A Little Colfax History
Originally known
as Alder Grove, Colfax began as a winter camping spot for trappers
and gold miners in the mid 1800s. They found a place along Bunch Creek
that was generally below the snow line and retreated each Fall to
that place which became known as Illinoistown. With the passage of
time, and the increase in gold mining activities, the camp grew. It
became a village with a general store, saloons, freight company and
even a brothel.
When the railroad
was designed to miss Illiniostown the entire town was uprooted and
moved to its present location. The name was changed to Colfax in honor
of Schulyer Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the
United States at the time. He later became Vice President under U.S.
Grant. The town was the eastern terminus of the railroad when placement
of the "Golden Spike" into the rail bed at Promitory Point,
Utah signified the completion of the new transcontinental railway.
The town started
as a central transportation, communications and gathering place and
it remains so today. It is small, steeped in history and known as
the "Gateway" to the High Sierra Mountains and all their
beauty, recreation and riches.
The Beginnings
The Maidu Indians inhabited this area before the white man arrived
on the scene. They were a peaceful tribe that hunted, fished and ground
acorns for food. Today a few relatives of these early inhabitants
still live in the area. There is a cemetery at the junction of Iowa
Hill Road and Canyon Way Road that survives today. It is maintained
by volunteers and is an important part of our past.
One can chronicle
the past easily by visiting the Colfax Cemetery and reading the old
gravestones found there. The names of many of the town’s ancestors
are there. Some now forgotten but many are the roots of those surviving
generations still living in the area. These pioneers built a town
with the railroad as it’s central focus as it still is today.
The first fruit trees were imported from Oregon in 1852. This event
started the huge fruit and wine industry that boomed through the 1950s.
During the days
of railroad construction there was a large Chinese population along
with other railroad workers. Gold mining became a much larger business
and attracted miners from all over the world to the area and some
stayed and opened shops and entered other business endeavors. They
started schools and churches. The early schools have disappeared,
replaced by more modern structures but some of the churches remain
even today.
The town burned
three times, then sprung anew from the ashes boasting the "Fire
Proof" block that remains today. The roofs of many of the buildings
were made of earthen sod and a number of the windows were covered
with "Iron Doors" as protection from fire. The new buildings
were of brick (made in Colfax) and masonry construction. They stand
today as a monument to days and lives long past. The population of
Colfax remains about the same today as it was in the 1800s, around
one thousand. You will find many plaques placed about town by the
Colfax Area Historical Society honoring our rich heritage.
The Later
Years
Colfax became
the center of transportation on the Western slope of the Sierras.
The freight marshaling yards, in Colfax until World War II, had to
be made larger. With the advent of new diesel engines that were to
replace the nostalgic steam engines, it was decided to move the marshaling
yards to Roseville. The old roundhouse was finally removed, in December
of 1949, although they left a "Y" that remains today. It
is now used by work trains.
An important part
of this journey into history is the role of the Nevada County Narrow
Gage Railway in the development of the foothill economy. In the year
1876 a railroad was built to carry machinery and supplies to the very
successful hard rock mines in the Grass Valley and Nevada City areas.
It joined the transcontinental rail line at Colfax. Old "Never
Come - Never Go," as it was affectionately called, carried freight
as well as passengers from 1876 to 1942. Vestiges of the old rail
bed can still be seen along state route 174 and you can still find
the old small rail spikes, if you are lucky, as you search where the
old track lay.
Another important
part of our rich history was the placer mining that took place in
this area during the 1800s. In 1884 Federal district Court Judge Lorenzo
Sawyer issued a decision that ended hydraulic mining in California,
but before they were stopped the mines formed an important part of
our landscape. The night and day washing away of the earth in the
mad scramble to recover the gold secreted in the ancient stream beds
gave rise to huge placer mines that left terrible scars in the earth
that are visible today. The near areas of Gold Run and Dutch Flat
are testimony of the destruction they brought. Millions of tons of
earth were washed down the American and Bear Rivers.
Robert Peers came
to the area in 1899 and opened his first hospital in 1929. By 1927
the Colfax School for tuberculosis was the largest T.B. group under
one supervisor in the United States. It included a Standard Oil Sanitarium
for its employees. In 1919 the Weimar Joint Sanitarium opened with
Dr. Peers as advisor. The air in the Colfax area was considered the
healthiest in the country.
Many of the early
advances in electrical power generation were made right here in these
foothills. The Pelton Wheel was invented in Comptonville and water
powered generation of electricity became practical. There is a museum
dedicated to power generation artifacts located in Grass Valley. The
first power generated in Colfax was made available by Dan Gillen owner
of the Gillen Hotel. P.G.&E. opened its first office in Colfax
in 1913. The building of the power generation facilities utilized
the water systems built by the Chinese for use in placer mining. These
early water delivery ditches are still in use today.
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