“In the days of old, in the days of gold, in the days of ‘49”
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.
Named for the Montezuma Tent, a trading post belonging to Solomon Miller and Peter K. Aurand, the camp’s early history begins with violence. A group of Mexican miners, enraged by the recently enacted Foreign Miners Tax and thirsting for blood, attacked the Tent in June of 1850. The proprietors fought the good fight but were outnumbered by the ambushers. Aurand was killed during the encounter, Miller escaped, and the Mexicans were never caught.
Read MoreJoshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.
