian, George Voyiatzes. 
  
  The August, 1870 Railroad Gazetteer of schedules of railways, Steamers an Stages, published by Crocker & Co. as part of its information for travelers on times, places and descriptions of towns, etc, lists the bridges and tunnels on the route of the Central Pacific Railway. 
  
  “Newcastle Gap bridge, 528 feet long and 60 feet high; the Clipper Ravine (near Clipper Gap) 320 feet long and 90 feet high; Secret Town Gap, 968 feet long and 90 feet high;
  
  It also gives brief descriptions of the towns on the route. “Auburn: This pleasant little mountain town is situated on the line of the C.P.R.R. And is the county seat of Placer. It numbers about 1,000 inhabitants. Passengers for Coloma, Placerville and Georgetown take stages at this point”
  
  An interesting testimony to the quick demise of a town when the gold was not that easily found is attested to in this information on Placerville: “The flood of immigrants which poured over the Sirra Nevads in 1849 was led by natural roads and passes to the lovely valley in which Placerville is situated and here finding mines of extraordinary richness, great numbers settled, and a city of many thousand inhabitants sprung into existence. This, from an unfortunate incident occurring, received the name of Hangtown, which it bore until 1852, when it was changed to the more euphonious name of Placerville. This city, for the first twelve or fourteen years of its existence, was exceedingly prosperous generally maintaining a population of from 5,000 to 7,000 people. It was then a great mining and trading point and a thoroughfare of travel. Latterly it has declined in importance and its population today is less than 1,000. . .”
  
  You could also find where you could purchase meals as in this ad of the Elko, Nevada Cosmopolitan Hotel which indicates that there is a 25 min stop here and you can get meals for 75 cents in coin, or One dollar in currency. Any parties wanting Game, Trout, or Chicken dinner can just telegraph ahead and they will be served in the finest style.
  
  It also has advertisers such as Travelers Ins. which offers policies for one month for $1.50 per $1,000; two months at $2.25 per $1,000 or four months for $3.75 per $1,000. 

• Page 155-156 - Placer County History -Report for the year, 1860
  
  An examination of the Auditor’s books made in December showed the indebtedness to be about $25,000, and there were $8,000 in the Treasury at the same time. Upon this the Placer Herald says: “We congratulate our taxpayers upon the healthy financial condition of our county, which is better than that of any other county in the State of like population and property, and would remind them that this state of things has been brought about by the Democracy, who have held the reins of power for three years and a half. During this time rigid economy has been exercised, and as a result the debt is now comparatively small. Having discharged the trust reposed in them faithfully and well, the Democracy have now given way to the new regime, and we earnestly hope that they will conduct county affairs as economically and as successfully as their predecessors. In order to reduce the enormous debt that has hung over the county in the past, the Supervisors found it necessary to keep up the annual property tax to a high figure, and from the year 1854 to 1860, the tax was held at $2.25 on the $100 valuation of property. For the year 1860, it was reduced to $2.00 and when fixing it at that amount the Supervisors believed that the debt would be so far reduced during the current year, that in 1861 the State and county tax might be fixed at $1.50 on the $100.00. . .”
  
  At the close of the year there were 1,440 school children in the county and the county’s portion of State School Fund was $1,224 being the rate of eighty-five cents for each child reported by the Census Marshall.

  
  

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