Gold Country

On Saturday, November 2, we shook the Reno dust from our feet and headed west over the mountains.
It was a beautiful drive with lots of mountain passes (up to 8000 feet), pine trees and some color from
the aspens and other deciduous trees which are losing their leaves now. 

We stopped in Truckee for a break from the windy roads. It was a railroad town and is now a popular
spot for fishermen to load up and fish the Truckee River. We walked around and looked at some of the
tourist shops.

Suzanne in Truckee CA

From there we drove on to Grass Valley to visit Empire Mine State Historic Park. Gold was discovered
here in 1850 during the California Gold Rush days. The traditional placer-mining methods did not work
because the gold was embedded in quartz rock. So hard rock methods were used in which miners went
down in holes and blasted the rock out of tunnels. It was then crushed in the stamp mill and further
processed to remove the gold. The mine was active until the 1950s, which is sort of amazing. It has been
preserved by the state of California. We walked around and looked at the stamp mills, the buildings that
housed the mine manager, the assay office, the refinery, the warehouse; the welding, machine, and
blacksmith shops; the headframe and the hoist house; and lots of other equipment and decaying buildings
. 

Don at the Empire Cottage

The other half of the park was the beautiful homesite of the founder’s son, William Bowers Bourn, Jr.
The Empire Cottage was built in 1897. It is actually a two-story stone mansion set in a grassy park with
huge trees and several reflecting pools. There is also a formal garden filled with rose bushes and slightly
unkempt. We spent an enjoyable afternoon exploring this park.

Then we started looking for a camping spot. Don called several which said they were full. So, we drove
almost as far as Sacramento before deciding to stay in a travel plaza.