I have been known to do things backwards. Onsite research is no exception.
Last month, after spending too many days burning up the highway between home and Fresno, a city an hour and a half drive away where my husband goes for medical care, we decided it was time for a one-day road trip for fun. We enjoy exploring the mountains and foothills to the east of us, so that was where I decided to go. To stay away from the freeways, I planned a trip that kept us mostly on the two-lane highways. The only time we were on a freeway was the short jaunt between Placerville (originally Hangtown) and Pollock Pines.
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| Map courtesy of Google Maps |
We started by taking the back roads from our house until we reached Snelling, the first county seat when Merced County broke away from Mariposa County. I have yet to set a story there, but do not count it out as a future book setting.
From there, we traveled J59. On the way was this scene, the land in which my characters in Kendrick, Cole, and Madeline would have traveled, and where Cole would have built his ranch.
This takes us to Hwy 120, the road we take to Sonora, where most of my A Watchman for Willow was set. The volcanic landscape which, over time, has been formed into table mountains, has always fascinated me.
However, Sonora was not our destination that day. We cut off and traveled to Copperopolis, a town that was on the Milton-to-Sonora stagecoach route. Those who have read A Watchman for Willow will recall from my author notes that in real life, Peter Kelly, who died from a gunshot wound in Sonora in 1886, owned and ran the livery and stage station in Copperopolis. I do not believe that building is still there, but I enjoyed getting a picture of the Union Guard Armory, established in 1864. Copperopolis was a major source of copper for bullet casings used in the Civil War.
From there, we cut over to Angels Camp, a town that was part of the setting for Madeline, then up California State Highway 49, also known as the Golden Chain Highway because it connects so many of the major gold mining towns and camps in the Mother Lode. Jesse in A Watchman for Willow might not have traveled past this remains of this 1850s rock Butte mercantile, but he probably saw many like it. We also stopped in Mokelumne Hill but using the pictures I took, that town will get its own blog post sometime.
Along this highway, we drove through several little 1850s gold mining camps that Will and Jeremy from Clara tried their luck in during 1859. One was Drytown.
From there, we continued up Hwy 49 until we reached today's Placerville, the city originally known as Old Dry Diggin's and then Hangtown. Some of the buildings would have been there when Will and Jeremy arrived in California. However, the bell tower did not come into existence until 1865 after several fires devastated the town.
When Will and Clara from Clara married, this Cary House hotel, built in 1857, might have been where they spent their wedding night.
Here's another old-time Placerville building that is currently a historical museum--the Soda Works.
From Placerville, we drove on Hwy 50 east to Pollock Pines, where we exited on Sly Park Road. This area was known as Sly Park at the time of Clara, ever since one of the Mormons who traveled east to Utah found the area, then later came back and claimed it. Sly Park Road connects with Mormon Emigrant Trail, which was cut in 1848 as members of the Mormon Battalion decided to return to the Salt Lake Valley area. It was a EMIGRANT, not an immigrant, trail, because those who blazed that trail were leaving California to travel east.
However, many thousands used that same trail to immigrate west. Will, Jeremy, and Clara in Clara all traveled this trail, which later became known also as the Carson Pass Trail. Because of the difficulties of the Donner Pass/Truckee trail, this became the preferred California Trail to the gold fields.
Jenkinson Lake did not exist at the time of Clara. Sly Park Dam was built and the area filled in 1955. This photo was taken from the Mormon Emigrant Trail road. It is not far from the area where those first emigrants were required to build fires and chisel rocks to build a section of road. To get over giant granite boulders, they dismantled their wagons and used ropes to pull their belongings and livestock up and over. By the time of Clara, the West Bypass had been built, which took travelers around the boulders.
We did not travel far on the Mormon Emigrant Trail Road, which would eventually have taken us to Carson City, Nevada, before turning around. After returning to Sly Park Road, also known as E16, we continued west toward Pleasant Valley, the "jumping off" point for that first group of Mormon Emigrants. In Clara, Will and Jeremy end up at the home of a widow with two children along this road. I placed her apple orchard and grain farm east of Pleasant Valley.
It is too bad that we did not make this trip last winter instead of last month. I knew there was an elevation along the Mother Lode foothills was just right for growing apples. Just north of where I placed her farm is the "Apple Valley" region north of Hwy. 50 between Placerville and Pollock Pines. However, I would have put her farm in a more realistic setting if I had put her in Pleasant Valley. Oh, well.
There is a lot of agriculture that takes place in the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills. After we turned south, we passed several wine vineyards tucked between pines and oaks. Italians, especially, found homes for their various farms from orchards, vineyards, and truck farming, since the region reminded them of where they came from in Italy.
In Clara, Will and Jeremy stopped at Fiddletown for the first time on their way to the Pleasant Valley region. However, we stopped there on the way home. While there, from a Chinese doctor, Will bought herbs to fight the infection and fever Jeremy developed after breaking his leg. He very easily could have made his purchase from the Chew Kee Store that was established in 1850. There are several Chinese buildings and businesses that have been restored and preserved in Fiddletown by the current residents of Chinese descent. It is another gold rush town that will get its own blog post one day.
Our last big stop was Milton. Milton, which now is nothing more than a wide spot in the road, was the end-of-the-line town for the Stockton & Copperopolis Railroad, which, in 1886 at the time of A Watchman for Willow, was leased to the Southern Pacific Company. From there, starting on Rock Creek Road, the Milton-to-Sonora stagecoach transported foothill-bound travelers to Sonora by way of Copperopolis. This is the start of the Rock Creek Road in Milton.
From there, we headed home through Oakdale, a town also mentioned in several of my California novels.
Even though I have been familiar with several of these areas for decades, some like Copperopolis, Mokelumne Hill, and Fiddletown were new to me. I hope you enjoyed the pictures I shared.
A Watchman for Willow is now available as a paperback. To find the book description and purchase options,
please CLICK HERE
To find the book description and purchase options for Clara,
please CLICK HERE
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