This is 54 minute film about hard work, teamwork, love, compassion, and strong relationships.
In 2025, seven Nevada County (California) Chinese families shared stories about what it was like to grow up in Grass Valley’s Chinatown, be part of a big family, work in a family-owned business, their first jobs, and exploring the Empire Mine grounds between the time the mine closed and when California State Parks acquired it.
The Families: Fore, Chan, Yun, Tinloy, Heung, Oyung, and Wood
Gary Noy, Sierra College history teacher, explains the impacts of over 100 years of effects from the Chinese Exclusion Act.
What could be better than going for a walk on a beautiful day? Doing it with a furry or two-footed friend, perhaps. How about taking an expert along to describe the surroundings?
Recently, the Izi.Travel app – for both Apple and Android smartphones – has made made it possible to combine deep historical research with storytelling and geofencing. Geofencing uses phone location, satellites, and Google Maps to begin automatically playing stories when you’re close a “geographic target” set by the tour builder.
Rose Murphy and I first teamed up to produce a Nevada County Historical Society (NCHS) Bulletin article. That project blossomed and expanded into stories about volunteerism in Nevada County and a spotlight on the buildings of the Grass Valley Museum in dire need of attention. Co-producing Izi.Travel walking tours came next. Part of our process includes interviewing guests.
Three of our tours follow a widely used walking path (see links below). Each one offers something different from old newspaper articles focused on a specific area to community experts covering mining, beneficial fire, and botany.
“Uncovering the stories of the past has completely transformed how I see our town. It’s like viewing a familiar place through a brand new lens. These tours blend the joy of walking with the excitement of historical discovery,” says Rose Murphy.
Comments from Izi tour reviewers:
“Thank you for your efforts and skills, and important contribution to public history. People who live here especially, and visitors, too, will feel a greater sense of belonging because of the creative work you are doing.” – Gage McKinney, author of When Miners Sang: The Grass Valley Carol Choir
Verra Cleveland, whose ancestors are highlighted in the Historic Rough and Ready Cemetery tour says, “I learned more about (the truth) of my family than I knew for all the seventy-odd years of my life.”
“It [the tour] is SO awesome and amazing. Long time coming. Beyond exciting.” – Jeffrey Boylan, Director of North Star Powerhouse Mining Museum
Tour research and story arc plotting are similar to writing a book, but the production timeline is much shorter! When I was reviewing phone app platforms, I noticed many tours are created with artificial voices. Ours are 100% human. This adds charm and soothing qualities to the audio experience. Working with NCHS and producing tours for the community is a lot of fun. Best of all is watching expressions cross the faces of walking tourists as they’re listening and learning.
Since beginning to build tours, Rose and I have produced seven. Four of which are on and around the Wolf Creek Trail. After a summer break, we plan to resume production in the fall.
View Nevada County Historical Society, Rose Murphy, and Lisa Redfern produced walking tours at the links below.
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
