Volume Overview: I always lay out a proposed route for each journey before leaving my home base in Billings, Montana. Part of the fun is the months of research and planning prior to departure! This spring’s trip is a bit abbreviated, but the plan is to dash west from Billings to Portland, Oregon, for some business; head down the west side of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to Yosemite National Park in California; cross the mountains heading east to Reno/Sparks, Nevada; trek through the northern deserts of Nevada up to Twin Falls, Idaho; explore the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming; and then head back to Billings through Yellowstone National Park and Cody, Wyoming. Let’s get rolling!
Columbia, CA
Columbia is another gold rush towns with a significant difference in that it tries to depict life as it might have been in the early days. Located off the beaten path, once the gold dwindled Columbia did not experience any longevity and settled into a long decline. Columbia is not a preserved Victorian town like so many of the other gold camps, but rather represents an earlier stage of the development of urbanization during the gold camp era – rustic, raw and the feeling of real life wafts throughout the town. The entire town site was incorporated into a state park in 1945 and now is a living history museum combining historical structures housing modern businesses demonstrating life in the 1850’s.
The Fallon Hotel was built in 1859 as a boarding house, remodeled in 1863 to include a ballroom on the second floor, and then in 1871 the entire structure was converted into a hotel. The name changed over the years but it generally operated as a hotel until 1944 when the president of the University of the Pacific purchased it in 1944. When the town became a state park in 1945, the hotel was sold to the state for one dollar and was used as summer housing for drama students from the university, who presented productions in the now theater building. In 1986 the entire building was restored into a combination theater and hotel.
The Masons were an important organization in the fabric of Columbia, primarily serving as the champions of public education. John Swett, a California Mason, was the state superintendent of public instruction in 1862 and created the public school system in California by establishing teacher institutes, teacher certification, facilitating the passage of taxes to support schools, and distributing textbooks through the state. The Masons in Columbia built the first school in the town in 1858. Across the street from the hotel is the Masonic Hall. The current building is a reproduction of the original structure built in 1854 and torn down in 1890 so that the lot underneath the structure could be mined for gold.
Next to the Fallon Hotel is the Columbia Gazette Office, another reconstruction of a structure built in 1855.
The street now turns a corner and we can look up the rest of the street, a stretch of about four blocks.
On the left is the Wells Fargo building, built in 1858. Tourists can buy tickets here to ride on a stage tour of the town.
As we “zig-zag” through town there are several buildings which house current businesses as part of the living history aspect of the state park. Dressed in character and acting the part, these business owners sell their goods (at tourist prices!) to the visitors of today.
Dominating the far end of town on the left is the City Hotel and on the right is the Main Street Fire House. The City Hotel is built on a double lot. During the early years the lots were separate businesses: a blacksmith shop, saloon, theater, and auction house. The lots were consolidated in 1865 and used as a hotel until 1891. The building was renovated in 1975 and now operates as a hotel.
Across the street is the Main Street Fire House. The first fire house was built of wood on the site in 1861. Several versions burned down and were rebuilt over the years until the current brick building was constructed in 1911.
The remainder of the blocks are filled in with restored original buildings, some housing shops and restaurants.
At the edge of town the old placer mine tailings have long been overgrown with vegetation, but rock outcroppings exposed by the washing away of the soil are still present and a current business helps tourists pan for gold (and spend it, too!)
Next up: The crown jewel of California – Yosemite!
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