Gold Rush Country offers scenic road trips with a touch of history

Running 300 miles along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, California's scenic and historic Gold Rush Country provides limitless possibilities for fascinating road trips. California's Highway 49 threads through the length of Gold Country, linking dozens of towns born of the fabulous gold discoveries that began at Caloma in 1848. The strike powered one of the greatest gold rushes in history. The headlong stampede to California the next year gave the name 49ers to the emigrants headed for the gold fields across the continent.

Easily accessed from Reno-Carson City area highways, the northern Mother Lode region lies closest to Reno. Interstate 80 tops the Sierras into California through infamous Donner Pass. It passes side roads to small Gold Rush survivors such as Grass Valley, Nevada City, Downieville, Coloma and Placerville. Each remains proud of its colorful history, showing off historic buildings still housing bars, eateries, shops, galleries and bed and breakfast inns. Tourism and wineries are today's gold throughout the region, breathing new life into many Gold Rush-era towns that hung on when gold production wound down.

Just 100 miles from Reno, I-80 drops down into the foothills where charming Auburn enjoys an active old age. The West's first gold mining town, Auburn invites visitors to explore its past in a portion of the original downtown from the Gold Rush era. Auburn's Old Town includes several blocks overlooked by the stately Placer County Courthouse.

Pick up a walking tour map and brochure for the compact area at any business, the courthouse or the old railroad station. Learn about the original buildings that survived several early devastating fires in Old Town, which now enjoys status as a state historical landmark. Home to the oldest volunteer fire department west of Boston, Auburn shows off a distinctive red-and-white-striped wood fire station, one of California's most photographed buildings. Down the street, the state's oldest operating post office occupies the same corner site it had when it opened in 1852.

Follow Highway 49 south from Auburn to reach other notable Gold Rush towns. Placerville at the junction with U.S. 50 connecting to the Lake Tahoe area started life as Dry Diggings, hitting it big in placer deposits. It soon gained a new name -- Hangtown -- because of the primary means of dispatching miscreants. As it settled, it assumed the more respectable Placerville, gaining a better reputation as seat of El Dorado County. Notables getting their starts in Placerville included railroad magnates Mark Hopkins and Collins P. Huntington, Phillip Armour of meat packing fame and John Studebaker, whose automobiles succeeded for decades.

Sutter Creek remains one of the most attractive of the old Gold Rush towns, often called the jewel of Gold County. Its distinctive main street features second stories that overhang the sidewalks, creating attractive galleries. Sutter Creek's placer gold soon gave out, but rich deposits of gold-bearing quartz discovered in 1851 led to development of deep mines and mills. One hard rock mine remains open to daily tours. Look for the Sutter Creek Gold Mine north of town on Historic Route 49, not the newer bypass highway. One-hour tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. cost $17.50 for adults and $11.50 for children aged 4-12.

Jackson sits at the junction of Highways 49 and 88, the road from Nevada over scenic Carson Pass following one of the early emigrant trails, which is a good return route. Starting out as a creekside stopping point, Jackson boomed with the discovery of deep deposits of gold in quartz. Two of the richest, deepest mines in the country produced $70 million over several decades of operation.

Replete with fine Victorian homes and handsome old buildings, Jackson's downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Few edifices survived terrible conflagrations in 1852 and 1862, but Jackson rebuilt sturdier structures upon the ashes. Fire-resistant buildings throughout Gold Rush Country were constructed of brick or stone, with heavy folding metal shutters that could be closed to protect doorways and window openings. Stop for a drink or meal or stay at the hospitable 1859 National Hotel, one of California's oldest hostelries.

Margo Bartlett Pesek's column appears on Sundays.