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Placerville: Old Hangtown

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1999-10-22 04:00:00 PDT PLACERVILLE, CA, USA -- "They don't really know how to preserve the history here," quips Brad McMahon, a middle-aged Placerville local who remembers his town of 8,000 before the entourage of SUVs packed Highway 50 on the way to Lake Tahoe.

He catches my ear as I poke around the Placerville Coffee House, one of the town's social centers. "Here's something probably nobody told you," he says. "In the 1800s Reservoir Street used to be home to Chinese whorehouses, and there were tunnels built under the bars so the men could make an easy escape. The last one closed in the 1950s."

True enough, that piece of Placerville lore is not quite documented in my pile of literature. There is one era of history that defines this town -- a time long before Brad's existence. Back when the'49ers searched for chunks of gold rather than for a golden quarterback. It was the heyday of the Gold Rush, when Placerville was known by a less tranquil name, Hangtown.

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It all began with a man named Lopez who reportedly hit it rich by gambling at a saloon one night in January 1849. Several robbers went after him, but Lopez fought back and helped catch them. Three had been wanted for previous robberies as well as for murder at a gold camp on the Stanislaus River. After a 30-minute trial and a unanimous "guilty" verdict, the crowd called out, "Hang 'em! Hang 'em!"

Only a few men were actually hanged in Hangtown which, in 1850, was renamed Placerville after the deposits of placer gold that had been discovered in a river bed between Spanish Ravine and the town plaza. Yet "Hangtown" crops up all along downtown's "Historic Main Street" -- Chuck's Hangtown Bakery, Hangtown Grill, and even Hangtown Tattoo and Body Piercing.

Placerville's most historic spot (as the signposts duly brag) is the Hangman's Tree tavern. Outside Hangman's Tree a weathered dummy in pink flannel, jeans, and cowboy boots dangles from the wood block perpendicular to its peach façade. The original hanging tree once stood here in what had been Elstner's Hay Yard, next to the old Jackass Inn. The stump of this white oak remains in the bar's cellar.

Try the Hangtown Fry

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More disturbing to me than this lassoed figure is a piece of history that has somehow survived the decades -- the Hangtown Fry, an omelette stuffed with oysters and bacon. The story behind such an abstract concoction is much disputed. Many believe that, in 1849, a miner returning from the banks of Hangtown Creek tossed his pouch full of gold dust and nuggets onto the bar at the El Dorado Hotel and called for the most expensive meal in the house. The cook relayed that they were eggs, which had to be packed carefully to survive the rough drive from the coast; bacon, which was shipped from the east; and fresh oysters, which had to be iced to make it up from San Francisco Bay. The prospector requested all three, and the cook slathered together a combination that became known as the Hangtown Fry.

The only place in town today that regularly serves the Hangtown Fry is Chuck's Restaurant, which got its recipe from the old Blue Bell café, though the Hangtown Grill offers it as an occasional special. I head for Chuck's at breakfast time hoping to spy one being made without having to actually try it.

"Does anyone ever really order a Hangtown Fry?" I ask the head waitress. "Of course," she says, not at all amused by my question. She scans the half-full dining room. "Well, nobody right now." Perhaps it's more a late-night, post-pub delicacy, I muse, though this is not something I dare confirm with the icy waitress.

A Colorful Gold Rush History

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Many of the artifacts from the town's past are showcased at the Placerville Historical Museum, run by the El Dorado County Historical Society. The museum, in what had been the Fountain-Tallman Soda Works -- the oldest building in town not destroyed by fire -- used to be a center for soda manufacturing. The brick walls of the building, cast in 1852, are more than 2-feet thick so ice and soda supplies could have been kept cool.

The estate of lifelong Placerville resident Stella Tracy paid for the building of the museum more than 20 years ago. The upstairs is dedicated to her turn-of-the-century furniture and photos, while the downstairs exhibits an array of 19th- and 20th- century memorabilia. In the center of the room sit a soda-water machine from 1894 and an 1890s-era washing machine. Everything from a Placerville Druids membership pin to the footwear of Snowshoe Thompson, one of the town's well-remembered characters, fills the tiny room.

The curator regales me with Snowshoe's story. Between 1855 and 1868 Norwegian warrior John "Snowshoe" Thompson was the only mailman brave enough to traverse the Sierra Nevada to deliver letters between miners and their families. Before him, the town's main carrier quit -- after his partner had been killed, his mules froze to death in a blizzard, and his horse died in a snowstorm. Snowshoe hauled up to 90 pounds of letters every two weeks up 8,000 feet and then down to near Carson City, Nev. I can only imagine Snowshoe's loud guffaw at today's mail carriers who boast about delivering mail through snow, sleet, rain, and hail.

At the center of Main Street the Bell Tower, another of Placerville's historic symbols, rises above a former plaza where the whole town used to congregate. Now car traffic surpasses foot traffic, but the Bell Tower still signifies a critical time in the town's past. It was first conceived in 1856 to serve as a fire alarm after three fires burned down much of Placerville's business district within five months. But the 50-foot tower, which in 1898 replaced the original wooden one, was almost destroyed in 1965 in a car accident and was renovated five years later.

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Hanging Out with the Locals

No fewer than nine antique shops and nearly as many artisan galleries line the rest of Main Street. The antique stores, like the sprawling Olde Dorado Antique Emporium, feature the usual knickknacks and aged furniture. But I am drawn to one store's cluttered display, by a sign on the front door: "Elvis Shops Here." Inside, the walls of the Sierra Consignment Co. come alive with oddities crammed together in artistic chaos -- limbless mannequins, dolls hanging upside down, a horsehead lamp, a woman's head poking out of one wall, and assorted signs and posters.

"I get my stock from garbage cans to penthouse dumps to front yard driveways -- where most antique dealers shop," cracks Andy Gillespie, who switched careers from respiratory therapist to shop owner in 1984. With his cowboy hat and sarcastic bite, Gillespie seems very much the outlaw in this town -- and one of the few to actually pose for my camera.

I am determined to mingle with more of the locals, then head out in the evening for a drink. I pass Gil's Place where an old saloon photo and a stuffed bobcat glare at me from the front window with about as much welcome as the folks eyeing me from inside. Instead, I opt for the Liar's Bench. A 40-something platinum blonde invites me to sit and chat. "You know why they call this P-ville?" she asks after a brief introduction. "Because this is where everyone stops to pee on the way to Tahoe."

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At night there's more life at the Placerville Coffee House which, on occasion, presents local singer/songwriters in their upstairs stage area. A young crowd mingles in the café area downstairs. The top floor spreads into comfortable reading rooms, while the back of the ground floor is an old mine shaft where, nearby, patrons can sip lattes under the dim lights.

Mines are a big part of Gold Country history, and the best place in town to see an old one is Gold Bug Park, about a mile north of Main Street. Armed with a hardhat and flashlight I take an audio tour through a narrow, dank chamber called Gold Bug Mine. An energized announcer's voice tells me of the story of Charles Watson, greedy gold miners, and the Wells Fargo stage coach. If Casey Kasem had a disturbed half brother who used to dig for gold, this voice was his.

The Joshua Hendy Stamp Mill is more impressive. Bob gives me a short tour, telling of miners' wasting precious time with fool's gold (iron pyrite); he shows me the slight difference between the two. He turns on a model mill that emulates just a fraction of the deafening sound the real mill made. As he bends to pick up my parting gift -- a slab of quartz -- I notice his hearing aid and the thick gold bands around his fingers.

Nearby Coloma is the real spot for a tour of Gold Rush history. This is where James Marshall discovered gold in 1848 while working at John Sutter's Mill along the banks of the American River. Much of that era is documented in Coloma's Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, which includes the Gold Discovery Museum, the Marshall Monument where he was buried, a replica of Sutter's Mill, stores that served the large Chinese population, two cemeteries, ruins of the El Dorado County Jail, old carriages, artisan shops, and other remnants.

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Coloma also harbors a dark side. The Vineyard House across from Pioneer Cemetery is famed for being haunted, as documented by "Ripley's Believe It or Not" as well as by Nancy Bradley in "Gold Rush Ghosts: Strange and Unexplained Phenomena in the Mother Lode." Her book also chronicles ghostly incidents at buildings in Placerville, such as the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a community center in the 1920s; and the Courthouse which, when the original construction burned in 1910, took much of the town's birth and death records with it.

Johnny Cash Was Here

An equally intriguing spot 30 minutes out of town lures me -- Folsom Prison. This is the place Johnny Cash brought to fame with the song "Folsom Prison Blues." I can't get nearly as close to the cell blocks as Johnny did when he sang for the prisoners. From a safe distance back, there is a designated photo stop point. Go one step beyond and the guards bark. But I can find the prisoners' handiworks at the arts and crafts shop across the street. On sale is everything from silver earrings to sad clown paintings. One creation, titled, "Con Kids," squishes two miniature cartoon criminals inside a couple of small wooden cages.

The Folsom Prison Museum features two small rooms crammed with historic documentation and artifacts, including a display of weapons confiscated after an altercation between prisoners in 1982. Also on exhibit are a straitjacket, ropes used for hangings, detailed descriptions of executions, mugshots, and a Wheel of Fortune display created by prisoners out of a 250,000 toothpicks.

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Sam the Perpetual Prisoner, a Charles Bronson lookalike dummy in pinstripes, tells the history of the dismal treatment of inmates in the early days. I persuade the curator to open his cage and allow a photo. Days later my answering machine is filled with phone messages from the museum's operations manager, a grave-sounding bass voice.

I fumble returning his calls, wishing I had some record of the allowed photo. As it turns out, all this friendly chap wants is to make sure I credit their museum for the photo and mention that the museum entry fees benefit a number of charities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and Children's Cancer Center at Kaiser. Done, I immediately think. Its history precedes itself. You don't mess with Folsom Prison.


If You Go

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Directions:

Placerville is in the Gold Country, approximately 120 miles northeast of San Francisco. To get to there, take Highway 80 toward Sacramento, and then Highway 50 heading toward Lake Tahoe. To reach Coloma from Placerville take the windy Highway 49 north.

For more information contact the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce at 542 Main St., (530) 621-5885.

For more Gold Country ideas, visit Bay Area Backroads.

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Destinations:

Hangman's Tree Tavern, 305 Main St., Placerville, (530) 622-3878

Chuck's Restaurant, 1318 Broadway, Placerville, (530) 622-2858

Placerville Historical Museum, (530) 626-0773

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Olde Dorado Antique Emporium, 435-437 Main St., Placerville, (530) 622-4792

Sierra Consignment Co., 416 Main St., Placerville, (530) 621-1820

Liar's Bench, 255 Main St., Placerville, (530) 622-0494

Placerville Coffee House, 594 Main St., Placerville, (530) 642-8481

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Gold Bug Park, (530) 642-5232, Open 10am-4pm, March-October

Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Coloma, (530) 622-3470

Folsom Prison Museum, $1 admission, Folsom, (916) 985-2561, ext. 4589

Lodging:

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Bed and Breakfasts

Shadowridge Ranch & Lodge
Fort Jim Road
Placerville (Old Hangtown)
(530) 295-1000; (800) 644-3498

The Seasons Bed & Breakfast
2934 Bedford Avenue
(530) 626-4420

Motels and Hotels

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Cary House
300 Main Street
Placerville
(530) 622-4271

Mother Lode Motel
1940 Broadway
(530) 622-0895

Camping

Camp Lotus
5461 Bassi Road
Lotus
(530) 621-2267

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Coloma Resort
P.O Box 516
Coloma
(530) 621-2267

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