Forbidden Universe
Paranormal => The Paranormal & Ghost Society => Topic started by: AngelOfThyCosmos on April 05, 2018, 10:53:39 AM
-
Our Downieville & Goodyears Bar Gold Rush Expedition On Easter Sunday 2018......
Every year around the Spring especially Easter weekend I try to bring our viewers some really lovely locations that eventually I can add to our website but also make memorable for our viewers. With the weather warming up flowers are starting to bloom and so are trees. The snow is melting off the mountains thus creeks and rivers are flowing. Birds are coming back and nature is abundant all surrounding these beautiful historic sites I explore.
When I say I explore I give it my all their are elements of dangers, risk, discovery and also adventure all rolled into one. I am not just a paranormal investigator I am an urban explorer, adventurer, offroader and an entertainer to. For me my one goal living out west is to work diligently at revealing gold rush history and all the strange things surrounding it.
It is hard to believe that last year I was in Hawaii hiking high up on basalt cliffs above the ocean in a tropical jungle and this year I was up on the beautiful Yuba River and even trudging through some snow. Every year I bring you guys something new to the table. Its never the same stuff really I try to do a bit of everything then we put our work out there and hope others can value our efforts. These small gold rush towns are something I been slowly working at to get them on our site one day Ill have most of them available to the public so our work is always ongoing and its done with pure intent to educate others at the same time bring them a little paranormal too.
I am at this point in my life living my dream which is to explore the wild west and all that comes with it. People think that the wild west is all desert and its not. As a matter in fact when it comes to towns like Downieville and Goodyears Bar the western history is very enriched but also they do not get the recognition they deserve because folks really do not know about them. So I try to give these locations some historical recognition through our site, youtube and wherever else I can.
I absolutely love visiting these old gold rush towns in the sierras and especially the Tahoe National Forest. Everyone hears Tahoe National Forest and thinks it is on just the lake and really stretches almost a hundred miles beyond and within it are quite a few ghost towns I have done research at. In this case Downieville and Goodyears Bar are semi ghost towns meaning people do live in them but they are much smaller in size then perhaps during there heyday or boom years rather.
I have spent quite a bit of time in this region its not far from supposedly the Haskell Peak Bigfoot Killzone I been to, Sierra City a semi ghost town and the lovely Sierra Buttes. That is not even everything the problem is right now the snow is melting off the buttes and higher elevations thus landslides and roads are out everywhere no less I did what I was able to do and had a nice little walk along the beautiful Yuba River which in some parts is 10' deep yet so clear you can see the bottom of it because its so pure.
On this trip I did have plans to explore Forest City and Allegheny. Unfortunately it did not pan out how I wanted my journey to go because the roads going up to them were currently out. I tried to traverse two roads up to each of these gold rush towns which sit a couple miles apart deep in the national forest. Both towns have mines you can explore, abandoned buildings and five cemeteries some of them hidden that I plan on doing investigations at. A rare blue moon was out well its not that rare but when you get nearly two in one month that is definitely a rare event so under the moonlight I would journey.
I had crossed this historic bridge entering into Goodyears Bar which resides on the river did not stop there though figured id come back later first attempt my trip up to Forest City and Allegheny. We begin to climb along these cliffs the type of cliffs that if you go off of them your going to die. The road is very narrow were talking only wide enough for my truck which was only a few inches at times from the edge. For me driving on these roads is second nature ill toke my pipe, play some music and just enjoy the ride. But I also know if I am not paying attention it can go real bad fast and that goes for anyone up here so be careful.
The road was muddy parts of it were washed out exposing drop offs and ledges that were eroded. The hairpin turns and switchbacks were tight. You try driving a long truck like mine around a hairpin turn on a cliff that is so tight that you can barely make it around the turn while looking out the drivers window straight down the cliff. Unfortunately on one of the hairpin turns water was running across the road and a few feet further this entire ledge collapsed onto the road with mud and boulders. The landslide ended up my journey from going further and trying to turn around on this road took me a long time because I had to turn around on a road one car length wide with my tires hanging on the edge.
I went back up into Downieville which is about four miles down the road from Goodyears Bar. You just follow the river its very scenic lots of forested peaks and further down the road is the snowcapped sierra rocky buttes. I stopped in Downieville to hike up a hill where a cannon overlooks the entire town. Honestly their is plenty of history alone in this little hillside town on the river and being above it is a wonderful spot to park your vehicle and toke a bowl maybe have lunch with your family.
I ended up going down to the visitors center downtown which is right on the river they have this awesome fishing hole where the water is real deep the river has this cove where the water is calm and even a little sandy shaded beach its real nice. They also have a bunch of old historical rusty artifacts everywhere a few plaques and picnic benches. Personally if I had more time on this trip I would have explored more of Downieville but rather I decided to make one more attempt up to Forest City and its called that for a reason because it is literally in the middle of no mans land.
So I took a road heading up into the mountains again very narrow, washed out parts and very steep cliffs. It seems like all the roads back here are narrow a year ago I went camping up here twice and we had good bigfoot expedition but getting back to these places is rough. All the roads are up on cliffs, narrow and some of them are so washed out that if you slide your going off. Last year ago I explored two more ghost towns they are close to Forest City but to the SW and SE. You can probably go through them to get to Forest but right now you cant get to them from Downieville that I know because I ended up hitting a sheet of slush, ice and snow so my truck wheels kept spinning and sliding on it.
I ended up heading back down to Downieville and by the way let me just add there are bridges that cross the Yuba River in town they are narrow as hell. I was kind of scared to drive on the bridges in Goodyears Bar or Downieville because my truck is very heavy. These bridges can hold the weight but when you first get out to look at them they seem very flimsy. They do not look wide or even strong enough to hold a truck as big as mine but boy was I wrong. Downieville and Goodyears Bar are river towns so I seen a few bridges because the town site is on both sides. Back in the day the miners had encampments on both sides of the river so they could drudge the gold and in one wheelbarrow of earth would give you about 2k in gold hence why the miners of the gold rush came to live in this remote place along the Yuba River.
So with that being said I want to do an exploration more into Downieville afterall many of the locations we have done have similar connections to this town and we can eventually hot link everything on our site. But for now I decided to take on Downieville California with my trusty rabbit ears for Easter and one of the most beautiful wild western hillside cemeteries in the region and that enough was enough to enthrall me.
Downieville Historic Cemetery
I love this old pioneer cemetery it sits completely on a steep hill nestled by the forest just outside of downtown Downieville. I read that their are about a 1000 graves here other sites say a few hundred. It appears to be reaching its limit since most graves date back to the gold rush. In the center of the cemetery is a giant angel statue and back in the day folks called this place the old Masonic graveyard.
The newer stones appear to be along a stairwell to the right but everything else to the left is much older. Many of the stones are close to one another and id say one out of every three stones are crumbling, broke, missing or in peril. I might be wrong it might be every other stone is damaged.
The plaque in front talks about natures storms taking a toll on this cemetery but also miners greed. I am not sure if some of the graves were robbed but I do know that many of them use to reside where the school sits today in Downieville. They were simply moved and damaged in the process at least this is what I gathered from visiting all gravesites. Meanwhile as I explored the cemetery we could hear church bells ringing Downieville is just this wholesome place where you could fish off a bridge, enjoy a nice meal downtown, taste some wine in the evening and play in a meadow of flowers. Its just a dreamy place and the cemetery is really a part of it.
The cemetery goes a few hundred feet up the hill I did not rush this place at all as a matter in fact I took EVP, sat on a few benches and I read many of the stones at least the ones I could read. There are many stone walls here and some wrought iron enclosures but even pieces of wrought iron are missing. Its kind of a spooky cemetery yeah its nice here but to think that some of the most beautiful graves of the gold rush are in this condition.
So many stones were on there side one was held up with what appeared to be two other gravestones. Nature here is abundant though flowers were blooming which is a sign that Spring is here and the snow is starting to melt for the summer. That is the one thing I get from visiting graveyards of the gold rush is nature all the way from deer to beautiful wildflowers growing near some old gravesite.
I also came across the gravesite of Thaddeus Purdy the first District Attorney in Sierra County. Their are so many historic figures buried here most of them have connections to other nearby ghost towns that we been to. People who built up nearby towns like Sierra City, Forest City, Allegheny and so many more. I also seen quite a few kids life was harsh back then the winters were terrible up here and you could really only mine in the warmer months. Miners came here via wagon and really were in uncharted country. So definitely many people buried here were young while others were in there 80s and 90s and had gotten to see the west develop.
The one flower that grows up here in this cemetery are daffodils you see them everywhere. I seen this cute squirrel he jumped up on a wall and was interacting with me for about five minutes. Like I said if you like nature and history its found everywhere here. You can also see views of Saddleback Peak which is covered in dense forest. I am sure there are some bigfoot like creatures high up on the summits above town.
I love this place but its not all of what Downieville is about downtown has so many historical buildings really its going to take me a second visit to see more up here. But I wanted to at least investigate the cemetery see the condition it is, document broken graves, take black and white photos and do some EVP. Next time I come up here ill visit downtown more although I took some photos of Downieville I need more because the history is amazing all the way from hangings to political figures who came here to live.
We had one more location to visit for the day before we could indulge in a nice Easter dinner and that was the small gold rush town of Goodyears Bar.
Goodyears Bar
This is not a very well known town but back in the day when the miners first came here they could load a wheelbarrow on up of dirt along the river and get about 2k in gold out of it. So during its heyday it was rich as miners flooded the shores of the Yuba River and its cliffs in search of gold flowing downstream.
Their is a little bridge in town with a historic plaque if you cross the bridge it will take you to downtown if you want to call it that. Instead of doing downtown first I road through it then went up this steep hill which brought me to this ranch land surrounded by woods with a cemetery surrounded by this wood fence.
The cemetery is not very large if anything its about an acre and half so yes very small but that is okay too. Most of the gravestones found here are missing surrounded by a rectangular outline of rocks and boulders. I seen about four monumental stones that were older, an American flag at the entrance, three wrought iron enclosures and one wood enclosure. Towards the back a bunch of daffodils grow its really a nice place but again small.
Next to the cemetery is a big ole house its white with two very old chimney stacks. I believe that this may have served as a school or business prior to someone turning it into a residence. It just does not have a homestead look to it its very long and rectangular. Its hard to know what has been restored, renovated or what was but at one time Goodyears Bar had restaurants, saloons, stores etc based on my research.
Their is a massive tree inside the cemetery and some nice views of Saddleback Mountain. Its not as high in elevation here. The area is considered the lower sierras still very forested and really when your here you feel like your in another world or country. The cemetery kind of overlooks town below as a matter in fact the woods are so dense that beyond the cemetery you can see very little.
I walked up to the house next door just to take a look at it from the front wow an amazing historical treat. It had also a giant wall in front of it which also seems to run below the cemetery as well. Many of the newer interments are buried at the cemeteries entrance and just above that wall it seems.
I finished off the evening parked near the old schoolhouse in Goodyears Bar. The school today more or less is a museum. It house a bark house, mining machinery, gas pump, cogs, mine carts and other rusty relics of the past. The museum was closed unfortunately or I would have gone on in to see the inside of the old school house which at one time packed children of all grades in. Their is even a plaque that you can read in front of it and the old bell still sits in the bell tower today and probably rings. I know when I was in Downieville I heard bells throughout my hike around the cemetery I mean it is afterall Easter so churches were all having mass.
Downtown is very small were talking a few historical homes, school house, a few scattered relics and then of course at the end of the road before you head into the sierras onto other ghost towns is the old St. Charles Hotel. It was a bar, dance hall, hotel, residence and even a post office. Over the years it has changed hands many times and its just a downright creepy looking building with wrap around porches, dirt attic windows, rusty relics everywhere and paint chipping on off. But it is still today an operable business and one of the doors to a private area was open maybe whoever caretakes the hotel today or something. But its a nice building three stories tall with blue banisters and in the heart of downtown.
The school, cemetery and hotel are about the three things that remain standing from the original towns heyday. The Yuba River runs behind the town and the historic structures its pretty cozy here. I just had fun walking down the middle of the street not a soul or single human was out except for one man tending to his property but its quiet here and only id say a dozen residents live in this town today and most of them live in fairly old houses which line Main Street.
Their was a few wooden shacks to and one property had amazing stone walls everywhere not sure if something stood here and this is what was left behind but they had a really nice water fountain and gardens.One home owner posted on his property that he owns firearms and a backhoe no trespassing. My guess is most folks around here keep to themselves and they certainly do not want to bother with others.
We ended our journey near the schoolhouse their is a plaque that talks about the school being built in 1862 and all the way up until 1953 children attended here. As a matter in fact between the hotel and school along with a few homes is about all that escaped the fire of 1864 that struck the area. Today you cant tell because the area recovered from the fire but when it did occur it burnt down almost everything along the river which was basically Main Street.
I took a time out to give Tammy her Easter goodies at the school meanwhile I toked one up and was studying some of the mining relics houses on the property. I love it here just the big trees, flowers blooming, historic structures, river flowing in the distances and serenity. I cant think of a better way to spend my Easter then at a place like this just relaxing and exploring.
My last stop would end at the old Goodyears Bar Post Office which is merely across the bridge and highway nestled in the woods. The only thing I seen on this side of town besides the old post office was a very old run down house cant say anyone lived there but it was the type of house that had a bunch of rusty relics all over the property like for example frying pans hanging up. The post office was moved from the hotel till about the mid 1900's and today it looks more like a small one room wood cabin rather then a place you pick up mail from its pretty awesome though.
I really think that Downieville and Goodyears Bar will make great additions on our site both places have rich history and are nestled in the sierras along the beautiful Yuba River. Besides the fact that they were born a short time after gold was discovered in Coloma thus pioneers and miners immediately came to these areas to find gold and build lives here. Their is so much history to see just on foot even alone in the cemeteries. If you go a few miles past Goodyears Bar there is the town overlooks with a cannon facing Downiville and they have a historic photo of the town with a nice piece of history as well.
I was really disappointed I did not make it up to Forest City or Allegheny but in the spring this place is thawing out which means rock and mud slides, heavy snow still at higher elevations and water flowing off the mountains. Thus it may be another month before I can attempt to come back up this way and give this a second go. I plan on doing all the ghost towns and historic sites in the area. Not that I am not to far behind I only have a few more places to go thanks to my past few years of journeying up this way and working hard at what I do to bring you guys these places. Their are areas I have camped, hiked, explored, ghost towns, mines and mills all within 20 miles of this area and I cant wait to return.
For Easter dinner we stopped in Reno at Applebees generally I cook but since I was out exploring it was just easier to dine out. Last year I was in Hawaii I did the same thing went out for a nice dinner on the ocean. This year was nice to of course no clean up or dishes and with my son being gone for Easter it was just nice to go out drink some margaritas. I had beer cheddar pretzels, spinach dip with chips and cheese, bourbon chicken with shrimp and red potatoes. It all was really delicious and I spent a couple hours sipping drinks just elaborating on the great day we had. I then came home we colored some eggs I had about 60 of them because my hens are laying like crazy with Spring here it really was nice and of course a true early Spring adventure.
What I can tell you is that you wont be disappointed these are places that not many get to see because they kind of site remotely back in the Tahoe National Forest and do not get much hype like other places. But they are beautiful historically and downtown to both towns is so cozy and quaint. I am not even sure most of the folks living in these places really know how much history surrounds them. But I know with the beauty of nature and the river id not want to be anywhere else on Easter then Downieville and Goodyears Bar two twin towns just a few miles apart and we will be back to see more!
Peace,
Lord Rick