Guest Author Sarah Richmond Takes Your On a Tour of Placerville

Author Sarah Richmond and her husband take a self-guided tour in a gold mine.

More information canbe found at www. goldbugpark.org

I'd like to welcome to History Undressed my good friend and crit partner, Sarah Richmond! Sarah writes sweet historical romance, set in the West. Her book DULCIE CROWDER GETS HER MAN, comes out with Avalon in December of this year. Take it away Sarah!

Okay. You weren’t expecting a blog on setting. Forhistorical writers especially, setting is most definitely one of yourcharacters. How better to undress a setting but with details?

Placerville, CA, one of the communities

 thatsprung up because of the gold rush.

While researching for those important details for “DulcieCrowder”, I found myself in Placerville, CA in El Dorado County,where gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill near Coloma. Placerville used to becalled Hangtown because of a white oak tree in the center of town where justicewas carried out. (The stump of the hanging tree remains-- taking pride of placein a bar on Main Street).

A replica of a nineteenth century Mercantile can

be found atthe County Museum. Notice the

hand bill for MarkTwain. Candy jars.

Their web site is www.co.el-dorado.ca.us

The Historical Society (524 Main Street) is housed in theFountain & Tallman Soda Works, yes, a soda factory. The Museum is one ofthe few buildings to survive the fire of 1854. The docents there areknowledgeable and eager to answer any questions. They will teach you how sodawater was made.

On display are a number of photographs of localpersonalities.  I was surprised at howsmall the people were in the nineteenth century. The woman’s shoes and dresseson display look like they would fit today’s sixth grader.

Placervillereconstructed after the 1856 fire.

Notice the bell tower to call theirvolunteer

fire department.

The Placerville Historical Museumis another treasure trove of information. The county museum is next to the ElDorado Fairgrounds where I went to visit the gun show. I found an antiquedealer who showed me an old Sharps Rifle and how to fire it. The rifle has twotriggers: a set trigger and one to fire. My hero had to have one. He sends fora Sharps from back East and has to show off to the heroine how the new rifleworks.

A wagon built by John Studebaker.
He also madewheelbarrows.
The museum also houses steam engines.

The Museum has a number of displays depicting scenes fromthe gold rush era including a General Store. The miners paid for theirmerchandise with gold dust. Sometimes the dust fell through the cracks in thefloorboards making the ground underneath the store a good place to mine forgold. John Studebaker, famous as a manufacturer of automobiles, became wealthymaking wagons and wheelbarrows during the gold rush.

The website for the Placerville Historical Museum is

http://homepage.mac.com/placerville/gold/Welcome.html

and islocated at 524 Main Street, Placerville.

Gold Bug Parkwas another stop. There’s a small museum and visitors can explore a gold mineon a tour or self-guided tour. The mine was wet and cold. Imagine being down inthe mine with a lantern and pick ax and hearing that bell being rung signalinga dynamite blast. How chilling to wonder if the timbers would hold the tons ofearth overhead and to fear the way out might be blocked by a cave in.

I made a quick trip to the nearby Joshua Handy Stamp Millwhere the sound of the ore crusher could be heard day and night. Can youimagine the noise? That was later, after 1860 when placer mining became less productive.Maybe the next book?

These are some of the tidbits I learned while in Placerville. I hope youenjoyed the trip. You can read more about Dulcie Crowder at SarahRichmond.com

Cheers,

Sarah Richmond

DULCIE CROWDER GETS HER MAN

Avalon Books

December, 2011

Sarah Richmond.com

After her father’s death, Dulcie Crowder leaves their El Dorado claim andtravels to Hangtown. Her aim is matrimony and she sets her hat for the handsomedeputy, Tom Walker. When Tom balks, she knows why. He wants a woman he can beproud to walk beside, so Dulcie tries hard to transform herself into a lady.

 

 

 

Tom has vowed to bring law and order to the hardscrabblegold rush town and knows Hangtown is no place for a wife and family. As Dulcietries to turn his head and win his heart, he notices. So do the hoards of otherlonely men in their community.

 

 

Dulcie finds out her father was hung for murder and Tom isthe one who put the noose around his neck. She has to dig deep for forgivenessand wonders if the citizens of Hangtown will ever accept her as one of them.The Vigilance Society is ready to run her and other strangers out of town.There’s an election coming up and the head of the Society is standing forSheriff.

When Dulcie discovers corruption in the judiciary during thetrial of a friend, she naturally turns to Tom. The deputy looks for evidencebut Dulcie has other ideas on how to catch a varmint. As they both work forjustice, will she jeopardize her chances of getting her man?