Site Visit: February 29, 2020In the late 1990s I was the County Archivist in one of the Gold Rush counties. We didn't get a lot of researchers so I was able to spend a lot of my time going through the records myself. While indexing the court records from the 1850s I conceived a brilliant idea for a TV show. I'd use the stories from the court cases as the basis for the storylines for my show. Sort of like Erle Stanley Gardner did with Perry Mason, only set in the Gold Rush with an honest-as-the-day-is-long, handsome sheriff solving the crimes, often with the help of his neighbor, the attractive and sharp as a tack schoolmarm who are both secretly smitten for each other. (If we can get to picked up for a season 4, we'll even get to see them hook up!) If I had to pick a location to set the show in it would be the quaint Calaveritas in Calaveras County, where I went to see the historic adobe house on Main Street. Calveritas sits in a beautiful small valley, about 4 miles to the east of the county seat San Andreas. Running just south of town is the previously very prosperous Calaveritas Creek. At one time it was a booming mining town with as many as 2000 people from all over the world. The town bustled with Americans, Chinese, French, Mexican/Sonorans, Italians, and other Europeans. It must have been remarkable to see. If given the chance, go visit. Especially in early spring when the grass is green, and the air is still crisp. What makes it nice is that the town is not directly on Highway 49, so it has a slow (in a good way) feel. There are only a few historic buildings left in Calaveritas, including the adobe house. Although I swear it looks more like it was a barn than anything. I'm pleased that the adobe brinks are being protected with the wood siding. However I would have loved to have seen it as the 1948 Division of Mines building survey did when they traveled there. They described the structure as having been built in 1850 and still having the original lime plaster to protect it. They also noted that "just beside this adobe are the remnants of two other buildings whose basement walls, four feet high....(E)ach has an arched doorway." Seeing these relics was nearly as gratifying as the adobe. The best-preserved buildings in Calaveritas are at the north end of town. These buildings, the Costa Store and Cuneo house, seem to beam with pride at having conquered the ages. It must be a testament to their owners through the years that they are both in such good condition. The Costa Store, in particular, provides an excellent view of how well the adobe bricks have held up over the years. Calaveritas never recovered from a fire in August 1858 that destroyed nearly all of the town. Maybe we are even lucky to have just these buildings, based on how ominous the early accounts were. Before the fire though, the town knew how to have a good time. You can tell because they even had a dance school. At one point it had 60 men signed up for lessons. No word however on the number of women. They probably needed to know how to dance with all of the balls and parties that were held in the town. They used just about any occasion to hold a ball including the 4th of July and even the inauguration of a new president. I'm sure I could have even crafted a story for my show from the dance school and balls.
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Visit Date: July 5, 2021
In my attempt to find and record these old stone buildings along Highway 49, I get to travel the Gold Country. I'm often shocked at how many spectacular buildings still exist. I’m especially impressed with how many of the Gold Rush towns are still charming and awe-inspiring. Some of their main streets are a step back in time (Visit Murphys if you want to see what I mean). One of the most popular towns to visit along Highway 49 is Sutter Creek in Amador County. The town is a haven for antiquing. Knowing that, I cannot understand how the authors of the Highway 49 study photographed 3 buildings for the Sutter Creek entry and not one of them was from the charming core of the town. Instead, we get two buildings in the foothills to the east and the Botto Granary, just south of Sutter Creek, which is documented here.
I shouldn't be too harsh on the Botto Granary building. It's not the building's fault that there are much nicer, sturdier, and still in use structures less than a mile away, lining the main street in Sutter Creek. Maybe in 1948 it was an excellent representative of Gold Rush architecture, more so than those buildings. I'll give the Division of Mines survey authors’ credit though, once again they sought out and photographed a former bar, which seems to be a theme for the buildings they recorded.
In the 1948 survey the building was described as: "Across the highway from the Central Eureka mine on the crest of Sutter Hill is the Botto Granary built in 1869. It is of dressed field stone (andesite breccia) obtained in the property. With its iron doors and plastered interior, it stands as an excellent example of the enduring architecture of the Mother Lode." So apparently, I'm not much of an architectural historian. I was rather unimpressed with the granary. However, note the iron doors below. I guess they are pretty nice(?)
This site visit unfortunately did caused me to violate my one cardinal rule: Stay off of private property. The entry in the guidebook had two images, the one at the top of this post and the one at left showing detail work of the stone construction. I tried to re-photograph this but I wasn't able to find the pattern shown on the front of the building. Can you? Please let me know if you can find it in the image below.
Because I couldn't find this pattern of stones in the front of the building, I assumed it had to be in the back. To check this out I had to walk onto the porch of the house next door. The house is beautiful and looks exactly like a B&B, including a welcome sign on the wrap around porch. Long story short, the angry dogs barking inside the house were mad at the guy just outside of their private residence, which is definitely not a B&B. It kinda ended like "Oops. Sorry about that. Didn't mean to trespass. But do you mind if I look around back? What's that? Of sure, I'll leave now. Have a great day."
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AuthorMy name is Jeff and I am on a hunt to find historic brick and stone structures along Highway 49. Archives
January 2022
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