Overview

The history of Paxton, California, begins with the 1850s gold miners working the Feather River's rich placer deposits, mining developers who constructed a 30-ton processing mill, and the subsequent acquisition by the Indian Valley Railroad which constructed a rail line from the Western Pacific Railroad connection at Paxton, over 20 miles through Indian Valley. Lawson details the construction of the iconic Paxton Lodge in 1918, a 17-room, three-story edifice perched high on the bluff overlooking the Feather River. He describes its subsequent use and owners over the years spanning the construction of the Feather River Highway, World War Two, and various uses such as a late 1960s recording studio, alcohol rehabilitation center, and student housing for the local college. Fire, renovations, and new adaptations for the historic structure have changed its appearance some over the decades but it still stands as a monument to a bygone time when tourists took the train or drove up the scenic canyon highway to spend a weekend or longer fishing, swimming, gold panning and relaxing in the quiet mountain environment.

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9781937748333

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Scott J. Lawson is a fifth-generation native of Plumas County, his Swiss ancestors settling in Indian Valley in the 1850s. Local and regional history is a passion he has held for as long as he can remember, and it fits well with his position as director of the Plumas County Museum, in Quincy, California. He oversaw the restoration of the 1878 Variel Home in Quincy, now a museum, is currently working on the restoration of the 1864 Taylorsville School, and has assisted in the restoration and preservation of a number of historic structures and sites in Plumas County and Sierra County. He is an avid hiker and has spent countless hours and days tracing out forgotten trails, water ditches, wagon roads, emigrant routes, abandoned railroads, mining sites and homesteads, and more. He has worked closely with Oregon-California Trails Association, Trails West and the U.S. Forest Service on pinpointing the location and mapping of the Beckwourth Emigrant Trail, the Jamison Emigrant Trail, various forgotten cemeteries, and many other historic features and sites on public lands. Lawson enjoys reading, researching, gold mining and just getting out in the great outdoors.

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