The first people who lived in Nevada County were the Maidu Indians. The women were skilled basket weavers. They made baskets in every size from pinhead size to huge ones ten or more feet in diameter. The stitches were so fine you would need a magnifying glass to see them. They made baskets for cooking, storage, eating and cradles.The Maidu's(The People) were migratory, traveling down to the Sacramento Valley and up to the foothills and the High Sierras.
Grass Valley and Nevada City are located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, approximately 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, California in Nevada County. At an elevation of 2,500 feet and only 3 miles apart, both towns offer a relaxing, year-round destination.
The town of Grass Valley's claim to historic fame is in the vast amounts of gold discovered and extracted from its rich under ground mines.
First settled by emigrants who came upon a lush "grassy valley," this Sierra foothills outpost known as Boston Ravine then Centerville would become Grass Valley. It is the home to the famous Empire Mine, which during a century of operation produced more than $900 million in gold.
It is believed that millions of dollars of gold, depending on current value, still lays buried deep in the earth below the quaint town of Grass Valley. Prospectors from Oregon in search of gold and emigrants from the east looking for fertile homeland settled in Grass Valley between 1848 and 1849. As with all the mining camps and towns along what would become Highway 49, gold fever created an instantaneous population explosion. Though early miners sought their riches in the streams, it was only by accident that the true wealth of Grass Valley was discovered. Legend has it a miner in search of his mission cow stubbed his toe and dislodged a large rock which when he picked up gleamed with gold. Not too much later another man searching for stones to construct a chimney discoverd a rich vein a gold quartz. The rest, as they say, is history.
By 1855 the town was prospering and growing when it suffered two significant setbacks. A fire that swept through the town destroyed 300 buildings. Rebuilt, the town faced a worse disaster, the ease of accessing the gold had become more and more difficult. Tenacity and improved techniques in hardrock mining allowed Grass Valley to once again prosper by the 1860's
The most important factor in the success of hardrock mining in California was the immigration of skilled miners from Cornwall, England, where hardrock tin and copper mining has been carried on for over a hundred years. These Cornishmen brought experience, skill and the latest technological advances in mining equipment. By 1890, the population of Grass Valley was reportedly 85% Cornish. And because every Cornish miner seemed to have an unlimited supply of relatives to recommend for every mine job, and since many of the miners wanted to undertake the hard, dangerous work only with trusted friends and relatives, the Cornishmen soon received the nickname, "Cousin Jacks" It was these miners who designed the Cornish pump as a tool for removing water from down in the mines.Today in December, there is a Cornish Christmas Celebration in the streets of Grass Valley.
One hundred fifty million dollars in gold was mined from two mines, the Empire mine and the North Star Mine, ,also in Grass Valley,during their 100 years of service. Nevada County in total produced an unbelievable 440 million dollars in gold during that same time period. Both mines we closed in l956 and are now a park and a museum open to the public. Grass Valley was one of the fortunate cities who's economy based on its mining efforts was able to prosper even through the great Depression until the mines were closed by the war production board because of the war in l940.
Grass Valley History
Empire Mine
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