Sacramento Valley, CA History


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Plumas County
 
�Plumas is a mountain county, and is noted for its mines, forests, productive 
valleys and scenic beauties.  Its entire area lies on the slopes of the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains, its lowest elevation being about 1,800 feet and its highest 
peaks reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet.  Drained and irrigated by the waters 
of many rivers, the valleys which lie between the mountain ridges are wide 
sweeps of fertile land, where soil and climatic conditions are the best for 
dairying, stock raising and culture of hardy fruits.  Nearly all of the land of 
these valleys is under cultivation.  Uncleared land sells for from $25 to $40 
per acre and cleared land from $40 to $75, the price varying according to 
location, water rights and quality of the soil.
 
�The most important of these valleys are Indian, Sierra, Mohawk, American, Big 
Meadows, Genesee, Humbug, Meadow, Butt, Warner, Grizzly, Lone Rock, Red Clover, 
Buck�s, Spring Garden and Last Chance.  The total valley area of the county is 
191,240 acres.  All of these fertile nooks produce immense crops of grain and 
hay and hardy fruits and vegetables.
 
�A big factor in the development of Plumas County is its mineral wealth.  
Running through many of its mountain ridges are ancient river channels whose 
gravel beds hold vast stores of gold.  Millions of dollars have already been 
taken from the Plumas Mines, and those who have studied the mineral production 
of the county say that the extraction of the previous metal will continue for 
many years to come.  There has been much surface mining done in Plumas in times 
past and there still remains opportunities for this kind of gold hunting.
 
�The Plumas-Eureka and Jamison mines are rich quartz properties and are noted as 
the best gold producers in the vicinity.  The Jamison has been worked for about 
seventeen years and the Plumas-Eureka, one of the oldest mines in the county, 
which was allowed to remain idle for many years, we (sic) reopened several years 
ago and operated by modern methods.  Other noted producers are the Dunn Mine, 
near Seneca, the Stauffer at Long Valley, the McGill and Stannart, the New York, 
the Indian Valley, the McClellan, the Southern Eureka, the Cherokee, the 
Arcadia, and the Wolf Creek quartz mines near Greenville; the Green Mountain and 
the Crescent quartz mines at Crescent Mills; the Gruss Mine at Genesee; the 
Gopher Hill and the Bean Hill, near Spanish Ranch, and the Bellevue near La 
Porte.
 
�Plumas County has all of the necessities required for successful mining.  It 
has quantities of timber and an unlimited supply of water for power and other 
purposes.  The Western Pacific, transcontinental, which crosses the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains in Plumas County, affords excellent transportation facilities.
 
�The country is practically one entire sweep of forest from one end to the 
other.  While the greater part of this is now embraced in a National Forest 
Reserve, yet large quantities of the timber on it had been patented prior to the 
establishment of the Reserve, and many sawmills throughout the mountains turn 
out millions of feet of sugar pine, yellow pine, spruce and cedar lumber 
annually.  The lumber is of excellent quality and is shipped to all parts of the 
United States.  It has even been exported to the Orient and to England for 
ornamental purposes.  An estimate of the amount of timber cut in the county per 
year is fifty million feet.
 
�The magnitude of the power contained in the water supply of Plumas County can 
hardly be estimated.  The county is crossed by the North and Middle Forks of the 
beautiful feather River and their numerous branches and hundreds of other 
mountain streams that are fed the entire year around by the perennial snows on 
the mountain peaks.  There are throughout the county numerous mountain lakes, 
which are natural storage reservoirs, which await capital and science to develop 
great irrigation and power projects.  There are already several great power 
plants in Plumas, but they are insignificant in comparison with the great 
potential energy that the county�s streams will some day produce.
 
�The climate of Plumas County is delightful.  In Summer the temperature rarely 
goes over 95 degrees and the warm days are followed by cool evenings.  While 
snow falls in the higher altitudes in December, January, February and March, the 
lower valleys have little or no snow.  Frosts appear in the early Spring and 
late Fall.  The climate is invigorating and healthful.
 
�Quincy is the county seat of Plumas County.  It is a beautiful little town in 
the American Valley, surrounded by snowclad mountain peaks.  It is connected 
with the Western Pacific Railroad, a transcontinental line, by a branch railway, 
known as the Quincy Western, built by the citizens of Quincy.  The city is 
electric lighted and has a good water and sewer system.
 
Keddie is eight miles northeast of Quincy on the Western Pacific Railroad.  It 
is the shipping point for Indian Valley, one of the leading grain producing 
sections of the county.
 
�Beckwith, near the lower end of Sierra Valley, is on the Boca & Loyalton, 
Sierra Valley, and Western Pacific Railroads.  It is the supply and shipping 
point for a large timber, mining and farming country.
 
�Portola, Greenville, Taylorsville and Crescent Mills are other towns of 
importance in Plumas County.
 
�Plumas County is noted for its beautiful scenery.  The Feather River Canyon, 
through which the Western Pacific Railroad passes, is famed for its scenic 
grandeur.  Summer resorts are numerous at different points along the canyon and 
are alive with activity during the months of June, July, August and September.  
Campers from the valley counties find all parts of Plumas County a delight in 
Summer.  Trout and white fish are plentiful in all the streams and lakes, and 
deer, bear, grouse and mountain quail lure the sportsman to the thicket.
 
�Mountain springs providing healthful mineral waters are numerous throughout 
Plumas, the most noted being at Longville, in Humbug Valley, at Chipp�s Creek, 
Twain, Soda Bar and Arlington.  There are warm springs near Greenville and warm 
and cold sulphur springs at the Sulphur Spring Ranch.
 
�There are numerous mountain resorts in the county where hundreds of valley 
residents enjoy delightful outings during the Summer months.�