Glen Jones
Grass Valley native link to area's mining
history
By Laura Brown
Glenn Jones, father of the North Star Powerhouse Museum, doesn't just know local history, he has lived and breathed it. A Grass Valley native, Jones was born in 1924. He jokes about being the oldest person around. Not quite, but his knowledge of the region is rich and highly valued by history enthusiasts who call on him when they want to know more about the past. “I'll have information that no one else has, just from my own experience,” Jones said, speaking from his living room on a recent afternoon. “They always want to pick your brain.”
In November, Grass Valley City Council honored Jones for his 40-plus years of volunteer service to the city, its parks and mining history. It's one of many honors Jones has received during his lifetime.
On the corner of South Auburn and Mill streets, a star embedded in the sidewalk bears his name. As a young man, Jones took over the family business, Grass Valley Hardware. It was there that Jones developed a deep connection with the people and history of his town. The store, opened by Jones' grandfather in 1904, was a supply house for the area's mining community. “We sold dynamite and black powder to all the mines that went all the way up the (river) canyon,” Jones said, remembering the many mines; “scores of them.” Relatives of Jones once ran a stagecoach on many of the area's old roads to rugged outposts like Allegheny. When Jones was selling hardware, like his father and grandfather before him, he began accumulating artifacts from the days of horse and buggy. “People would bring them in,” Jones said. He began making a display of the objects in the hardware store window. “Here now they had a place downtown on Mill Street that all summer long could be a museum.” Those early window displays opened up Jones' first history conversations with the community. “People would ask you things … that's how it all started,” he said.
Eventually, Jones teamed up with the historical society to start a year-round museum in an old dry goods store on Mill Street. When enough money was wrestled up with the help of the Rotary Club, Jones and his band of historical friends acquired an old mine site on the corner of Allison Ranch Road and Freeman Lane. There was “no roof, no back wall. We practically rebuilt the building,” Jones said. Today the old rock building, once part of the Allison Ranch Mine is a picturesque place for picnicking alongside Wolf Creek.
Rusting relics sit out front and in the side yard, while indoors visitors can find a 30-foot Pelton water wheel Jones and his sister remember playing on as children. Jones and his siblings grew up in the Depression era, though they never saw a bread line in Grass Valley. Instead Jones' memory of childhood contains images of sleigh riding down Richardson Street, the steady sound of stamp mills thumping, and a Chinatown that once rivaled San Francisco in its early years. Though he has stepped down from his long-held post as director of the museum's board, Jones says he will continue to be on call to provide insight and help out at the museum when it opens for tourism season in May. “Anytime you can do things other people can't you're in a position to help them. It keeps you out of the pool hall,” he said with a grin.
(Published in The Union. Thursday December 30, 2010. Laura Brown is a freelance writer based in Grass Valley. Contact her at (530) 401-4877.)
