Sunday, June 3, 2012

Forest City


My son David arranged a special trip for us: a visit to Forest City in Sierra County. A group of about 20 of us take the one hour drive from Nevada City, CA to learn the history and see the relics, of what was once one of the richest gold depository's in the world. Why? About 40 million years ago or so, this was a very tropical area, with an ancient river in places, 5 miles wide. The geology at the time was ripe for the formation and deposit of gold, and in her heyday, gold nuggets were found the size of dinner plates!


The old dance hall remains, and once a year the E Clampus Vitus organization has a meeting here, complete with sleeping bags and plenty of liquid refreshment to restock the old bar. Here are a couple of pictures of the interior:



Relics of old mining equipment still remain, and have been repaired and do get fired up once a year:



Beautiful downtown Forest City!




Now it's time for our lunch break, and one of the historians gives us the history of the area. The following picture shows my son, Dave, granddaughter Hailey, and me.



After lunch, we trample up to the cemetery to view the wildflowers, and maybe pick out a plot? (Just kidding!)








We stop to read the sign posted by the E Clampus Vitus and then stop to see a few attractions on our way back to Nevada City. We had a busy and interesting day!






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