Cheryl Anne Stapp

In July 1848, a young man named John Bidwell discovered gold on the Middle Fork of the Feather River. His discovery was not by chance....

Several weeks elapsed after the January 1848 gold discovery before people started believing it was genuine…and then events started...

Downieville sits in a magnificent, rugged, wooded natural amphitheater surrounded by lofty, pine-covered peaks. The town, founded in late...

Every town or village was vulnerable to fire during the early Gold Rush years, and few escaped its ravages. Thousands of prospectors in...

Sacramento’s Water Works Building was the city’s answer to its need for a reliable water supply system that could prevent a small fire...