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Plumas County Residents

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Captain Alek and his wife, Eliza, posed for a local photographer in 1897. Alek was born in the 1830’s in American Valley (Quincy) and was the “Yup-on-im,” or headman, for a Maidu village in the Keddie/Goat Hill area. His wife, Eliza Connet, was also born in the same area in the 1830’s. They had 10 children during their marriage. Aleck died in 1908; Eliza in 1921. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

Robert Moon is shown here (left) with his sister, Genevieve Moon Quan. Bob grew up in Quincy, and after serving in WWII, earned a degree from San Jose State, then went into the commercial art business, and finally returned to Plumas County to serve as Chamber of Commerce manager and the first curator of the Plumas County Museum. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

The Moseley brothers extracted gold and much loose dirt from a drift mine on the East Branch of the North Fork Feather River c. 1890. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

Taylorsville, California was founded by Job Terrill Taylor, a Pennsylvanian, who came to California in 1849 as a miner. In 1851, he came into Indian Valley looking for mining prospects and camped at the site of modern-day Taylorsville. He moved on, but returned in 1852 and established a permanent residence. Indian Valley Museum archives photo.

Hay was one of the major crops in all of the tillable valleys in Plumas County. It was first cut by hand. Later, horse-drawn mowers made the job a little easier. Most of the hay was stored in barns for winter feed. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

A flat-bottomed, steam-powered boat called the Meadowlark skimmed along the lake portion of Big Meadows long before Great Western Power Company constructed Lake Almanor. Interesting note: Lake Almanor’s name originated with the combination of the three names, Alice; Martha; and Elinore, who were daughters of Great Western Power Company's Vice President, Guy C. Earls. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

These fallers are shown in the process of falling a large sugar pine with a handsaw, or “misery whip,” and axes. Along with their faithful companion, they have an assortment of wedges, axes, a shovel, and iron bars. It could take experienced loggers like these about 2 hours to fall a tree this size. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

On November 1, 1909, Leonard Tomasso (in suit) and his crew of “gandy dancers” drove the last spike on the Western Pacific Railroad at the Keddie trestle over Spanish Creek. Official ceremonies took place the following year. A “gandy dancer” was a laborer on a railroad maintenance gang. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

Ice from the pond on Grizzly Creek was shuttled to the ice deck at Portola, where railroad refrigerator cars were loaded in approximately 2 minutes, 6 seconds per car. Crews were very competitive. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

Even with the advent of motorized vehicles, real horsepower was sometimes needed, as in the winter of 1920, to help the mail car along to LaPorte. From Plumas County: History of the Feather River Region, by Jim Cook.

Elizabeth E. Bullard-Watson

Plumas County, California GenWeb Project Coordinator

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Elizabeth E. Bullard-Watson

PO Box 114

Taylorsville, CA 95983-0114.

The content of this site is a collective work that may contain some private contributions. Said private contributions are so-noted and copyright of those private contributions belongs to the original author. All other textual and photographic content on this site has been donated to the California GenWeb Project by Elizabeth E. Bullard-Watson and is wholly owned by the California GenWeb Project for as long as said project remains active. All such content may not be reproduced in any form without prior written consent of the California GenWeb Project. All rights reserved.

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This page was last modified on July 12, 2006.