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Up in the
Hills
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Gold was generally found in the foothills, rather than in the mountains.
Even so, there were some important gold mines near the towns of Twain
Harte and Confidence and near mounts Elizabeth, Lewis, and Provo. Some of
these gold mines had colorful names such as You Bet, Gem, Dead Horse, and
Butter Cup; several had hopeful names like Confidence, Eureka, and Golden
Era; and some had common names like Buchanan, Belle View, and Senorita. |
Twain Harte Snow Scene (Historic) |
The main travel route to get up and down
the mountain was named the Sonora-Mono Road. Today’s Highway 108 is much
the same route as the Sonora-Mono Toll Road. Completed in 1864, it was
constructed to increase the flow of supplies from Tuolumne and its
neighboring counties to the new, gold camps on the east side of the Sierra
Nevada. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, ranchers, farmers, business
owners, and teamsters were eager to revitalize Tuolumne County’s sagging
economy by establishing trade between the county and growing eastside
commercial regions. East of Sonora, the road climbed to 9,624 feet,
crossing the crest at Sonora Pass and then threading its way down the east
side to mining towns like Bodie and Aurora. Remnants of the old
Sonora-Mono road can be seen from today’s Highway 108, particularly at the
higher elevations.
Sonora Pass
Native American people both east and west
of the Sierra Nevada crest—the Me-Wuk, Mono, Washoe—had long crossed at and
near Sonora Pass. It was an important route for trading goods such as
obsidian, salt, soapstone, and shell beads. Many places can be found
along Highway 108 west of Sonora Pass strewn along with obsidian flakes
that came from the Mono Craters area east of the pass.
In 1841, the Bartleson-Bidwell Party became
the first emigrant party to cross the Sierra, east to west. Most
historians agree that they crossed somewhere in the vicinity north of
Sonora Pass and eventually followed the Stanislaus canyons, into the
foothills to the area where Sonora is located today.
Monument in Kennedy Meadows
The mountains provided
storage of water, and early ventures in developing water as a business
were to serve the gold miners. Several companies built water systems in
the 1850s and 1860s in the mountains to capture, deliver, and sell water
to miners in foothill towns. You can still see remnants of these
developments—in fact, Pinecrest Lake, once called Strawberry Lake, is
still being used. Strawberry Lake was created by a dam built by the
Tuolumne County Water Company in 1856. The TCWC also built two other dams
east of Strawberry Lake: Middle Dam and Big Dam. The original Strawberry
Dam was partially torn down when a new, rock and concrete dam was built in
1916. Today the new dam stores water for generating electricity and
supplies water to homes and fields. Completed in 1858, the over 70-mile
long Columbia & Stanislaus River Water Company ditch and flume system
stretched from above Donnell Flat (now a reservoir) to Columbia.
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Long Barn |
Pinecrest |
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Pinecrest Dam:
When the water is low in the fall and winter, you can see remains of the
old rock-filled Strawberry or Pinecrest Dam. Pinecrest Lake is located 30
miles east of Sonora on Highway 108. Elevation at the Lake and throughout
the Basin is 5600 feet. The Basin is forested with a mixture of pine,
fir, and cedar trees with some willow trees and scattered brush. Sail
boating and swimming are popular activities in this mountain setting. |
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Shadow of the Me-Wuk Trail:
Across from Summit Ranger Station in Pinecrest. Me-Wuk used wood for many
purposes, such as for their houses, or umucha. You will see
reconstructed umucha, grinding rocks, a sweat house, and acorn
storage structures called tca’kka.
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Donnell Vista:
Highway 108. You can still see some of the iron brackets that supported
the eight-foot square, wooden flume that hung on the north wall of the
Stanislaus River Canyon. This flume was part of the Columbia & Stanislaus
River Water Company’s ditch and flume system. |
Steam Donkey:
Tuolumne County Library, Greenley Road.
You can walk or bicycle many old
railroad grades:
Between Fraser Flat & Strawberry:
the old Strawberry Branch of the Sugar Pine Railway, which runs along the
south bank of the South Fork Stanislaus River.
Between Hull Creek & Clavey River:
Part of the old West Side Lumber Company’s railroad logging system.
For more
information, order CHISPA, Vol. 38, No. 2, October-December, 1998
“Rusticating in the Mountains,” and Vol. 40, No. 4, April-June, 2001,
“Summer Homes in the National Forests.”
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