Sunday's Ride to Graniteville

(July 28, 2013)

Following lunch at Paulette's Country Kitchen, we decided to take a drive to the little town to Graniteville (via the town of Washington) this Sunday. As we roll along over the long, sometimes rough, dusty winding road Mel likes to recall his former log truck driving days, and some of the places no longer along the road...like the Bird House where the drivers sometimes stopped to eat. We stopped at this bridge so I could take some photos of the water. Most of the signs around here have bullet holes in them. Besides that, someone had scratched a message on this one. Does anyone know Rhonda or Dick?

These are some of the first buildings you see when you reach Graniteville. If you'd rather take the drive through and see the same places you can watch this video. It's pretty neat.

The only thing you won't see in the video is this bear. This is blackberry picking season, and you might be surprised at who is picking berries on the other side of the bushes.

Well, it's time to say good-bye! and head on down the road.

We turn right at Mother Truckers and drive to North San Juan for an ice-cream cone.

At Peterson's Corner we make another right and before long find ourselves at French Corral, on Pleasant Valley Road about 9 miles northwest of Nevada City. It was one of the first gold rush mining camps along the San Juan Ridge. The name of the town grew around a mule corral built by the first settler in the area in 1849, who was a Frenchman. Semi ghost now, occupied mostly by about 70 people who live in trailers and a few ranch houses. What interests me the most is the old Wells Fargo building. I attended a fund raiser dinner for Ross Perot many years ago in this building. Whether or not it's true, I was told that Ray Dallugge used it to store his ancestor's portraits because it was fire-proof. Built during the town’s heyday in 1853, the one-story brick structure was solidly built and fitted with iron doors and shutters. My understanding was that the attic was filled with sand to fire-proof it. Naturally it was also protection against the bad guys since large amounts of gold were stored and shipped from this office.

Bridgeport.

The old Schwartz Ranch where the movie Protocol, starring Goldie Hawn was partially filmed.

Well it's been a wonderful afternoon checking out the sights, and we wind up at Tim and Margie's for dinner with the family. Even more interesting is that some of them were visiting and swimming in the same area we just returned from.

Epilogue

 

Greetings!
I happened upon your website purely by chance while searching the internet, when I clicked on a photograph of Peterson's Corner in Sweetland CA.
I found in your albums a couple of photos of North San Juan and the Middle Yuba River. They bring back a lot of memories! I just wanted to send a note and say hi.

My quick story: (here's the connection)
My Grandparents bought Peterson's Corner in 1958 from Gus and Maude Peterson. They lived across Hwy 49. After they had owned it for a while, my parents moved our family from southern California, following my Mom's folks in late 1959. My Grandparents owned the bar until 1967, then built 2 homes on Tyler Road. We lived in North San Juan for a few months and finally to a house behind Peterson's in Sweetland. While we didn't live there very long, (59-62) but we visited my Grandparents every summer for years to come. We camped every summer at Moonshine Beach until the early 90's. I went to school in NSJ for 1st, 2nd and part of the 3rd grade. I still have grade school friends in Penn Valley and chat with new acquaintances on a Nevada County Facebook group.
I have so many great childhood memories of growing up in North San Juan! I plan on a visit next month when I am on vacation in Carson City NV.

Thank you,
Mark Ashley
Spanaway, WA

www.DigitalHotrod.com

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