FLASHBACK: Sacramento, CA 03/17-19/2010

After getting married & leaving Ohio, Cameron & I headed to California. Our first few days were spent in gold country, east of Sacramento, most of the time with Ted, Cam's brother. Here's a shot of the three of us on a man mover that would lower men into a gold mine, Ted is in the middle.

The other photo is Ted next to a stamp. The stamp smashes rock into very small pieces, releasing the gold. The gold is much heavier than the stone and with the help of water and quicksilver, it is separated. We learned a bunch about gold, particularly how to pan for gold appropriately and the devastation of jet water mining. I had no idea that one of the first environmental regulations was to stop hydraulic mining in CA in 1884.


We ate lunch near this spot, overlooking an old hydraulic mine. It closed by 1885, and you can see how much the vegetation has reclaimed in the last 125 years. We visited the Empire Mine, Sutters Mill, Donner Lake, and stayed at a historic hotel on Main Street in Pacerville.

The next flashback will continue our CA adventures with the Buret family in San Francisco.