Cali49

Let's go see what we can find

Hwy49

The California Gold Country: Highway 49 Revisited. Gold Rush Mining Camps in photo and prose. The Golden Chain Hwy through California's La Veta Madre.

California State Highway 49: The Golden Chain

“In the days of old, in the days of gold, in the days of ‘49”

— Bob Dylan

California State Highway 49, the “Mother Lode Highway,” can truly take you back to the days of ’49. The road connects gold rush mining camps, ghost towns and historic sites from Oakhurst in the south, to Sierra City in the north. It’s three hundred miles of beautiful country along the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. Twisting mountain roads, sheer granite walls, precipitous drops to swiftly moving rivers. Old buildings, gold mines, forgotten cemeteries. Let’s go see what we can find.

October 03, 2013

Groveland

October 03, 2013/ Groveland/ Elliot Koeppel

Was the man hanged from a tree or merely choked to death by a strong miner? Stories conflict. Was he executed for stealing $200 in gold dust, or someone’s horse; for jumping a claim, or killing a fellow miner? Stories conflict. Originally known as “First” Garrote (to avoid confusion with nearby Second Garrote), the name appeared in contemporary newspapers as: Garote, Garotte, Gerote, and Garrotte. Spellings conflict. About the only thing that didn't conflict was the meaning of Garrote; which is Spanish for execution by strangulation.

Cali49

Joshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.