Grass Valley Elks Lodge Designated as Historical Landmark 

Nevada County Board of Supervisors approved the Resolution to Landmark the

Grass Valley Elks Lodge, located at 109 South School Street, in Grass Valley, on

April 22, 2025. This landmark is to be designated as Nevada County Historical

Landmark NEV 25-04.

The Grass Valley Elks Lodge was constructed in 1912, costing $50,000.

Bricklayers laid 14,000 bricks a day. The foundation was made of concrete,

reinforced by rock from waste bins at Empire Mine. Spring-hung hard-rock maple

dance floor was installed. On September 20, the building was completed.

Articles and pictures of the building were published on front pages of the San

Francisco Examiner and The Call.

In the mid 1950s, improvements were made by installing a bar in the ballroom. In

the 60s, new lighting fixtures were installed and also a four lane bowling alley was

built in the basement. There is a dining room and commercial kitchen in the

basement.

Now the seven rooms on the 3 rd level are being rented to veterans and those in

need, in cooperation with lo9cal agencies.

This building is a historical center piece of Grass Valley.

The Nevada County Connection with the Lincoln Assassination 

By Bernard Zimmerman

Could the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln have been averted by two Nevada County stalwarts? Perhaps. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. On that day, Niles Searls and William Stewart were in Washington DC.  Searls wanted to meet with the President.  

Niles Searls (1825-1907) arrived in California in 1849 and settled in Nevada County. Trained as a lawyer, he practiced law in Nevada City, held a variety of appointed and elected positions, and was elected the County's judge in 1855. Eventually he served as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. William Stewart (1825?-1909) arrived in Nevada City in 1850. Also trained as a lawyer, he held a variety of public positions in the County, including District Attorney. In 1860, he moved to what was to become the State of Nevada and in 1864, was elected Nevada's first U.S. senator.1 The two men knew each other well. They had practiced law together and Searls had bought the house that Stewart had built for his wife when Stewart left Nevada City. The house, located at 416 Zion Street, still stands and is a historical landmark.2

On April 14, Searls and Stewart expected to see the President that evening at 7 pm. When they arrived at the White House shortly after 7 pm, the President was closeted with House Speaker Schuyler Colfax and they were kept waiting.3 Not wishing to be late to the theater, the President asked them to return the next morning at 10 am. In his Memoirs, Stewart recalled that a White House usher handed him a card on which the President had written: "I am engaged to go to the theater with Mrs. Lincoln. It is the kind of engagement I never break. Come with your friend tomorrow at ten and I shall be glad to see you. A Lincoln." Searls and Stewart then waited outside the White House, and were greeted by President Lincoln when he and Mary emerged. The President shook Stewart's hand and Stewart introduced Searls. The President said he looked forward to meeting them the next morning and drove off for Ford's Theater.4

We all know what happened that night at Ford's Theater; we can only speculate as to what would have happened if the President had instead met with Searls and Stewart.

There was an outpouring of grief in Nevada City. Observed the Nevada Gazette:

"The sad news of the death of President Lincoln by the hand of an assassin reached this city at about twelve o’clock on Saturday. The announcement fell upon the community like a funeral pall. The people gathered in knots upon the streets, and with sad and troubled countenances exchanged condolences and discussed the terrible event."5

The Nevada Theatre, one of our most historic landmarks, bills itself as the oldest existing theater in California.6 While its first public performance was on September 9, 1865, and it celebrates its anniversary on that date, it was opened to the public on April 19, 1865 for a more solemn occasion - a memorial service for President Lincoln. Construction of the new theater had begun in early 1865 on the site of the burnt out remains of Bailey’s Hotel, gutted by fire in 1863. On April 19, workers were ordered to remove the interior scaffolding and install temporary floors and seats. Later that day, a funeral procession ended at the unfinished theater.7 

"This was without exception the largest procession ever formed in this city. It was a solemn scene, as they marched to the funeral dirge. After marching through the principal streets the procession halted in front of the new theatre [sic] which had been fitted up and appropriately decorated for the occasion. The building was crowded to its upmost capacity, there being not less than 1500 people in the house. Many were unable to obtain seats and the streets seemed crowded after the theater had been filled."8

As soon as the ceremony was over, workers removed the temporary flooring and seating and resumed work on the building's interior, completing it in time for the public premiere on September 9.

1 Comstock, David A., Lives of Nevada County Pioneers, available at the Searls Historical Library. 

2 Comstock, David A. and Zimmerman, Bernard (2024 electronic edition) Exploring Nevada County, No. 100.

3 Comstock, David A. (1995) Greenbacks and Copperheads, pp. 313-314. Reports that President Lincoln was meeting with Richard Oglesby at 7 pm.may not be correct, as contemporary news reports document his meeting with Speaker Colfax. See e.g., Springfield Daily Republican, April 15, 1865, p. 1; Burlington Vermont Times, April 14, 1865, p. 7.

4 Stewart, William A. (1908) Reminiscences of Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada, p.190.

5 Nevada Gazette, April 17, 1865, p. 1.

6 Comstock, David A. and Zimmerman, Bernard (2024 electronic edition) Exploring Nevada County, No. 91, 

7 Comstock. David A. (1995) Greenbacks and Copperheads,  pp. 317-319.

8 Nevada Transcript, as quoted in Comstock, id, p. 319.  Black pioneer Dennis Carter and his all Black band provided the music.

The Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission is pleased to announce that the

Indian Springs School was designated as Nevada County Historical Landmark NEV 25-

03 on April 8, 2025 by the County Board of Supervisors. The school is located near the

corner of Indian Springs and Spenceville Roads, across from the historic Indian Springs

Cemetery. It is one of the earliest one-room schoolhouses still in existence in Nevada

County.

In 1856 Henry Hatch, a pioneer from Vermont, built and ran a private school at the site,

known as Penn Valley High School. Mr. Hatch also built a hotel near the school, part of

which was used as a boarding house for students. The Indian Springs School became

public in March 1868 when Mr. Hatch sold the building and property to the newly

created Indian Springs School District.

The Indian Springs School operated for nearly 100 years until 1954 when it was

declared by the State of California “unsafe for occupancy” for school children. Lowell

Robinson purchased the schoolhouse in 1954 and operated it as a community meeting

place, renamed the Penn Valley Community Hall. It remains in the Robinson family.

Plaque Commemorating Truckee's Chinatowns Dedicated on May 10, 2024 

On Friday morning, May 10, 2024, a large and enthusiastic crowd gathered at Truckee's Old Jail Museum to witness the dedication and unveiling of a plaque commemorating one of Nevada County's newest landmarks. Truckee's Chinatowns were declared a County historical landmark by the Board of Supervisors last June at the recommendation of the Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission. The ceremony was scheduled for May 10, the 155th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, so instrumental in the development of Truckee and its Chinatowns. 

The principal speakers were Carissa Cyr on behalf of District 5 Supervisor Hardy Bullock, Truckee Councilmember Courtney Henderson, and  Alyce Wong, Chair of the Tahoe Forest Hospital District Board Of Directors, who spoke about the history of the Chinese experience in Truckee. Truckee-Donner Historical Society president Greg Zirbel and member Heidi Sproat unveiled the plaque and read its text.

READ MORE 

This plaque will be featured in the Commission’s interactive landmarks map [nevadacountylandmarks.com] and in the next edition of its book Exploring Nevada County, a guide to all the County's historical landmarks. The book is available in electronic format for any smartphone or tablet from Apple or Amazon. Go to You Bet Press to find clickable links. 

Prefer paper? The paperback edition is available at local bookstores, museum gift shops and from Comstock Bonanza Press or Amazon. 

Mention in Episode of Wild Nevada on PBS

www.pbsreno.org/watch/wildnevada/s6-episodes/s6-episode8/ 

Public invited to unveiling of Washington's Chinese Community landmark plaque

Did you know that in the 1850s, over 20% of Nevada County‘s population was Chinese and the town of Washington had one of the County's largest Chinese communities. Learn more on Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 11 AM when a plaque commemorating Washington’s Chinese Community will be unveiled. The Nevada County Historical Landmarks commission invites the public to attend the ceremony at the head of China Alley, which led down to the Chinese community. The Alley is located next to the General Store at 15382 Washington Road. Explore the rest of this historic town while you're there.

One of the most prominent Chinese families was that of Suey Chung (later better known as Fong Chow) and his wife, Lonnie Tom. Mr. Fong operated the nearby Omega Mine for some years.  The plaque was sponsored by their descendants, led by Professor Gordon Chang of Stanford University, who will attend and speak.

Spenceville

by Bernie Zimmerman

Spenceville was a ranching, farming and mining community located in the southwestern part of Nevada County, on Spenceville Road just east of Waldo Road, about 17 miles from Grass Valley.  Its elevation was about 400 feet. The former townsite is now part of the Spenceville Wildlife Area.

EARLY HISTORY

The area was long occupied by Nisenan Indians, and evidence of their habitation, such as grinding rocks, can be found in the area. White settlers and prospectors begin to arrive in the 1840s. The Nisenan were removed from the area by a series on treaties beginning in 1850, which the Congress never ratified. 

Spenceville was never a major gold producing area, in part because the very rich auriferous channel that runs down the San Juan Ridge turns west a few miles north of Spenceville, towards Smartsville and Timbuctoo. The early settlers were farmers and ranchers. In the early 1860s, copper ore was found while digging a well on Purtyman's Ranch. The Well Lead (or Lode), later known as the Well Copper Mine, and its surrounding ranch, soon became the town of Spenceville, named for Edward Spence, a druggist and property owner in Nevada City with interests in the Well Copper Mine. Spence also donated the lumber for a new school house built in 1868.

COPPER MINING

Copper mining at Spenceville expanded with the discovery of the Last Chance Mine, so called because James Downey had just about given up mining when he found a promising spot and proclaimed "this is the last chance - if I don't strike it here I'll give it up". Still, copper mining initially was not very profitable. Much of the ore was low grade and the early processes for extracting the copper from the ore were not very efficient.Generally ore had to be transported to a distant processing facility such as a smelter. There are even reports of copper ore being sent to Wales for processing.A fall in the price of copper following the Civil War caused a slump in the Spenceville copper mines.

In the mid-1870s, a number of the copper mines around Spenceville were consolidated into the San Francisco Copper Company. The Company substantially improved the roasting and leaching method for processing the copper and operated successfully for a number of years. In 1880, the engineering works, located above the mine, caved in. The mine continued to operate until 1887, falling victim to declining copper prices. In 1890, the Imperial Paint and Copper Company acquired the property. It did not mine but worked the refuse from earlier mining to manufacture a brown paint which was touted as fire and water proof and "superior to any of the metallic paints imported from the East or from Europe." Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that during rain, the sulphur in the paint produced sulphuric acid which ate into the heads of the nails holding down wood shingles and siding. In 1897, the property was acquired by the Spence Mineral Company for the purpose of manufacturing sulphuric acid. A fire in 1915 ended that enterprise.

World War I saw an increase in demand for copper and a revival of some of the Spenceville copper mines. Once the war ended in 1918, copper mining around Spenceville was largely shut down. Over $1 million of copper had been mined. The dark side of copper mining was that it created a lot of pollution and environmental contamination. Contemporary news articles report on the fumes from the copper smelter killing the greenery, including trees, in the area.

THE TOWN'S HEYDAY

During the 1870s, the town had a post office, three general stores, a hotel and was home to about four hundred people. A school was established; it had 48 students in 1867. A new schoolhouse was built in 1868 on land where the Spenceville Copper Mine buildings were later built. The schoolhouse was then moved further up the road. Spenceville also had a Methodist Church and a Templar Lodge, organized in 1865. A Sunday school had 42 pupils in 1864. The town had a popular baseball team, the White Stockings.  A Spenceville election district was established in 1862. 50 people voted in the 1864 presidential election, 33 for Lincoln. The election district was discontinued as copper mining declined but reestablished in 1879. Spenceville was connected by stage to Wheatland, Smartsville and Grass Valley. In the early 1900s, there was considerable talk about a railroad being built to connect points in the Sacramento Valley with Grass Valley and Nevada City, running through Spenceville. It was promoted in part as expediting the shipment of copper ore from Spenceville, but the railroad never materialized.

RANCHING AND FARMING

Apart from mining, ranching and farming were prominent. As one historian noted, “Citrus fruits and all kinds of deciduous fruits grow here to perfection.” Just west of Spenceville, enterprising black farmers grew cabbages, which provided Vitamin C for miners to treat scurvy, giving rise to the town of Cabbage Patch, later Waldo. Sheep and cattle were pastured, wherever alfalfa and other grains were not grown.

THE KNEEBONES AND BITNERS

One of the prominent Spenceville families was the Kneebones. Joseph Kneebone, Sr. came from Cornwall, England in 1867, and purchased a ranch near Spenceville. He started a successful teaming business transporting merchandise from Wheatland to North San Juan and as far east as Virginia City.  He and his wife Mary had seven children. In a family cemetery overlooking the Kneebone Ranch are buried five family members, including Joseph Sr. and Jr.. murdered about 20 years apart.

Another prominent family was the Bitners. Cyrus and Mary Bitner, and their two daughters, moved to Spenceville from Iowa in 1873. A Civil War veteran, Captain Bitner owned interests in a number of the copper mines around Spenceville as well as in gold mines throughout Nevada County. He served as Spenceville's justice of the peace.

MODERN TIMES

With the collapse of copper mining following World War I, Spenceville began a rapid decline. The school district lapsed in 1920. The post office closed in 1932.  During World War II, the United States acquired by eminent domain much of the area around Spenceville and established a training facility. The town site, renamed Spenceburg, was used to simulate a German town. In 1964, the United States sold part of the land, and retained the part that became Beale Air Force Base. California acquired some of the land and created the Spenceville Wildlife Area. A lengthy and expensive effort to clean up the environmental contamination was completed by 2013. The Spenceville Wildlife Area has become a popular site for hiking and recreation. There are few traces left of the old town and mine.