The story of an early Hope Valley cabin . . . now returning to the earth.
The Alpine County Paradox:
Established in 1864 amid a silver boom, Alpine County anticipated a population surge that never materialized. Initial projections of 5,000 residents proved grossly over-optimistic. Instead, Alpine’s population dwindled to just 685 residents by 1870 and hovers around 1,100 today. The county struggles economically due to high federal land ownership (96%) and limited tax revenues, leading to one of the highest per-capita government costs in the U.S., and relying heavily on state and federal subsidies.
An Oh-So-Alpine Story
In 1978, tiny Alpine County faced one of its biggest challenges – an attempted “take-over.” DA Chris Smith rode to the rescue.
Hilariously High Hopes for Alpine in 1864
Hilariously High Hopes for Alpine County in 1864 We don’t know exactly who “Forty-Niner” was. But on February 10, 1864, someone penned a letter to the Sacramento Daily Union under that pseudonym. What we do know is that he was a resident of Silver Mountain City. And he was a little ticked off. […]
A Forgotten Bit of Silver Mountain history . . . .
A Forgotten Bit of Silver Mountain history It felt like a minor miracle when this slim legal document turned up on eBay. If the handwriting looked familiar, it should have; this was penned by none other than Lewis Chalmers – sometime hero, part-time villain, and all-time star of Alpine County’s early mining dramas. […]
A Long-Lost Woodfords Mill
Thomas Knott Really Should Be Famous He hung out with Snowshoe Thompson. Built a sawmill in Carson Canyon way back in 1853, before it became Woodfords. Got stiffed by John Reese for a whopping $2 grand after building two more mills in Genoa. And left behind one of the most important (and most overlooked) historical accounts chronicling his life in early Carson Valley. […]
Stampede to Bodie
STAMPEDE to BODIE It was 1876 when fabulous gold strikes were reported at Bodie. And as you can imagine, word of the bonanza spread fast in nearby mining circles. Alpine County’s Silver Mountain City had enjoyed its own mining boom a decade earlier, hard on the heels of […]
Monitor Canyon’s Early Mines: The Advance, the Tarshish, & the Zaca
Today, few people know about the Tarshish and the Advance, adjoining mining claims in Monitor Canyon. But once they were famous — two of the earliest and most productive mining claims in Alpine County. The Advance is the westermost of the pair, perched slightly lower in the canyon. Just to its east and uphill sits the Tarshish, likely […]
A World War I Diary – Part 2
A Diary from World War I This is the Part 2 of the diary of Nate Arnot, a 26-year-old American stationed in France with the Meteorological Section of the Signal Corps for the American Expeditionary Forces. To read Part 1 of the diary, click here. Sept 25, 1918 Wed. Considerable artillery action all last night. […]
Diary of a Markleeville Native in World War I France
Nate Arnot was one of eight children of Alpine County Superior Court judge N.D. Arnot. Born in Markleeville in 1892, Nate moved to Placerville at the age of twelve with his parents, after his father became an El Dorado County judge. World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, but it was 1917 before […]
The Hawkins’ Tale
The Hawkins family hasn’t lived there for over half a century. But here in Alpine County, people still know their early Woodfords homestead as the Hawkins Ranch. If you’re headed south on Hwy 89 from Woodfords, what’s left is a ramshackle collection of buildings to your left. The small residence has recently been upgraded and […]
A 160-Year-Old Hope Valley Mystery
You gotta love the excitement of unraveling a 160-year-old mystery! Here’s how it all began: In late 1860, journalist J. Ross Browne shared his silver-boom travels in a series called “A Peep at Washoe.” But it wasn’t just the Comstock he visited; Browne also journeyed through Alpine’s famous Hope Valley. […]