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History on Parade: 250 & 175 years
History on Parade: 250 & 175 years
It just so happens that as The United States of America celebrates her 250th celebration since the July 4, 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, Nevada County also celebrates 175 years since our incorporation on May 18, 1851.
Local history groups, including the Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission, will march in the July 4 Parade in downtown Nevada City under the banner of History on Parade. The parade starts promptly at 11am on Broad Street!
Early Images of Nevada County Post-1849
Early Images of Nevada County Post-1849
Nevada County’s Century Man: Publisher, Writer & Artist David A. Comstock Dies
No one should be surprised to learn a 98-year-old has died of natural causes,and yet family and friends were shocked to hear publisher, author and painter David A.Comstock had succumbed at that age on December 11, 2025. They thought he would live to 100!As both Dave’s parents, Floyd and Esther Comstock, lived beyond a century, andhe was determined to do the same, it wasn’t unreasonable for family and friends toexpect it. Though he fell short by less than two years, he was still the man of the centuryin Nevada County.Nevada County’s Century Man: Publisher, Writer & Artist David A. Comstock Dies
Born in June 1927 and raised in Oakland, Dave early developed the artist talentshe shared with his father, an architect and painter, and his mother, an elementary schoolteacher and musician. He didn’t feel challenged in school and often daydreamed at hisdesk. Barely out of high school, and against his parents’ wishes, he joined the U. S.Army during World War II and served as an intelligence officer with occupation forces in Japan.
After the war, Dave pursued higher education in art schools and universities,taking courses which interested him and never bothering to earn a degree. He workedas a commercial artist and opened his own advertising business in Contra Costa County.
Dave was raised in a household of books and read voraciously. He went to workfor the University of California Press as a book designer and then project manager.Among many volumes he produced at Berkeley, he was especially proud of the largeformat edition of the classic Ishi in Two Worlds (1961, 1976). He worked closely withauthor Theodora Kroeber and augmented the book’s original black and whiteillustrations with his own color photos of the “Ishi country” of California.Dave first visited Grass Valley as a boy in company with his grandfather, a layMethodist preacher. The elder Comstock took the pulpit at Grass Valley MethodistChurch when the pastor took vacation.
The woman who became Dave’s wife, Ardis Hatton, brought Dave back toNevada County in the 1960s. The daughter of a lumbering family, she owned property, ahouse and cabins at Peardale. Dave was soon part of the Nevada City arts scene andtook classes from local painter Tyler Micoleau.
Dave and Ardis purchased acreage by the Chalk Bluff near the former miningsettlement of You Bet. Miles beyond an asphalt road they built an hexagon house whichlooked out to pine trees in every direction and was featured in Mother Jones magazine.In that rustic setting beyond the power grid, Dave began Comstock BonanzaPress in 1979. He appreciated having the freedom as proprietor and publisher, as hesaid, “To choose my own authors.” Later in life he said his greatest accomplishment wasto run a publishing business for over 40 years without going broke.Over that span, Comstock Bonanza Press published more than 50 books offeringa unique perspective on Sierra and California history.
An early book, Vallejo and the Four Flags, written by his mother Esther, becamea staple in fourth grade classrooms throughout California. An eye-witness account, TuleLake: From Relocation to Segregation, revealed the national disgrace of the Japaneseinternment during World War II.
Over the years Comstock published a range of history, memoirs, and ethnicstudies. He took satisfaction in designing and publishing field guides of the Sierra andan account of county, state and national landmarks. He worked with authors from poetGary Snyder to an investigative reporter for the Sacramento Bee to a Speaker of theState Assembly.
One of his later publications was The History of Us, by Nisenan Council ChairRichard Johnson, a rare account of Native Americans told in their own voice. In his mid-90s Dave published three books in little more than a year, including Cindi Anderson’sOut of the Woods, which chronicles the lives of Sierra timber workers.Comstock also designed publications for the Nevada County Historical Society,making possible the organization’s considerable achievement in publishing. He helpednumerous writers and organizations (including churches and civic groups) to self-publish. To many publications that do not bear his name, Comstock added theprofessional touch which gave them greater appeal and readership. He performed suchwork at nominal fees or no charge.
Speaking of his publishing career, Dave Comstock said: "It's a niche that I lovevery much. And I feel these books will continue to be important."In addition to publishing, Comstock wrote the Nevada County Chronicles trilogy –Gold Diggers & Camp Followers, Brides of the Gold Rush and Greenbacks &Copperheads -- a story of the Searls family, two California State Supreme Courtjustices, and the development of the Northern Mines region of the Sierra from 1845-1865.
As an artist, Dave painted more than 200 watercolors, including many regionalscenes. He contributed posters and other ephemera to political campaigns and causes.He designed a Gold Rush postage stamp adopted and distributed by the US PostalService and displayed today in the US Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.When his stamp was revealed at a gala dinner in Washington, Dave wore one ofthe brightly colored jump suits which Ardis designed and sewed for him, and which hefound suitable for any occasion. A lime green model was one of his favorites.Dave enjoyed working with people whose outlooks differed from his own. Thiswas true when he partially wrote and published A Long Ways to Go, a biography oftimberman and entrepreneur Lowell Robinson. Robinson was a conservative of ruralbackground and private initiative. Dave was a back-to-the-land cosmopolitan, a formerPeace and Freedom Party candidate for Congress in the 1960s and the only whitecandidate ever endorsed by the Black Panther Party. Yet Lowell and Dave workedtogether and by the time the book appeared Dave could describe Lowell as “a great man.”
Dave Comstock left Chalk Bluff in 2013 when he needed help caring for Ardiswho suffered from dementia. She died in 2015. He lived the remainder of his life nearerto family in Santa Rosa, but one could say he never left Nevada County.Until the last months of his life, Dave continued to work on several historicalprojects, including a compilation of 19 th century Nevada County newspapers and abiographical encyclopedia of early settlers and their descendants. Both are part of theDavid A. Comstock Collection at the Searls Library.
Dave published his last book, Gold Camp Gentleman: A Life of James D. Hague,a few months before his death. Blindness resulting from macular degenerationprompted Dave to sell the press in April 2025 to Cindi Anderson of Grass Valley.Dave is survived by his sister Marilyn Comstock Hopkins, daughter Cynthia C.Hasselman, former wife Margaret Gierke, 5 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and 3great-great grandchildren.
The Comstock family are arranging a celebration of Dave’s life for the Spring orSummer 2026 in Nevada County. Dave’s legacy of scholarship, writing and publishingoutlives him and his memory will continue to help shape and define the region he loved.
– Gage McKinney
Shebley's Pond
Shebley's Pond
Before there was Lake Olympia, Glenbrook Plaza, or the Fairgrounds, there was Shebley's Pond...Read more!
3 years in the making! We are very proud to announce our longest project yet has been approved by the Board of Supervisors as the newest Historical Landmark! Read the YubaNet article here!
Oral History with Mike Kochis
Oral History with Mike Kochis
Check out our newest Oral History interview with commission Mike Kochis, as we continue our quest to document first person histories of Nevada County.
The Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission
The Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission
Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Nevada County lay at the heart of the 49er experience. Many thousands came here to make their fortune and much evidence of their successes and occasional failures remains. From bustling towns still largely unchanged from the Gold Rush era to ghost towns, from gold mines and mining equipment to covered bridges and the first long-distance telephone line, these and much more can be found among over 200 historical landmarks situated in Nevada County. The Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission exists to help you find and enjoy them. A good way to start is by using our interactive map, developed with the support of the Nevada County Geographical Information Systems unit. With special thanks to Lindsey Gordon of the County’s GIS unit, the latest version of the interactive map is now live. Here is the link if you want to take it for a spin.
Information about registering a landmark can be found here.
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