Gold Country & Peter our Golden Child

We are in Gold Rush Country for sure. Drytown, Sutter Creek, Jackson, Amador City. Amador County California opened the populating of California to the US and the world. It is an absolutely beautiful countryside I hope never becomes an urban sprawl and remains the home of California Happy Cows


Well I found out Drytown wasn't really dry and had at one time 26 saloons. Drytown appears to have changed brews from the "hard stuff" to the more gentile wine line. This is no longer gold country but California's "other wine country" which includes Sonoma and Solvang in other parts of the state.


I really liked this barn and the symmetry of the fence posts behind it.


The valleys and hills make for some great views.


I guess the rustic nature of this area means rusty roofs and seen on the Amador Hotel.


We were driving the mini-Musemobile so I had to get a Museum shot there in Amador City.


There is a block of old storefronts in Amador city.


I liked the art and quilts at this store.


Then there was Sutter Creek with the miners and mine cars. I was reminded of the miners lost recently in mine disasters.


It was Sutter Gold that helped open the west and speed up the migration west. We were reminded of a television show we enjoyed while living in California. The show was on PBS called Huell Hauser's California Gold. Huell gave very upbeat tours of California on the show and the series was one of our favorites ever.


The Argunaut and Kennedy Mines is the heading on this plaque. It goes on to give some facts about the mines. They produced $105,288,780 in gold. Kennedy mine had a vertical shaft of 5,912 feet, the deepest in the US. The Argunaut Mine was the scene of the "Mother Lode's" most tragic mine disaster where 48 miners were trapped by a fire 3,500 feet underground after a fire August 27, 1922. Only a few survived. The mine was closed in 1942.


This is the Kennedy mine - again I thought of the miners lost more recently.


Perhaps it's not coincidental the next structure we saw was this church and it's graveyard.


Then there is the first Wells Fargo office, they love gold now and they loved it then. It was almost like being in Sturgis with all the motorcycles in town.


Again another old storefront town but much larger in Jackson, California and goes for three city blocks.


The real highlight of the day was getting to see Peter in his new surroundings at the Mule Creek Facility. Peter looked great and happy in the new place and it was great to take only a short time to get in to see him. We had two pictures taken with him one for him and one for us.


We got back to the RV in time to watch the Luge runs from Torino, Italy. It was a good day but its' always bittersweet realizing we can't bring our golden child home with us.


No Scrabble

Quote of the Day

"The Indians in this portion of the State are wretchedly poor, having no horses, cattle, or other property. They formerly subsisted on game, fish, acorns, etc., but it is now impossible for them to make a living by hunting or fishing, for nearly all the game has been driven from the mining region. . . . The rivers or tributaries of the Sacramento formerly were clear as crystal and abounded with the finest salmon and other fish. But the miners have turned the streams from their beds and conveyed the water to the dry diggings and after being used until it is so thick with mud that it will scarcely run it returns to its natural channel ." E. A. Stevenson, Special Indian Agent, San Francisco, Ca. (1853)