This self-guided tour was created for the 2023 Sierra Writers Conference. The conference theme celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Sierra College Press and the first publication of Standing Guard: Telling Our Stories, a beautifully photographed and formatted remembrance book about Placer County Japanese families, many of them fruit farmers, who were incarcerated during WW II.
After researching the Litton Hill land, people, and plants, it was noteworthy to learn that the Nevada County Campus of Sierra College shares WW II, fruit growing, farming, and publishing history with its Rocklin sister site.
Below, you will find tour components that include videos, podcasts, maps, and music.
Explore and enjoy the journey!
Download Interactive PDFs, with live links, to take on the go.
ANNOTATED NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INTERVIEW
Gerald Angove, Sierra College President 1975 – 1993
0:04:20 – 1940s Hughes Road. 0:04:45 – Golf course caddy & fish bait 0:10:27 – Hills Flat community, gas plant, and Nevada County Narrow-Gauge Railroad 0:42:02 – Pollution and Lake Olympia 0:48:00 – 1975 President of Sierra College 0:49:00 – Twelve-year legislative process to build Nevada County Campus 0:49:40 – Nevada County Campus 0:50:16 – First phase of NCC Construction
Select your preferred audio or visual media and travel back in time with a Randolph Flat family where you’ll learn about living with a handicap, problems with open mine shafts, women’s voting, love, and loss.
While visiting the cemetery, please demonstrate abundant respect for the Stagecoach Way neighbors, for those at eternal rest,and for their stone markers.
“It was a perfect day to be out in person and in reverence for those hard working ancestors that came before us. The creative historical podcast was so interesting I had to watch the u-tube video.”
The self-guided tour media was produced by a genealogy volunteer for educational purposes only. All of the support documentation is available on Ancestry in a public tree named, “Filling in the Plot – RR Cemetery.”
While researching and pulling together public domain elements for this presentation, you were always in our thoughts.
There are so many relatable and engaging aspects of this story, it is sure to spark conversations and make Nevada County history even more memorable for its residents and visitors.
White-crowned sparrow | iNaturalist, user radratAmerican Booklime | Photo credit iNaturalist, user LisaRedfern
Volcanoville
1896 Chico WeeklyCalifornia Sister | Photo credit: iNaturalist, user rawcomposition
1897 Oakdale Graphic
Convergent ladybeetles | Photo credit: iNaturalist, user scotwegner 1909 El Dorado Republican 1903 Marysville Evening Democrat
Emery Rock Tripe Lichen | Photo credit: iNaturalist, user LisaRedfern
Hiking Trails
Quarry Trail This wide, level and easy, 5.6-mile trail connects Hwy. 49 to Poverty Bar. It follows the route of an old, Gold Rush-era flume – a man-made channel used to convey and harness the power of river water for hydraulic gold mining operations. Part of this trail was later used as the Mountain Quarries railroad, which transported limestone from the adjacent quarry. Elevations average approximately 700’ along the length of the trail.
Stagecoach Trail Originally a stagecoach line built in 1852, this “moderate up, easy down,” 1.8-mile trail connects the Confluence to Russel Rd. and offers spectacular bird’s eye views of the Confluence Area and the American River canyon. From the Confluence, the Stagecoach Trail begins at an elevation of 567’, climbing to a maximum, ending elevation of 1,256’.
PG&E Road Trail This “moderate-up, easy-down,” 1.3-mile trail offers spectacular views of the Middle Fork American River, as well as present and past limestone quarrying operations. This trail is best accessed from the Quarry Trail. There is no parking available at the upper end of the trail. Elevations range from approximately 700’ to 1,300’.
Olmstead Loop Trail This easy to moderate, 8.8-mile loop parallels Hwy. 49 near the Town of Cool on one side and the American River Canyon on the other. It passes through rolling oak woodlands and includes canyon
Map of Georgetown Divide, El Dorado County showing portions of the Placerville and Forest Hill Divide with the ditches, mines, and other properties of the California Water Company.
University Falls YouTube Video
University Falls is 11 miles east of Georgetown, Ca. About a 3-mile hike down to the falls themselves, the last 30 – 400 yards is pretty steep with a rutted trail.
Publication researched and prepared by Lisa Redfern
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