Columbia Historic State Park is really the town of Columbia, nestled in the fothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is right in the heart of Gold Mining Country.
It started around 1850 and the entire town has been preserved as it was in about 1870. It looks just like what it is, a mining/cowboy/western movie town, except it is for real. we strolled down Main Street and looked in at the shop windows of the hardware store, saloons, the blacksmith, leather shop and others. We looked in at the museum and found out about the gold - they had on display real gold nuggets that were panned out of the area, a plaster cast of the biggest ever gold nugget found there - 132 oz! Lots of despcriptions about the role that water played in the development of the town.
Before a constant supply of water was brought to the town via wooden shutes and dikes the town closed down in the summer, now panning could go on, not enough water to drik even. Once water arived then the town grew, at a price. Average earnings from gold panning were $8 per day, cost of water was $6 per day! There were battles over this and so the first water wars in California were fought 160 years ago.
We saw the little picket fence house that featured in High Noon. The whole film was due to be shot ther, but it rained and was too green to be a New Mexico town, so it was shot in the studio back lot.
We stopped for a coffee/tea in a saloon, watching the rain. Then packed up and continued up US49. The road became narrower and more twisty and hilly, se we were both grateful and grumpy when we finally made it to the campground. We dined on Cornbeef Hash and Beans.
Trip 9 - California Dreamin'
On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
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