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HomeMy Public PortalAboutPlacerville, IdahoThe Idaho Statesman Placerville's Magnolia Saloon — souvenir of a gold camp "Placerville presents a very handsome and neat appearance," wrote W. A. Goulder after a visit there in 1876. "The business portion of the town occupies four sides of a square and comprises an excellent hotel kept by Mr. James David- son ... There are two meat mar- kets, both doing a thriving business; one kept by Messrs. Garret & Hayes, and the other by Mr. John O'Donnell. The amount of meat daily sent out by these two shops speaks volumes for the appetites of the miners, as well as for the pros - perity of the camp." Detailing all of the leading busi- ness houses, Goulder inevitably got to the saloons, of which there were four "arranged around the Plaza or Square at convenient distances. They all seem to be doing a fair business; quiet and good order characterizes all of them. I have neither seen or heard of any drunk- enness, broils or unpleasantness whatever." From this observation, the native of "Old Virginny" went on to ex- pand on Jefferson's theory that they are governed best who are governed least: "It is remarkable that in a community where everyone feels at perfect liberty to do just as he pleases, with the smallest danger of penalty or censure, even for any ex- cess that may occur, there should Idaho Yesterdays 4 By Arthur Hart be an entire absence of any acts de- serving to be complained of ... this shows that the world, in sports, has been entirely too much governed," he concludes. By 1881, Placerville's mining pros- perity and population had dwindled considerably, and a reporter who visited that year found "two well - kept family hotels," but only two saloons "with Brunswick billiard ta- bles. "It boasts a plaza, too, like the early California towns, and from the great pine flagstaff drooped our country's star - wrought banner half- way down in homage to the slaugh- tered president." (James A. Gar- field had been shot a few weeks earlier.) "The old.town, like Idaho City, has had its share of severe fires, and, were it peopled by less enterprising citizens, would be a desert waste today." Although still going downhill, Pla- cerville attracted notice in Elliott's "History of Idaho Territory" pub- lished in 1884. "The town of Placer- ville, though somewhat decayed, is far from lifeless." Speaking of the saloons, the observer said. "The Magnolia is a fine building, con- ducted by James McKay. The wants of the thirsty can also be supplied at John Nelson's or Halley & Don - ovan's." He also noted that there was no church building in town, but that both Methodists and Episcopali- ans held monthly meetings in a rented hall. In an ingenious, if cryp- tic summary of the local economy, the author concludes: "Altogether Placerville presents an appearance of sufficient vitality to satisfy the desires of the people." On August 17, 1899, Placerville had her most serious fire. The Statesman headline proclaimed, "Fire Sweeps Placerville From Face of the Earth." Actually there were 20 or more buildings and the schoolhouse left standing, plus "about half of Chinatown," but the old town never regained her former dimensions again. Later fires, in the early '20s espe- cially, further decimated the ranks of buildings facing the plaza. The Magnolia, grand old saloon first pic- tured in an Elliott lithograph in 1884, survives in excellent condition, and is now the museum of local his- tory. Now nearly a century old, the Magnolia will continue to remind visitors of a time when Boise Basin gold lured thousands of miners and built communities like Placerville. PIONEER DAUGHTER Katherine M. Brogan was born in Placerville to James and Minnie McDevitt. Her father opened the town's first butcher shop in 1863. "Kitty" has never moved from Boise County, serving as clerk of the district court, auditor and recorder and clerk of the board of county com- missioners since 1927. Her chil- dren are Patricia Egurrola, Justin Brogan, Virginia Ritchey, Jayne Eiden and John Brogan. PLACERVILLE, (below) another gold boom town with a colorful history, now is a peaceful moun- tain town supported by cattle and lumber industries; this picture was taken more than 20 years ago by Howard W. Steward. The Idaho City Stage line (above) was photo- graphed around the turn of the century; the picture was loaned by the Idaho State Historical Society. Ai will be displayed in the Magnolia Saloon which - Magnolia Saloon t o House Relics As Placerville Memorial Museum By UTAHNA L. HALL Statesman Correspondent PLACERVILLE — A saloon where miners once brawled will open its doors as a museum Wednesday. The Magnolia Saloon on the north- east corner of the Placerville Plaza will become the Henrietta Penrod Me- morial Museum in honor of a teacher, postmistress, storekeeper and collector of pioneer relics. Mrs. Bruce McKenzie, Placerville, museum committee chairman, said the committee was formed in 1971 although the museum had been planned for years before. Other members are Mrs. Howard Davies and E. A. (Bud) Payne, both of Placerville. Mrs. Henrietta Robison Penrod died in January 1971. She had been inter- ested in establishing a museum and had collected many relics in her store. Mrs. Penrod was the grand- daughter of Martin Cathcart, Placerville pioneer boot and shoemaker. She was educated at St. Margaret's Hall in Boise and Albion Normal School and then taught in Centerville and Pla- cerville before serving as postmaster and store owner in Placerville for many years. She held aloft the, torch of civic pride in Placerville at a time when its population dropped to half a dozen persons, Mrs. McKenzie said. Today the population of Placerville remains at 10 permanent winter resi- dents.and then skyrockets to around 100 with many summer residents and visitors. The Magnolia, a white frame build- ing, was built in 1900 for a saloon and closed its doors in 1917 with prohibi- tion, although it has occasionally been used for other purposes since then, Mrs. McKenzie said. This is the second building to bear the name Magnolia as the first burned in the big fire of 1899. The original, one of Placerville's early saloons, was bought by James McKay in 1866. The museum committee plans to ar- range displays to tell stories of the Boise Basin, mainly of Placerville, Pio- neerville, Centerville, Quartzburg and Granite Creek, Mrs. McKenzie said. The opening will feature exhibits from the old Star Ranch and the Philip Ranft family who lived there for 40 ,years after 1875. r1 Ir3 q qz of l�q ps A PICTURE OF HIMSELF AS A BOY is viewed Placerville. The picture will be displayed in the by Harry Palmer, 80, who was born and reared in Placerville museum. Palmer now lives in Idaho City. Gip 4tahe � _� i5�7a t1c The ranch, located on the old Harris Creek Toll Road three miles from Pla- cerville, contained 480 acres and boasted one of the finest racetracks in the West. Here horses from California and the Northwesr and eve Kentucky raced against Idaho- horses, sometimes wild horses and even donkeys. A saloon and dancehall also attracted miners and ranchers. The old violin which Mr. Ranft play- ed at the dances and the loving cup his wife won for waltzing will be on dis- play, along with pictures of the ranch and other relics. Chinese items on display are traces of the once large group of Chinese who mined in the Basin. A mural of the Pla- cerville Plaza painted by Mrs. Hazel Badgerow of Boise hangs on one wall. The committee members and other interested persons have interviewed Placerville pioneers and their,4descen- dants in an effort to recount the story of the area. The committee has dlso re- searched the history in books. Briefly, they have learned thet the townsite was selected en Dec. 1,, 1862, by Capt. Relf Bledsoe. The town was named by John Murphy and Henry Martin, who found gold on Wolf Creek. The Idaho Territorial Legislature meeting in Lewiston in 1863 chartered Placerville, and President Abraham Lincoln in the same year established a post office in the town, the first in Southern Idaho. At that time the town was referred to as the guard to Boise Basin, since most of the miners came into the Basin by that entrance, Mrs. McKenzie said. With a population of some 5,000 per- sons in 1863, Placerville had 12 saloons, five stores, two hotels, a bakery, a jail, a brewery, a theater, and many log cabins. The population was thinned down by two major fires in 1874 and 1899. The big forest fire of 1931 which burned Quartzburg took its toll at Placerville as many of the men worked in the hardrock mining at Quartzburg. The population was always mainly Irish although there were many Eng- lish and Chinese as well as Scandina- vians during the Quartzburg mining era. A Catholic priest, Father Mesplie, held the first church service in Placer- ville on Jan. 4, 1864. The roll call of the Irish rings with the names of Learys, McDevitts, Brogans, Halleys, Cath- carts and O'Bryans. Today besides the Magnolia saloon, w the town boasts the Masonic Hall, Epis- copal Church, the brick building hous- ing the Boise Basin Boosters Club, the old Boise Basin Merc, the Robison store, and the historic cemetery above town on the hill, as well as many old homes and a number of new modern houses. AN OLD LAMP which will be displayed in the museum at Placer- ville seems to light visions of the past in the eyes of Sterlin Stearns, son of Sheriff and Mrs. Jack Williams of Idaho City. For years Boise Basin dancers danc- ed all night at Placerville on July 3 and then all night July 4 at Idaho City. This tradition ended when the dancehall in Placerville burned in the 1930s. In the early days the dancers filled the saloons. It was on their way home to Centerville from one such affair that the three fiddlers of Ophir Creek were murdered. Even now if one listens in the whispering pines around the old mining claims, one may near the rams; strains of violin music, as played byz the three fiddlers or perhaps by Philio Ranft as he tuned up for a dance at the Star Ranch, Mrs. McKenzie said. To get to Placerville, one may take~ Highway 21 from Boise via Idaho City, or Highway 55 from Boise via Horse- shoe Bend and the Harris Creek Road. Then again one .might travel directly from Boise Valley by helicopter and land in the Placerville Plaza, Mrs. McKenzie suggested. ntore Operation Survives100 Years By HALL n er One Family PLACERVILL VILLE — Roo binson's Gener- al Merchandise store in Placerville cel- Fire wipea out the business and sa- ebrated its 100th birthday July 28 in the loon district of Placerville in 1874. ownership of one family. Cathcart joined other men and women Jack A. Craig, owner, is the great in rebuilding the town within a month grandson of Martin Cathcart, who of the fire and reopened his shoe founded a cobbler and shoe shop in business in July. Placerville on July 28, 1874, and later He soon expanded into men's cloth - extended his merchandise into other ing and other merchandise to feed a lines. Cathcart, incidentally, took his growing family of seven children. first subscription to the Idaho States- He was a man of large girth and man in 1874 from' Judge Milton Kelly, large interests. He was initiated into * * * Placer Lodge No. 3, A.F. and A. M on >' " ° "'.' ~'x ^ "• "<: r: < >.: > %<::<s February 19, 1870, and by April of that year had passed through t _ de- grees to become a Master Mason. :? In 1880 he was elected a Boise County commissioner, a post he held for 14 years. He also was chairman of the Placerville Board of Trustees for eight years. The Idaho Territorial Legislature, meeting in Lewiston in 1863, chartered Placerville as the first city in the terri- tory, according to Walter P. March, present mayor of Placerville. -0:`' a• H At the time of the first census in Ida - '' ho in 1863, Placerville had'. n­flf +;nn of 3,254 in comparison to t City of 6,275. Placerville was granted office in southern Idaho 1 :.:.:...::. �.;: >:.. :;::. <:; >:: >: Lincoln in 1863. Today it h< population of about 80 pei winter population of nine. Fire was always a hazan ing camp. Again in 1898 a and saloons and many of burned. Even though he w, Cathcart rebuilt an even Ir than before. He had be perous because of the -bar ing operations of the famo Mine near Quartzburg, se away. S OLD AS STORE — Antique lock, one of the collector's items d in the Robinson's General rchandise Store in Placerville s shown by Mrs. Evelyn Craig, anager. (Photo by Lance Ar- nold) hen owner of the paper which cele- rated its 110th birthday recently. Cathcart of Scotch descent was born n County Derry, Ireland, on Sept. 6, 835. When he was a young man, like o many others from Ireland, he came o the California gold fields and hence the Boise Basin gold rush by way of he Florence mines in northern Idaho. After living in various Boise Basin wns, he settled in Placerville after he arried Henrietta Wilhelmina Claus, a ative of Germany, on Dec. 31, 1872. he had come to Placerville under the uspices of her cousins, Mr. and Mrs.. us Kohny. Only a decade later when was in his 70s did Cathcart permit his son James to take up the reins of the store. Two other sons, Martin +Jr. and William, had gone to Boise to enter the mercan- tile business. Martin Sr. died at age 81 on Dec. 26, 1916, and was buried with all the pomp and circumstances befit- ting his years and Masonic affiliations in the tree - studded cemetery above the town. James stayed on with the store until 1923, when he left for San Diego, Calif. to work in a larger mercantile establishment. His sister, Elizabeth, known as Liz - zie, had married Ellis S. Robison, known as Paddy, who came to the pla- cer mines from Pennsylvania and who FOUNDER — Portrait of Martin Cathcart taken when he was 67 years of age. By then he was a man of stature and position with seven grown children. and several grandchilden. He founded the Placerville store on July 28, 1874, a century ago. - ! 7P stayed to help Lizzie manage the store. They had three children, Mrs. Hen- rietta Robinson Penrod, who was to fol- low them as store owner; James E. Robison, who became a mining engi- neer and was killed in 1938 in the mines in South Africa, and Mrs. Lo- rene Robison Craig Anderson, who now lives in Boise. It was to Henrietta that the manage- ment of the store fell after her father's death in 1927 and later the subsequent illness of her mother. Henrietta was rather like her grand- father, Martin Cathcart, for she was large in body and big in mind and dis- position. She was hospitable, outgoing and always civic minded. She was known as "Mrs. Placerville" for that interest and for collecting artifacts from the vicinity. She had been educated at St. Marga- ret's Hall in Boise and Albion Normal School and taught in the lower country and at Centerville before the demands of the store kept her home. She and Lizzie almost faced disaster in the summer of 1931 when fire burned Quartzburg and threatened Pla- cerville as well. Their stock of goods was carried to Placerville flats fo safekeeping. They survived this nee catastrophe only to have the store burn in 1933 when the next door Ellis Hotel burned. Like her grandfather before her, Henrietta decided to rebuild the store. She constructed the large whit clapboard frame building which now stands on Main Street facine the Plaza � /// y In the hiatus before the store was rebuilt, Henrietta married her long- time suitor Robert (Bob) Penrod. He helped her with the store until his death on February 23, 1955. Henrietta had become postmaster of Placerville, succeeding both her mother and father in this post. Upon the death of Hen- rietta, Mrs. Evelyn Craig, the wife of Jack A. Craig, became Postmaster, a post she still holds. Henrietta willed ownership of the- store to her nephew, Jack A. Craig, who was born in Red Bluff, Calif., the son of Dee Craig and Lorena Robinson Craig. Lorena has never personally managed the store on her own, but she has baby sat it for her mother and sis- ter and now for her son Jack and his wife. She is known for her colorful and hospitable nature and ability to stay cheerful in adversity. Often she is ac- companied to Placerville on her store- keeping jaunts by her husband's sister, Mrs. Isabelle Anderson Bostic, whose father owned the Anderson ranch of the Anderson Ranch Dam on the Boise River. Jack A. Craig with his red hair and r medium stature is the "spitting image" r of his, grandfather, Paddy Robison, ac- cording to Mayor March, who has known them both. On weekends Jack puts on bib over- alls, sometimes striped, the same style his grandfather wore to keep store, e March said. But Jack, like his great grandfather Martin Cathcart, has wider interests than the store. During the week he works in the Boise County Assesor's of- fice and is running for that post on the Republican Ticket at the November election. So far he has no opponents, either Democratic or Republican, he said. Mrs. Winifred Proffer, longtime' county assessor, is retiring from the position. During World War II, Craig served in the infantry in the`South Pacific. He is a member of the Placerville City Coun- cil and a member of the Booster's Club and is affiliated with Pioneer Epicopal Church in Placerville. Besides her duties as postmaster, his wife, Evelyn, manages the store in Jack's absence. They keep it much as it was in Henrietta's time with the pot- bellied iron stove as the center of inter- est and warmth in winter. They keep a big stock of striped hard stick candy in stock in large glass jars, antique clocks from England and Port- land. In addition to groceries and other stables, the store has souvenirs and an- tiques. Some from the Placerville area are for display only. Three years ago the city council gave Jack A. Craig permission to sell beer on a package goods off premises permit only. The beer was a great boom to the hundreds of soldiers from the 20th Spe- cial Forces Group, U.S. Army National Guard, from the Southern States who surrounded Placerville in mock war- fare during the last two weeks. BIRTHDAY OF 100 YEARS — Robinson's General Merchandise Store, founded July 28, 1874, cele- brates its first century July 28,' with a birthday party in Placerville. It is located on Main Street and faces the Plaza and the Magnolia saloon, now a museum. The building is constructed of white clapboard pine painted white. Townsite Auction at Old Minim By WALTER H. JOHNSON Statesman State Editor PLACERVILLE — The last of the federal land reportedly granted by Abraham Lincoln to the town of Placerville will not be auctioned today. District Judge J. Ray Dur- tschi issued a temporary re- straining order Friday stop- her by a vote of 27 to 9. The size of the Placerville elec- torate, h o w e v e r, was ex- ploited in the complaint that stopped the lot sale. The complaint noted Section 50 -1403 of the Idaho Code "provides ... residents of any city who are dissatisfied with the city's contemplated sale ping the sale of 17 IoAs. The Placerville city council of four members voted to sell the lots April 14. Except for one sliver of land without access, the mile- square townsite of Placerville would have become privately owned if the sale had gone t h r o u g h today, provided buyers offered bids which equaled the appraised prices for the lots of from $550 to $1,750 and plunked down the cash. Joe P. Locklear, a Boise de- tective, was the plaintiff in the action which stopped the lot sale until a hearing could be held by Durtschi in the dis- trict court at Boise, Wednes- day at 3:30 p.m. Placerville Mayor Walter P. March noted his problems were fewer than those of big city mayors since he "needs to satisfy only 36 registered voters." March was elected to a four -year term last Novem- Community Halted by Judge The complaint also said the same section of the Idaho code provides that a public hearing must be held by the city council before city prop- erty can be sold. It added a hearing was not held. Mayor March reports old - timers insist that Lincoln gave a land grant of the townsite to Placerville. How- ever, when the Bureau of Land Management made an intensive search of Washing- ton documents no record of the grant could be found, he said. Another version is that a land patent for 99 years was issued by Lincoln. Miners settling in Placer- ville during the Boise Basin g o l d r u s h undoubtedly squatted at a convenient site and built their shelters with- out worrying about ownership of the land. How many came and settled in Placerville is shrouded in myth. Any "guess" census would depend. on how many gulches the count included and whether the Chinese were counted at all. The casual and racist attitude toward the Chi- nese is indicated by news sto- ries during the gold days that would give a terse report about some Chinese killed in a mine without names or de- tails. During the 1960s, Placer - ville's remaining residents began to fret about their squatter's rights. They had a tax advantage since they paid no taxes on the land at all, only on iiinprovements, but they wanted a clear title to the land. With the assistance of Sen. Frank Church, March said legislation was passed turning all the land in the townsite over to the City of Placerville with the provision that it be distributed to the squatters first for the cost of a patent. The patent cost ranged from $10 to $100. of real property may file a petition with the city council expressing said dissatisfac- tion. If said petition contains the names of 10 per cent of the qualified electors of the city, the city council must have a special election on the question of the sale." After its hectic past, Pla- cerville could suitably change its name to " Placidville." Mayor March estimates its population is about seven in winter, 12 during week days after winter ends and about 75 on weekends. The youngest resident _ during weekdays is 49 years old. Placerville has about 36 houses which range from fancy $35,000 to $45,000 resi- dences to block houses built 80 to 90 years ago. The frame- work of the floors in the block houses usually is laid on rocks. The walls are 1x12 inch boards with a 2x4 plate on top which supports the rafters for the roof. "You don't know what ca- sual is until you live in Pla- cerville," declared June Davies who with her husband Howard moved to Placerville when the freeway approach chopped through the Davies Floral company at the top of Fairview Hill in Boise. Locklear's complaint noted a petition was filed June 10 with the city council "which expressed dissatisfaction with the contemplated sale." A copy of the petition was at- tached to the complaint. Evelyn J. Robinson, deputy clerk of the Fourth District Court at Idaho City, said this "You have time to just sit and chat with people. Some- thing you don't get much op- portunity to do if you are rid- ing the treadmill in Boise. We love every minute of it," de- clared Mrs. Davies. She is acting city clerk for Placerville and works with the Western Idaho Community Action Agency in Idaho City, an agency which she de- scribes as an advocate for the poor. Davies is Boise County road supervisor and a mem- ber of the Placerville city council. March opposed the mass sale of the lots himself. He felt the lots should be sold in smaller groups. However, he did not veto the action of the f o u r- member council. His veto, anyway, could have been overridden by a three - fourths vote. The council members are Jack Craig, who operates the Placerville store; Jon Brassey, who has a land de- velopment company; Clay Tolleson of Honstead Motors at Nampa, who has resigned due to business needs, and Davies. petition contained the .names Of five persons. She said the petition was signed by 0. C. Locklear, Joe P. Locklear, Joane Dunbar, Margaret Dun- bar and another Locklear w i t h the first name too blurred to read. This petition asked for a special election on the lot sale and said, "no declaration (was) made by the council and mayor as to the intended use of the funds to be derived from such sale." March reported there "was some talk" of spending the money from the lot sale for a w a t e r and sewer system study, but he said, "There is no way we can finance the end product ... and I am not much for milking the'tederal goat." March said that under the terms of the legislation grant- ing Placerville the townsite, the money from sale of land must be used for capital im- provements. The .city does have a water system and lots within 60 feet of the system must pay a water assessment. Placerville operates on a budget of about $5,000, much of it received from state sources such as the city's share of liquor and highway user's revenues: March makes it clear that he is a resident of Placerville although he is "domiciled" in Boise where he has operated a general garage for some 20 years, . /C/ a k a r Milk bottles and other antiques sit in a cor- ner of the Placerville City Hall, which once served as the town's slaughterhouse. Meadows, forests and peaks surround the area. Faq p A I a f Z Pa q i'S A peek into thepast Tired of the hustle and bustle of modern life in the city? Less than two hours from Boise rests a town called Placerville. By Karen Bossick The Idaho Statesman PLACERVILLE — Jack Craig has sold old- fashioned stick can- dy to tourists who stop by his great - grandfather's general mer- cantile store for 23 years. He wears the same style of bib over- alls his grandfather wore. But the white clapboard build- ing looks as much a museum as a working store. Just check out the old -fash- ioned Jim Beam bottles shaped to resemble woodpeckers. Or the historic placer mining lantern, which Craig refers to as "an overblown Coleman lantern." The three dozen buildings that make up historic Placerville make up a sort of living muse- um. Those who venture to this town today will find an interest- ing mix of buildings and arti- facts that whisper of the past without the tourist trappings of so many historic towns. No one should visit Placer- ville without visiting Pioneer Cemetery, one mile west of town. It's one of Idaho's most interesting burial grounds. But Placerville is anything but a museum in Craig's mind. When the former Placerville mayor thinks of Placerville's past, he thinks of his Irish great by Karen Bossick /The Idaho Statesman Jack Craig looks over his family plot in the Pioneer Cemetery. Craig's family has lived in Placerville since his Irish -born great - grandfather Martin Cathcart came to the area from Ireland in 1862. The Magnolia Saloon and Boi- se Basin Mercantile now house museum items donated by longtime families of Pla- cerville. . • T--h(5 grandfather walking here from Placerville, Calif. — the town's namesake — to seek his fortune in 1862. He thinks of miners who changed the contour of the land by hosing it down to get at the gold buried in its belly. And he thinks of the quarts of vanilla that lined the store's shelves during Prohibition, many of them helping populate the town drunk's house. Craig's Placerville — 13 miles northwest of Idaho City — was conceived in 1862 in the midst of a gold rush to the Boise Basin. You might say it was reborn a few years ago, thanks to curious visitors yearning for a peak into the past. The town was founded by both Union and Confederate soldiers who built the town around a village green with a flagpole, now a stately Ponderosa pine from which drapes the U.S. and Idaho flags. Both sides helped to raise the flagpole in 1864 with three hearty cheers for Abra- ham Lincoln. The gold mined here, however, paid the Union's bills. The town, which tallied 3,200 Placerville PA' Z °f loayde history. one ample i V slab A marked "Fid- dlers," surrounded by four pines, commemorates one of the only truly ugly events of Placer - ville's past. The story says that two fid- dlers were walking from Placer- ville in 1863 to a gig at the Centerville mining camp when they stumbled upon a miner be- ing robbed. The fiddlers and miner were murdered. The man charged with theirV murders was released because Idaho didn't have criminal law then. The Territorial Legisla- ture passed one a year later. 1 The graves of Irish miners pre - dominate the eastern side of the cemetery. Chinese miners were City Hall: This building, i buried in the western end and g, dug up a year later so their n 1862 as an old butcher shop, bones could be whittled clean may be the last structure left in and sent back to China. The Idaho in which dirt was used in Chinese believed their bones the attic for insulation. You can could not rest until they were see where the smokehouse used interred in their homeland. to be — where the big rock boul- Most of the tombstones, cor- ders are in the east corner. ralled by wrought -iron fences, Currently being restored, it were probably ordered through features a handsome bar from Montgomery Ward and Sears Virginia City, Nev. catalogs, Craig says. Magnolia Saloon: This build - Among the more unique ceme- ing, once owned by Craig's aunt, tery plots: an infant's tombstone is now a museum housing a vari- laying in a baby buggy fash- et of artifacts from the area, ioned out of wire. A pine fell including Chinese bowls, porce- bending it out of shape a few lain spoons and fans, whiskey years ago, but visitors can still dugs, medicine bottles and his - recognize the outline. toric pictures. Emmanuel Episcopal Church: The original saloon, built in The town has one church, a 1865, burned in 1899 and was small Episcopal chapel believed rebuilt in 1901. Check out the to have been built in 1894. The indentations along the floor to church boasts finery you see where miners stood when wouldn't expect of a dusty min- the bar was along the wall. ing camp — a turn -of- the- centu- It's open from 2 to 5 p.m. every ry pump organ, leaded glass win- Saturday and Sunday from Me- dows depicting scenes in morial Day to Labor Day. Ad- Christ' Z )2aq Ps .Ile on a windy dirt road climbs over a summit. u also can get to Placer. by turning west on the es Creek turnoff south of City. The mostly flat dirt es Creek road (Forest Road takes you along Grimes c past dredge tailings.Turn on Forest Road 307 at New 3rville and follow this_ to_ A third way is to take the arris Creek Road (Forest Road 17) just south of Horseshoe end on highway 55. Whichever way you choose, an on a 1' /z- to 2 -hour drive :)m Boise. by September 1863, nearly be s i e an t e e 1 that of a came a ghost town during World church 1 mission is ree. Boise Basin onnt wooden in the mining own War II. Local mines closed be- Silver City. 1864 walkway across from the Mag- cause they couldn't get machine The redwood cross on top was nolia Saloon is part of the muse - parts. Unemployed miners covered with copper after wood- flocked to the coast for work. um. Townspeople have stocked peckers decimated the original. Today the town boasts only its shelves with dutch ovens, about two dozen residents. You can still attend church old- fashioned meat grinders and Most are senior citizens like service each Sunday at 11 a.m. A women's bonnets —just as it Craig who share a in their retired priest comes to Placer- might have looked 100 years pride historic surroundings. So much ville from Boise to conduct ser- ago. so that a few years ago they vices once a month; lay people r Dredge Tailings: Walk a little ignored their rheumatism and lead services other Sundays. east of town to see some of the other ills and armed themselves Robison's General Mercantile tailings left behind by the ghosts with paintbrushes and hammers Store: Craig's great grandfather of the past. "They'd to restore many of the buildings. built this store as a bootmaker's have a big dance and To raise money for preserva- shop 120 years ago after he tired get drunk Easter Sunday and tion, they occasionally couple of trying to make a living with a start the next day. They'd run as historic tours of the town with goldpan. The original building long as they had water," Craig beer hotcakes, homemade cake burnt in 1899; the second, in says. and pie sales, auctions and gold 1933. To get there: Drive northeast It may not be all in the family out of Boise on Highway 21 to panning. Pioneer Cemetery: The ceme- much longer. Craig decided to Idaho City. Turn on Idaho City's sell the store after his wife's Main Street and follow it west death a few months ago. of town to Forest Road 307. It's 13 miles from Idaho City to Pla-