Gold Country - California - page 823

From 1850 to 1956 the miners here, mostly Cornish, produced six million ounces of
gold (worth about $4 billion today). Even if you don't have that kind of dough, hiking the
trails that meander past abandoned mines and equipment is free. Trailheads are at the park-
ing lots behind the visitor center and Penn Gate to its west. The visitors center leads
guided tours (11am to 2pm) and has maps.
North Star Mining Museum MUSEUM
(Powerhouse and Pelton Wheel Museum; nevadacountyhistory.org ; 10933 Allison Ranch Rd; entry by
donation; 11am-5pm Tue-Sat, noon-4pm Sun May-Oct)
A museum for those who ache when they see machinery set aside to rust. The engineering-
minded docents here have polished and oiled their extensive collection of 19th-century
mining equipment to a shine. See stamp mills, dredges, dynamite packing machines,
Cornish pumps and the largest Pelton wheel ever constructed in action. The grassy banks
of the creek that once powered the North Star mine are perfect for a picnic.
TRIBAL HISTORY IN GOLD COUNTRY
A few dedicated museums tell part of the stories of the Miwok, Maidu, Konkow, Monache,
Nisenan, Tubatulabal, Washoe and Foothill Yokuts - the people who called this region
home, even before the gold.
Maidu Museum & Historical Sight ( www.roseville.ca.us ; 1970 Johnson Ranch Dr, Roseville;
Adult/child $4.50/4; 9am-4pm Mon-Fri, to 1pm Sat (extended hours every third Sat) ) is built on
the edge of an ancient Maidu village, where families thrived for over 3000 years.
The roundhouse-shaped museum in Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park has a vari-
ety of artifacts representing different tribes of the area. Outside are more relics.
California State Indian Museum in Sacramento has the most extensive collections and
regularly rotating exhibits on California's tribes.
Sleeping & Eating
The menus around here don't vary much but the quality is good. There are several good
brunch spots and bars around downtown, and every imaginable chain among the strip
malls by the highway.