Gerle Creek History

These historical pages are a continuing historical work on the place names, people, locations, maps, mountains, lakes, streams, resorts, companies, Dams, mills, ranches, roads, trails etc. in the larger area surrounding Gerle Creek in Eldorado National Forest on the Georgetown Divide in El Dorado County, California. Follow this page as I add to the historical information collected over the years from my library of maps, pictures, interviews, exploration, documents and research. Work in progress. Please do not hesitate to contact me with information to share or for just questions about Gerle Creek and the surrounding areas of Eldorado National Forest and El Dorado County, California MG Brattland Author deer hunting McKinstry Peak, Fall 1991 Gerle Creek Area. If you want to contact the author of this web page, you can do so by e-mail to Michael G. Brattland at mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com ……I live in El Cajon, California in the San Diego suburbs.

Maps of the Georgetown Divide….from 1865 to the present day

AE Brown Cabin-1875s,Long Meadow and Butler Meadow

A.E. Brown was in fact Albert E. Brown, born April 21, 1859, Cool, El Dorado County. His father was Provost D. Brown, early El Dorado County pioneer and cattle rancher of Cool and Pilot Hill. (Sioli, 1883)He built a cabin in Long Meadow as well as just West of the Old Ditch Tender’s road, halfway between Airport Flats/GCSHT and the California Water Company built diversion dam still visible at the head of the Gerle Creek Ditch at the Northern end of Gerle Lake, where the natural creek now enters the Northern end of the lake, which was built 1873/1874 to divert water to Hanna’s Camp for further diversion via ditches and creeks to Georgetown. AE Brown was another of the many valley ranchers and farmers who claimed meadow land up in the Sierras for use by their livestock in the Summer months. His ranch building on the road to Gerle Creek Ditch Diversion Dam is plainly located on the original Geological Survey Map. The pictures below are of AE Brown’s cabin still standing on the West end of Long Meadow.
Provost D. Brown, one of eight children of Abraham J. and Mary (Provost) Brown of Brownsville, Middlesex County, New Jersey. He was born September 1st, 1824. His early life was spent as a student and working on his families farm in New Jersey. With the news of gold discovered on the American River in Coloma, he needed a practical means to reach the gold fields, so invested his savings in a company of 38 persons who purchased a sailing ship. The company purchased rations and then sailed the ship with the company members aboard to San Francisco via the Southern tip of South American, arriving in June, 1849. They immediately sailed their ship up the Sacramento River to Sacramento City, where they sold off all the rations they brought including the ship to the highest bidder, keeping six month’s rations for themselves. Brown intended to get into the merchant business, but illness changed his plans, leading to opening a restaurant known as the Knickerbocker. Like so many businesses and early gold rush towns, it was lost to one of Sacramento’s early floods and the second attempt at a eating establishment was also lost to a fire. Not to be deterred, he got into the freight hauling business from Sacramento to the mines at Long Bar on the Yuba River. Once he had saved the requisite funds, he again purchased a restaurant and a interest in two mining claims. After major efforts expended digging ditches to support the mining work on his claims, the floods of `1852 removed their hard earned work including the many diversion dams and ditches, he and others had built. Still undeterred, he continued his mining efforts, eventually becoming quite successful, taking away $17,000, quite a sum of money for the mid 19th Century. As friends were in a habit of doing during this time, he loaned an associate money which was used to purchase a ranch called the Tennessee Ranch in El Dorado County. In the end, he assumed responsibility for this ranch to save his investment, renaming it the Knickerbocker Ranch, which remains today in the area South of Cool. After more work and money invested in the ranch, he lost it and returned to the mining support business, hauling materials to the mines. He eventually began to farm and acquired 320 acres of property between Cool and Pilot Hill which he obtained land patents from the General Land Office in 1881.(Sioli, 1883)
Provost D. Brown married in 1856, having two sons, Charles C. born June 31, 1857 and Albert E. born April 21, 1859. His first wife died. He remarried a second time only to have his second wife die as well. He married his third wife, Nellie S. Bancroft on December 7, 1878, who was from Clipper Gap. This union resulted in two more children born October 2, 1879, Phillip D. and Effie N., born February 19, 1882. (Sioli, 1883)
Provost Brown and his sons were successful farmers, who raised cattle as well as grain and fruit. (Sioli, 1883)
The Georgetown Gazette of April 16, 1880 reported “Mr. Brown (of Pilot Hill) is one of our most enterprising farmers and fruit growers, being located in a district composed of as fine agricultural land as exists in the foothill belt. Mr. Brown has planted 1500 choice fruit trees on his farm this season-embracing prunes, plums, peaches, apples, pears, walnuts, Japanese persimmons, etc. He also has a vineyard of 10,000 bearing grape vines, besides a few hundred bearing fruit trees. Mr. Brown came to this State thirty years ago, and is now in the vigor of manhood. He has unbounded faith in the foothills becoming the active scene of the greatest fruit and wine producing region in the world, and that too in the near future.” (Gernes; Deibert, 1999)
The Georgetown Gazette, February 5, 1891 reported that Provost’s sons, Chas. and Albert Brown owned the PD Brown Ranch in Pilot Hill and that they were continuing to plant fruit trees, including 2000 new ones which were mostly of the pear variety. the paper reported on February 26, 1891 that A.E. Brown had begun spraying the trees in his orchards to protect them from inspects. This type of activity was very new.(Gernes; Deibert, 1999)
AE Brown’s Cabin1, AE Brown’s Cabin2, AE Brown’s Cabin3

For additional reading on PD Brown and family by Joanne Burkett

Gerle Creek History</h1> <a href="http://alerttahoe.seismo.unr.edu/firecams.html">Big Hill and Bunker Hill Live Web Fire Cameras  </a>  These historical pages are a  continuing historical work on the place names, people, locations,  maps, mountains, lakes, streams, resorts, companies, Dams, mills,  ranches, roads, trails etc. in the larger area surrounding Gerle  Creek in Eldorado National Forest on the Georgetown Divide in El  Dorado County, California. Follow this page as I add to the  historical information collected over the years from my library of  maps, pictures, interviews, exploration, documents and research.  Work in progress. Please do not hesitate to contact me with  information to share or for just questions about Gerle Creek and the  surrounding areas of Eldorado National Forest and El Dorado County,  California........  <a href="mailto:mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com">MG Brattland</a> Author  deer hunting <a href="mgbmckinstry91.jpg">McKinstry Peak, Fall 1991 </a>  <a href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&formtype=latlong&latlongtype=degrees&latdeg=38&latmin=59&latsec=16&longdeg=-120&longmin=23&longsec=03"> Gerle Creek Area</a> Last updated on     If you want to contact the  author of this web page, you can do so by e-mail to Michael G.  Brattland at <a href="mailto:mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com"> mgbrattland@gerlecreek.com</a> ......I live in El  Cajon, California in the San Diego suburbs......my complete address  information is elsewhere on one of my other the web sites,  <a href="http://www.ford6v.com">www.ford6v.com</a> under the purchase page for  the technical bulletin I wrote on Ford multiple  carburetion............  <a href="historypages/georgetowndividemaps.htm">Maps of the Georgetown Divide....from 1865 to the present  day...........</a>  <a href="http://shinglespringsrancheria.com/history/history-home.html"> Native American History of the Georgetown Divide Area including  Gerle Creek and the surrounding areas during the summers</a> Quick Index <a href="#A">A</a> <a href="#B">B  </a> <a href="#C">C </a> <a href="#D">D </a>  <a href="#E">E </a> <a href="#F">F </a>  <a href="#G">G </a> <a href="#H">H </a>  <a href="#I">I </a> <a href="#J">J</a>  K <a href="#L">L </a> <a href="#M">M</a>  N <a href="#O">O</a>  <a href="#P">P</a> Q  <a href="#R">R </a> <a href="#S">S </a> T  U <a href="#V">V </a> <a href="#W">W </a> X Y Z  <a href="#Bibliography">Bibliography</a>  <a href="gerlecreek.jpg" name="A">AE Brown  Cabin-</a>1875s,Long Meadow and Butler Meadow A.E. Brown was  in fact Albert E. Brown, born April 21, 1859,  Cool, El Dorado County. His father was  Provost D. Brown, early El Dorado County pioneer and cattle rancher  of Cool and Pilot Hill. (Sioli, 1883)He built a cabin in Long Meadow  as well as just West of the <a href="historypages/pacificdist1950map.jpg">Old Ditch Tender's road,  </a>halfway between <a href="airportflats1895.jpg">Airport Flats/GCSHT and the California Water Company  </a>built  diversion dam still visible at the head of the <a href="gerlecreekditch.jpg">Gerle  Creek Ditch </a>at the Northern end of Gerle Lake, where the  natural creek now enters the Northern end of the lake, which was  built 1873/1874 to divert water to <a href="http://">Hanna's Camp </a>for further diversion via ditches and creeks to Georgetown.  <a href="aebrowns1895.jpg">AE Brown </a> was another of the many valley ranchers and farmers who claimed  meadow land up in the Sierras for use by their livestock in the  Summer months. His ranch building on the road to<a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/gerlecreekmap1950.jpg">  </a><a href="gerlecreekmap1950.jpg">Gerle Creek Ditch Diversion Dam  </a>is plainly located on the  original Geological Survey Map. The pictures below are of AE Brown's  cabin still standing on the West end of Long Meadow. Provost D. Brown, one of eight  children of Abraham J. and Mary (Provost) Brown of Brownsville,  Middlesex County, New Jersey. He was born September 1st, 1824. His  early life was spent as a student and working on his families farm  in New Jersey. With the news of gold discovered on the American  River in Coloma, he needed a practical means to reach the gold  fields, so invested his savings in a company of 38 persons who  purchased a sailing ship. The company purchased rations and then  sailed the ship with the company members aboard to San Francisco via  the Southern tip of South American, arriving in June, 1849.  They immediately sailed their ship up the Sacramento River to  Sacramento City, where they sold off all the rations they brought  including the ship to the highest bidder, keeping six month's  rations for themselves. Brown intended to get into the merchant  business, but illness changed his plans, leading to opening a  restaurant known as the Knickerbocker. Like so many businesses  and early gold rush towns, it was lost to one of Sacramento's early  floods and the second attempt at a eating establishment was also  lost to a fire. Not to be deterred, he got into the freight hauling  business from Sacramento to the mines at Long Bar on the Yuba River.  Once he had saved the requisite funds, he again purchased a  restaurant and a interest in two mining claims. After major efforts  expended digging ditches to support the mining work on his claims,  the floods of `1852 removed their hard earned work including the  many diversion dams and ditches, he and others had built. Still  undeterred, he continued his mining efforts, eventually becoming  quite successful, taking away $17,000, quite a sum of money for the  mid 19th Century. As friends were in a habit of doing during this  time, he loaned an associate money which was used to purchase a  ranch called the Tennessee Ranch in El Dorado County. In the end, he  assumed responsibility for this ranch to save his investment,  renaming it the Knickerbocker Ranch, which remains today in the area  South of Cool. After more work and money invested in the ranch, he  lost it and returned to the mining support business, hauling  materials to the mines. He eventually began to farm and acquired 320  acres of property between Cool and Pilot Hill which he obtained land  patents from the General Land Office in 1881.(Sioli, 1883) Provost D. Brown married in  1856, having two sons, Charles C. born June 31, 1857 and Albert E.  born April 21, 1859. His first wife died. He remarried a second time  only to have his second wife die as well. He married his third wife,  Nellie S. Bancroft on December 7, 1878, who was from Clipper Gap.  This union resulted in two more children born October 2, 1879,  Phillip D. and Effie N., born February 19, 1882. (Sioli, 1883) Provost Brown and his sons were  successful farmers, who raised cattle as well as grain and fruit. (Sioli,  1883) The Georgetown Gazette of April  16, 1880 reported "Mr. Brown (of Pilot Hill) is one of our most  enterprising farmers and fruit growers, being located in a district  composed of as fine agricultural land as exists in the foothill  belt. Mr. Brown has planted 1500 choice fruit trees on his  farm this season-embracing prunes, plums, peaches, apples, pears,  walnuts, Japanese persimmons, etc. He also has a vineyard of  10,000 bearing grape vines, besides a few hundred bearing fruit  trees. Mr. Brown came to this State thirty years ago, and is  now in the vigor of manhood. He has unbounded faith in the  foothills becoming the active scene of the greatest fruit and wine  producing region in the world, and that too in the near future." (Gernes; Deibert,  1999)  The Georgetown Gazette,  February 5, 1891 reported that Provost's sons, Chas. and Albert  Brown owned the PD Brown Ranch in Pilot Hill and that they were  continuing to plant fruit trees, including 2000 new ones which were  mostly of the pear variety.  the paper reported on February 26,  1891 that A.E. Brown had begun spraying the trees in his orchards to  protect them from inspects. This type of activity was very new.(Gernes;  Deibert, 1999)   <a href="aebrownscabin1.jpg">AE  Brown's Cabin1, </a> <a href="aebrownscabin2.jpg"> AE  Brown's Cabin2,</a>   <a href="aebrownscabin3.jpg">AE  Brown's Cabin3</a>  <img border="0" src="mapofaebrownscabins.JPG" width="650" height="437" />   <a href="http://www.cagenweb.com/eldorado/tales/provost_david_brown_perseve.html"> For additional reading on PD Brown and family by Joanne Burkett </a>    Airport  Camp or Camp Gerle,  Gerle Creek Rest Camp, Airport Flats US Army Air Corps Rest Camp  (R&R)-Gerle Creek, now Airport Flats US Forest Service Campground,  Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/Chronology%201938-1988%20Holmes.pdf"> See Also John Holmes Chronology of Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract and  Airport Flats-1938-1988</a> Here is a 1931  article from the "MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT" which gives the basis for the  "Rest Camp" built by the US Army Air Corps at Gerle Creek in 1931  which hereafter gained the name "Airport Flats" in later years  locally, but was referred to as "Camp Gerle" by the US Army in the  historical records of <a href="http://www.20fwa.org/history.htm"> 20th Fighter Wing Association </a> as shared by <a href="mailto:sevignya@cvc.net">Arthur Sevigny, the association  historian</a>. This first article was contributed by  Monte Hendericks, a volunteer historical researcher with the  Eldorado National Forest, whose primary interest is military  and civilian plane crash sites on the Eldorado National Forest. Have  a look at this link for more information on <a href="http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/B17Chome.htm">aircraft  mishap sites on Eldorado National Forest. </a> Many thanks to Monte  for sharing this essential record.    <img border="0" src="R&R%20Camp%20at%20Gerle2a.jpg" width="174" height="494" /><img border="0" src="airportcamp1931b.jpg" width="206" height="495" /><img border="0" src="airportcamp1931c.jpg" width="199" height="502" /> The second clipping  is a Sacramento Union article  from June 12, 1931, reporting on the work and plans for the "Army  Camp" at Gerle Creek, followed by a third clipping from the  "MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT" of July 31, 1931 on the Airport Camp at Gerle  Creek..........Camp Gerle in US Army parlance.  According to Arthur Sevigny of  the 20th Fighter Wing Association, the historical records show that  the 77th fighter Squadron (part of the 20th Pursuit Group at Mather  Field and possibly the rest of the 20th, including the 55th Pursuit  Squadron were at Camp Gerle , El Dorado, California from August 3  1932 till August 25th, 1932 . This would have been during the second  summer of the existence of the Camp Gerle built at Airport Flats on  Gerle Creek by the US Army. As indicated in the articles below, <a href="historypages/tinker.htm">Major  Clarence L.Tinker</a> <img border="0" src="TinkerMAJGCCNov30toOct32.jpg" width="196" height="283" /> was at the  time, the commander of the 20th Pursuit Group at Mather Field,  Sacramento, California. Major General Tinker was lost during the  Battle of Midway Island while on a bombing mission on Wake Island.  Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma would later be named for Major  General Tinker.  The following two pictures of a  cottage    <img border="0" src="CampGerleMajortinkerhouseaug1932b.jpg" width="507" height="325" />  along  with two tent platforms   <img border="0" src="CampGerleaug1932b.jpg" width="515" height="315" /> at Camp Gerle were  from the collection of photos from the late Mrs. Tinker, which were  shared with Dr. James L Crowder, author of a book on the Major  General Tinker's life during an oral history interview in August  1983.   During this period, the 20th  Pursuit Group at Mather Field flew <img border="0" src="p12b55thpursuitsquadron1931matherfield1a.jpg" width="450" height="350" /> P12B, pictured above. This  photo of a un-identified pilot and his aircraft from the 55th  Pursuit Squadron was taken in 1931 at Mather Field and kindly  provided by the   <a href="http://www.20fwa.org/history.htm">20th Fighter Wing  Association </a>.  The following document is the  55th Pursuit Squadron official history for the period of 1930 till  1932, On page 2 of the history, the command devoted a paragraph to  the background on the Gerle Creek Rest Camp and the squadron's usage  of it. This document was provided by the 20th Fighter Wing  Association historian, <img border="0" src="55thhist19311932page1.jpg" width="450" height="679" /><img border="0" src="55thhist19311932page2.jpg" width="450" height="647" /><img border="0" src="55thhist19311932page3.jpg" width="450" height="692" /><img border="0" src="55thhist19311932page4.jpg" width="450" height="677" /> According to Les Clementsen of  Stone Cellar (Clementsen,'04), by the mid 1930s, the Airport Camp or  Camp Gerle at Gerle Creek was a <a href="http://www.cccalumni.org/history1.html">Civilian  Conservation Corps (CCC) </a> Side Camp with a local man named Joe  Flynn in charge of it. In his regular Mountain Democrat  Column, Three Amigos from September 4, 1998, Joe Flynn indicates in  the summer of 1940 he was in charge of the Airport CCC Side Camp  with 30 to 40 men working for him. The following paragraph is quoted  fromJoe Flynn's own words from his 2004 oral history describing  some of the details of his work at Airport Camp/Gerle Creek  Side/Spike Camp for the CCC during the summer of 1940: "In 1939 I was at  Snowline(CCC Camp). In 1940 I ran the spike camp of 40 men at Gerle  Creek, we called it the airport camp, and built the road from  Schlein Ranger Station into Loon Lake. We didn't finish it. Gerle Creek CCC Camp was interesting  because I had to be the foreman during the day and be the camp  manager at night. I had another foreman, Ray Ellis, who had the  10-man fire crew. I had to do the rationing. I had to feed those  boys on 43 cents a day. The cook and I made out the menu. The cook  was a 16-year-old boy from Mississippi. He was a good cook. He had  hot biscuits every morning and nice yeast rolls every night. They  would just melt in your mouth. He was pretty good on desserts. Most  of my crew were Cajuns from south of New Orleans down the river.  They had never seen a rock in their life and we were drilling in  good hard granite. When I first went up to Gerle Creek, Ed Smith,  the old Supervisor who was a Army mess sergeant in WWI said, "You're  not ever going to let those boys go hungry. The Army sometimes  doesn't always get food there in time and they give you pretty  skimpy rations." So we went down to the fire warehouse in  Placerville and loaded a truck up with canned goods. Up by Schlein Ranger Station,  which was two to three miles from the camp, they had an old powder  house so I put this canned food and stuff in the powder house, along  with the powder that was used for the road building. Whenever times  got tough, 1'd sneak up there and get some canned food to supplement  the Army diet." Joe Flynn was a local El Dorado County  resident who went off to the Army Air Corps to fly during  WWII, returning after the war to study at Oregon State and returning  to work for the Forest Service eventually becoming the Forest  Supervisor of Eldorado National Forest. After retiring from the  Forest Service he would continue in active public life eventually  being elected as a El Dorado County Supervisor.  <a href="flynn_joe.pdf">For more detailed history about Joe Flynn, see the Joe Flynn USFS  Retires Reunion Living History Project Feb 9 2001, Nordstrom  Whited Interviewer oral history done through UCB. </a> Below is  a May 7, 1940 article from the Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada  reporting on the planned June 1940 re-opening of the <a href="http://forestarmy.blogspot.com/2007/12/ccc-side-camps.html"> CCC Side Camp </a>at Airport on Gerle Creek at what is now known as  Airport Flats. <a href="http://members.aol.com/famjustin/cccside.html">A CCC Side  Camp.</a>  <img border="0" src="ccccampgerle1a.jpg" width="184" height="495" /> Prior to 1931, the Airport  Flats area was a naturally open area in the <a href="2[1].jpg">trees at a  natural fording point of Gerle Creek </a>(picture of the McDowall  Family Ford pickup sitting in front of the Ford on Airport Flats,  1962) on the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs road to Wentworth Springs.  From 1873, it was the point where the ditch tender's road branched  off to the <a href="gerleckdivdam.jpg">diversion dam</a> (<a href="gerleckdivdam2.jpg"> Pic#2,</a>  <a href="gerleckdivdam3.jpg">Pic#3)</a>  at the head of the <a href="gerleckdivdamditch.jpg">Gerle Creek Ditch  </a>( <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/gerleckdivdamditch.jpg"> 1873 Map</a> )on Gerle Creek. Have a look at this <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/gerledivdam1936.jpg">d</a><a href="gerledivdam1936.jpg">ual  picture kindly volunteered by Lint Brown </a>using the 2001 photo of  the Diversion Dam taken by myself alongside a very nice 1936 picture  taken by friends of Linton A. Brown Senior showing Lint Brown  Senior and a friend at the same dam 64 years earlier. <a href="laketahoemap1915.jpg">In  1927,</a> a<a href="gerlecreekbridge.jpg">  log bridge</a>  [This excellent picture was  taken in 1959 by John Holmes, showing the collapsed Gerle Creek log  bridge at Airport Flats. Those two boys swimming in Gerle Creek are  Bill and Charlie Holmes. Of further significance is the flow of the  water in this picture. The creek flowed much higher prior to the  removal of the Old Loon Lake Dam in late 1962 and is evident by the  fact that both of the Holmes boys are swimming in deep water as  opposed to the flow today which is shallow at best. Many thanks to  John Holmes for sharing this very historic picture of this special  log bridge long ago gone......]  was built within about 20 feet  of the present modern single lane concrete bridges at Gerle Creek, <a href="gerlecreekmap1950.jpg">Airport Flats.</a> The first lane of the <a href="3[1].jpg">concrete bridge  was built in 1963 </a> (Picture taken in 1962-63 by McDowall  Family) and followed with the second lane in 1969. This <a href="gerlecklogbridge.jpg">log  bridge with concrete foundations </a>served well from 1927(Supernowicz,  1983) till the severe Winter of 1951/1952 when <a href="gerlecreekbridge.jpg">the  log bridge was lost </a>in the Spring runoff. There after till the  concrete bridge was built in '63, cross creek traffic returned to  the <a href="gerleckford.jpg">natural ford South of both bridges</a> about 100 feet. Here is a 1<a href="2[1].jpg">962  picture of the Airport Flat access to the ford across Gerle Creek </a>(McDowal Family Photo)<a href="eldoradonfmap1916.jpg">The  primary reasons for this cross creek traffic of Gerle Creek</a> was  the road to Wentworth Springs went this way; access to the two  barracks buildings built adjacent to the swimming hole off the flats  on the Southside in the early 1930's by the US Army Air Corps;  access to the road from the flats to the Gerle Creek Ditch and  Diversion Dam, a mile down Gerle Creek from the flats, as well as  accessing <a href="aebrowns1895.jpg">AE  Browns Ranch</a>( early maps clearly list this name as "AE Brown"  while some other sources suggest that his name was "AC Brown")  halfway down the ditch keepers road off the flats as well as the  land used by Alex Forni after 1885.. This ditch and diversion  dam were constructed during the summer seasons of 1873/74 and  finished late in 1874 for the California Water Company diversion of <a href="loon070353.jpg">Loon Lake </a>water to Georgetown. The barracks buildings were  used both by the US Army Air Corps till the end of World War  II, when the custody of the two barracks buildings, the large water  tank and a large garage building in the center of the flats were  transferred to the Forest Service.  Here are two historic pictures  of two of the several buildings originally built by the Army in 1931  on Airport Flats and called by the US Army, "Camp Gerle." The  first picture is of one of the barracks buildings, which in later  years was all that really remained at Airport Flats and was called  the "Guard Cabin" or Airport Flats Ranger Station by the Forest  Service. This picture was taken by W.Maule of the US Forest Service  in 1959 as a means of documenting existing structures on the forest.  This building was not torn down until the late 1960s. The  Forest Service survey crew who surveyed the new road up in our area,  lived in this barracks during the Summers of the 1967 and 1968.  During the Summer of 1968, due to the general disrepair of the  structure, the Forest Service brought in a trailer and parked it  next to the barracks, which was used by the crews. Dave Orchard  worked on this survey crew in both 1967 and 1968 while Jim Barnard,  son of the Barnard family who had built a cabin on Lot 36 at GCSHT,  worked on the same survey crew with Dave Orchard during the Summer  of 1968, staying down on the Flats.  <img border="0" src="airportflatsbarracks1959.jpg" width="516" height="354" /> If  you look close at the picture on the lower left, just sticking up  above the Forest Service pickup truck bed, one can see what appears  to be part of the pipe which comes out of the water tank which was  over to the left and not in the picture. An additional barracks  about the same size was also located between this building and the  creek, very close to the 'swimming hole" which has been a favorite  spot of everyone who has ever used the Airport Flats area from day  one. This barracks was already torn down in 1958, but remnants  of it could be seen walking the short trail from the Water Tank down  to the swimming hole. <a href="4[1].jpg">Another picture  of the same building</a> on the flats from a little different angle  taken in 1962 by the McDowall Family  <img alt="" height="622" src="../images/airportcampbuildingsummer1968.jpg" width="624" /> This is a Summer of 1968 photo showing David Orchard of  Carmichael, Ca, at the time, a current Stanford University student  who worked the Summer of 68 and after as the head of a Forest  Service survey crew based at Airport Camp during the Summer. He and  his crew lived in the original Airport Camp building on Airport  Flats. They were survying the new road all the way down into  Rubicon River Canyon to the dam at Hell Hole. A member of the survey  crew took this picture of Dave with his camera. The third photo, also taken by  by W. Maule of the Forest Service in 1959, shows the "Old  Barn" as it was referred to by the Forest Service as well as one  small out building. This Old Barn was located right next to  the current large fire pit in the Motorhome camp site  immediately on the left on entry into the Forest Service campground  at Airport Flats. Whether this building was one of the original  constructed by the Army in 1931 or was later constructed, one cannot  be certain, other than looking at the condition, it would appear to  be of older age and reflecting nearly 30 years of age and use by the  time this picture was taken. The Forest Service tore down this barn  during 1961.  <img border="0" src="airportflatsbarn1959.jpg" width="527" height="390" /> Both of these photos were made  available from the US Forest Service archives at Pacific House  Ranger Station by Krista Deal, Pacific District Archaeologist. Many  thanks to Krista for this important contribution to the local  history of our area. During the Fall of 2003 the  Forest Service was doing a selective logging and a general  cleanout of underbrush and small trees in the Gerle Creek area to  make the area more fire safe. In the logged area almost directly  across from the old lower road along the Southwest side of Gerle  Creek which takes off from the Wentworth Springs road about 300 feet  Southwest before the road goes across Gerle Creek at Airport Flats,  about 75 feet into the forest, the Forest Service has flagged a  general area with red ribbon about 600 square feet. Within this area  are two old original concrete and granite stone foundation corners,  plus remnants from the beginnings of a building, including an old  metal bucket. I have taken the following photos of these foundations  and the site.   <a href="restcampfoundation1003a.jpg">Gerle Creek Foundation1a, </a> <a href="restcampfoundation1003b.jpg">Gerle  Creek Foundations1b, </a>  <a href="restcampfoundation1003c.jpg">Gerle Creek Foundations1c, </a>  <a href="restcampfoundation1003d.jpg">Gerle Creek Foundations 1d,</a>  <a href="restcampfoundation1003e.jpg">Gerle Creek Foundations 1e, </a>  <a href="restcampfoundation1003f.jpg">Gerle  Creek Foundations 1f, </a> <a href="restcampfoundation1003g.jpg">Gerle  Creek Foundations 1g</a> After over 40 plus years, I  have never ever heard anyone discuss these old foundations nor have  I ever known about their existence. History wise at different  times, I have heard that the summer home tract at Gerle Creek was in  fact laid out in this area originally, but was eventually moved to  its present location. I have also long heard over the years that the  tract was originally laid out along the lower road along the  Southwest side of Gerle Creek and was eventually moved to its  present location due to the fact there was no interest in the tract  at that time and for the fact that the mosquitoes were so much worse  down along the creek. Is entirely possible that both of these old  rumors were true and the layout of the tract included the area where  the foundations are presently and along the road on the Southwest  side of the creek. My final thought about this  foundation would be that it could very well be apart of the  Commanding Officer's cabin for Major Tinker which was to be built as  part of the "Rest Camp" at Airport Flats as laid out in the above  article, which was referred to by the US Army as Camp Gerle. Looking  over the foundation remnants thoroughly, I found no markings or  impressions. Knowing that people commonly put names or dates in the  initial parts of buildings etc., I found nothing along this line. I  would hope that the Forest Service has plans to more thoroughly  investigate this site. After World War II, the Forest  Service barracks buildings at Airport Flats served a variety  of purposes including housing fire fighting crews, El Dorado County  prisoners during the summer months of 1951 or 1952 who were brought  in and housed here while out cutting certain kinds of plants and  vegetation. This did not work out and was only tried one Summer  season. Later the Forest Service had custody, during the  evenings, they would sometimes show movies outdoors using a large  screen setup on the open area of the flats with rows of benches for  people to sit. Carolyn Beam, owner of <a href="ditchcamp1941a.jpg">South  Fork Mill </a> (many thanks to Lint Brown for sharing his fathers  photo) remembers this well as a child during the very early 50s at  South Fork Mill when she and others were invited to attend these  evening movies at Airport Flats. Later in the mid 60s, it housed the  Forest Service survey crews who surveyed the new paved road from  Highway 50 to Loon Lake and Lawyers Cow Camp(Gurleys or Gerles). Of  the two large barracks buildings, the one closest to the Gerle Creek  swimming hole was gone by the late 1950s, leaving one large barracks  building on the edge of the open flats area, the large water tank  immediately next to it and a large tall garage building for storing  equipment out in the center of the flats in what is now the motor  home parking area of the Airport Flats Forest Service Campground.  These were all gradually torn down by the early '70s. By  1937,  <a href="francisbridge2.jpg">El  Dorado County</a> constructed a <a href="francisbridge.jpg">new  concrete bridge to cross Rocky Basin Creek </a>right on the  Southeastern edge of Francis Cow Camp and with it a short mile of  new road which eliminated the existing road section on the Western  side of Gerle Creek between Airport Flats and Francis Cow Camp and  the need to ford Gerle Creek at Francis Cow Camp.  So with the popularity of the  automobile changes in the road were necessary that were not as big  an issue when driving a wagon with a team of horses, which led the  politicians and many users of the Wentworth Springs road to find a  better way. This better way was to abandon the crossing at Airport  Flats and Francis and build the road which today goes along the  Eastern side of Gerle Creek and is the only one most people ever  knew existed. It did require crossing at Rocky Basin  Creek which must have been an easier under taking for the automobile  than those two fords as the County only finally built the current  concrete bridge over Rocky Basin in 1937......The old original  section of the Wentworth Springs Road between Airport Flats and  Francis Cow Camp continues to be used by the GCSHT folks to access  their hydraulic ram pumps on the West side of Gerle Creek.   n the Georgetown Gazette as  reported in the Mountain Democrat of September 5, 1914, "El  Dorado County Supervisor Morgan had the boulders in the second  crossing of Gerle Creek(Jacobsens) blasted out to make the creek  passable for autos or light teams going to Wentworth Springs. Some  improvements have been made on the road in the vicinity." In 1914,  the first crossing of Gerle Creek would be at Airport Flats, the  second at Francis Cow Camp and the Third Crossing at Jacobsens, none  of which had bridges then. As early as 1914, the  politicians were at work to resolve this issue which plagued all  travelers to Wentworth Springs before the creeks returned to their  normal Summer flow. “Supervisor P. F. Morgan spent  several days of last week at Gerle Creek laying out a new piece of  road so as to eliminate the dangerous crossings of the creek at  Francis Ranch. When the piece of road is complete, it will  enable automobiles to go to Lake Tahoe via Georgetown, Wentworth and  Rubican Springs without difficulty. At this season of the year the  water is high in Gerle creek and automobiles are unable to ford the  stream.” Georgetown Gazette July 8, 1915 [Have a look at this <a href="aebrowns1895.jpg">USGS map  of 1895 </a>where you can clearly see that the Georgetown-Wentworth  Springs road cross Gerle Creek at what is now Airport Flats so that  the ditch keeper road then turns off to the South to the diversion  dam and halfway to the diversion dam the road makes a sharp right  and dead ends at AE Browns ranch or house.] This map also clearly shows <a href="airportflats1895.jpg">how  the road proceeds to Francis Cow Camp</a> where it fords the creek  just above Rocky Basin Creek and then continues on to Wentworth  Springs via<a href="jacobsens1895.jpg">  Jacobsens and Gerles.</a>This revision and addition to the Wentworth  Springs road reflected local ranchers and resort owners needs to  access their properties in the early spring of each year. Gerle  Creek could be a pretty ferocious flow of water to get across in the  Spring and the new Rocky Basin Creek Bridge and new road on the  Eastern side of Gerle Creek resolved this. The <a href="francisccford.jpg">old  ford at Gerle Creek at Francis Cow Camp</a> and the <a href="oldroadfrancis.jpg">original but unused lead in road to the ford </a>is still  visible and just a little bit North of the entry point of Rocky  Basin Creek into Gerle. The original road [shown  clearly on the <a href="eldoradonfmap1916.jpg">1916 Eldorado National Forest Map  </a>until 1937] crossed at the  Airport Flats ford/the Log Bridge (after 1927) and then  followed (on the Western side of Gerle Creek) what became the GCSHT  road to the associations water ram pumps and past this location  fording Gerle Creek directly across from Francis Cow Camp. From  there the road remained the same as depicted today.   Airport Camp Ford of Gerle Creek  <img alt="" height="559" src="10HartsgrandchildrenatGerleCrkford.jpg" width="379" /> This is a Papenfus-Hart Family (GC Lot 39) photo of the Hart  grandchildren playing and wading in Gerle Creek in the Ford of Gerle  Creek on the Airport Camp side, discussed above. Late 1960s photo Airport Camp Swimming Hole Just behind and on the Southside of the old Airport Camp Barracks  building is the swimming hole which has been used by people  frequenting this area since the beginning of time. It is a  very natural swimming area and from the late 1940s, 1950s and into  the early 1960s had a basic diving board made most probably  during the Army Air Corps R&R Camp days of World War II or later  during the Forest Service usage as a fire camp from the end of the  WWII into the 1950s.  <img alt="" height="297" src="04markhartswimminghole.jpg" width="379" /> Mark Hart, Airport Camp/Flats Swimming Hole, Gerle Creek, down  and behind the old Airport Barracks location. Diving board was  a basic affair put together by old Airport Camp users from the  Forrest Service or even earlier, from the US Army Air Corps and CCC. The  carpet was installed on the diving board by Gordon Brattland Lot 24  so the children would not get splinters.  <img alt="" height="214" src="oldcabinpictures0019.jpg" width="320" /> I am clapping my hands to hurry Karen Brattland up on the diving  board while our father, Gordon Brattland observes from the swimming  hole. Brattland Family photo 1959 Airport Camp Rain Gauge 1946 to  1976  Jim  Goodridge of the California Division of Water Resources kindly  offered the background and history on the old rain gauge and tower  which sat on a small mound in the center of the current Forest  Service campground at Airport Flats in the early years. Looking for  a picture of the old tower if anyone can help.......   "The US  Weather Bureau, Substation History for California, 1958, lists  Gerle Creek Camp or Gerle Creek Airport Camp. The gage was a 200  inch Sacramento type gage on a 15 feet tower. Located at 38°59'N,  120°23'W, Elevation 5500 Feet, 23 miles ENE of Georgetown. The  record apparently started in 9/46/46 . The observer was listed as  the US Forest Service. Their Forest and Range Field Station may be  able to cone up with the early records or they may be in the Central  Districts files, I do not recall but it may have been one of the  gages we measured once a year. The records were no doubt published  in Climatological Data or the older Hydrologic Bulletins.I recall  preparing a summary of Storage Gage Data when I worked at the  Central District many years ago. The old type rain gage was 8  inches on the top and cone shaped. I would hold the equivalent of  200 inches of precipitation in all but contained a few gallons of  anti-freeze. We would weigh the water once a year. This was the only  way we could calculate the water balance on mountain watersheds at  that time.  I  noticed that the Gerlie Creek gage was listed in the 1975 index of  Climatological Data but not in the 1976 index."  Jim Goodridge 2009  B-17C Crash Site Tell's Peak Upper Bassi Ranch-See  Upper Bassi  <a href="http://www.bacchiranch.com" name="B">Bacchi Ranch</a>   <a href="historypages/bacchirancheldoradonf1931map.jpg">1931 Forest  Service Map Showing Bacchi Ranch</a> just East of Quintett on the  Northside of the Georgetown Wentworth Springs Lake Tahoe Road  <a href="historypages/bacchirancheldoradonf1931map.jpg"> <img alt="" class="auto-style7" height="394" src="historypages/bacchirancheldoradonf1931map.jpg" width="839" /></a> Barts Creek and Valley  <a href="wentmcken.jpg">Bennet's  Range Bennet Lake-</a>1875-1889 The farmers house on the road identified as road to Bennet's  Range from Gerle's heading up to McKinstry or Bennet Lake. Noted on the earliest of maps  in the meadow area half mile West of McKinstry or Bennet Lake.  Reading the Surveyor's Field notes for the original survey for this  Township completed in September, 1889, the survey wrote that the  cabin or farmer's house in McKinstry Meadow, below and slightly to  the West of McKinstry or Bennet Lake which on the earlier survey  belonged to Bennet, now belonged to Forni. The surveyor's notes also  spelled Bennett with two "Ts" versus one "T." The Forni name is  misspelled in the Surveyor's original hand written field notes. As  to who Bennet or Bennett was, it could have been MP Bennett of  Placerville who was an attorney and became an elected judge in El  Dorado County. We know that he had a particular interest in this  part of the county as he wrote a detailed letter published in the  newspapers supporting the investment of public monies to finish the  road from Wentworth Springs to Lake Tahoe Berts Lake On Chipmunk  Bluff above Schlein's cabin off the road to Loon lake <a href="historypages/eldoradonf1931map.jpg">Bisbee Lake or Horse Shoe Lake</a> or  <a href="Fig-6-Loon-Lake1.jpg">Bixley Lake</a> or <a href="historypages/map1937a.jpg">Bigsby Lake</a>  Bowman (1873) first mentions this lake calling it Horse Shoe  Lake in his report to the California Water Company  shareholders page 170, para 2. In the 1880 report to shareholders of the  California Water Companay, Guildersleeve (1880, Ashburner Appendix  page 1A) refer to this lake as Bixley Lake. Sioli 1883 page  120 regurgitates  this same general report information from  both Bowman and Guildersleeve while identifying the lake as Bixley Lake  which comes from the 1880 report exclusively. Obviously in the 7  years between the reports, this lake acquired a different name  which has morphed over the years into several similar sounding names  including Bixley, Bisbee and Bigsby Lake. The first surveying of  this area which created the original Survey Plats, was  finished by the late 1870s and used to publish maps from 1895,  may have assigned the Bixley name to the lake but by 1931 it was  displayed as Bisbee Lake on the  1931 and 1943 USFS Maps while the 1937 hand drawn map by Judge Johnson used by  himself as a regular camper, hiker and fisherman to the Wentworth  Springs area called the lake Bigsby Lake. These things change due to  new information and are corrected over time. A review of the 1931,  1943 and 1949 USFS maps show in pretty clear form why someone  would have originally called this lake Horse Shoe Lake due to it's  shape. The surveyor notes sometimes have clues in this regard but  unfortunately the original survey plat for Loon Lake is bare as a  map with just section lines and almost nothing else, not even the  lake information and there are no surveyor notes which I  have been able to obtain. This has been a problem in resolving some  other historical location information in the Loon Lake area as well.  I might add that Bowman and many others got a number of names  different or spelled differently including Gurley versus the  correct Gerle during their inspections on the Divide. With the construction of the new Loon Lake Dam in 1962, Bisbee  Lake became a part of Loon Lake with it's original location along  the face of what is now the Francis Fill above Francis Cow Camp on  the most Western edge of Loon Lake. Thanks to Tim Green of Loon Lake  for his interest in this project and to Lint Brown for his map  graphics work from his book Sixteen Summers on the Ditch with a  descriptive diagram of Loon Lake and it's many lakes as against Loon  Lake today.  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJWkybayobQ">Blair Brothers  Saw Mill Pollack Pines, California</a> thanks to George  Mihan  <a href="historypages/wikander.htm">Buck Island Lake</a><a href="historypages/wikander.htm">  Wikander Cabin</a>According to  GeorgeWharton James, the lake was named by the Hunsaker Brothers of  the famous Hunsaker Springs (Rubicon Springs). "The lake is  very irregular in shape, about a third of a mile long, and a quarter  of a mile wide in its widest part. Near one end is a small  island. Hunsaker found the deer swam over to the island to  rest and sleep during the heat of the day, hence the name."  James, 1915, pg 220. In the words of Judge Wilbur  Johnson..........."Picture 6 Vic Wikander and his  wife, Alice.  <div> While honeymooning they  visited Buck Island, over the hill from Rubicon to the west.  Victor worked out a 99 year lease of the smaller island at Buck  Island, I presume with the U S Dept. of the Interior.</div> <div> </div> <div> In the 1920's Rubicon Springs  continued to be accessible by motor car and Victor began to take  in the materials needed to improve the leased island. He carried  everything over the hill to Buck Island by back pack, a little  over a mile but up quite a grade. (NB: The last motor vehicle  into Rubicon (until the Jeep) was a Cadillac touring car  operated by an enterprising fellow from The Lake (Tahoe). On the  way out the Caddy slid off the road at one of the switchbacks  and was abandoned. This occurred around 1928-1930 and the  vehicle remained, somewhat intact, for quite a few years. From  this, the current name, "Cadillac Hill", was coined.)</div> <div> </div> <div> As time passed, Victor built a  rowboat, first of all, and then 3 cabins. A main cabin and 2  smaller cabins as guest houses. He flew 3 flags; The Stars and  Stripes at the main cabin and the flags of Finland and Ireland  at the guest cabins.</div> <div> </div> <div> He laid out paths cabin to  cabin and other points of interest on the island. He gathered  stones, 4 - 6 inches in diameter. and lined the paths. Using the  rowboat, he gathered sand from the far west side of the lake and  sanded the paths.</div> <div> </div> <div> He also built a catch-all  storage shed near the main cabin and a boat house with skids to  house the rowboat over the winters. Sometime, during later  years, he stopped using the boat house. He just pulled the boat  out of the water and left it in the open. One time, I asked,  "Why?" He said that, in the boat house, the boat dried and  seeped leakage by the next season.</div> <div> </div> <div> He spent all summer every year  at the island. His wife joined him when school was out. He also  went in regularly in winter. His wife never joined him on the  winter trek. He put a door high in the gable of the main cabin  to avoid digging snow down to the front door. Each summer  season he would provision the cabin for the winter trek, food  and fuel. One year he fell and broke a bone in the ankle area,  possibly the lower end of the fibula. He crawled into the cabin  and set the break as best as possible and bound it with strips  of cloth. He spent the next few weeks holed up in the cabin  waiting for the break to knit. What a guy!</div> <div> </div> <div> His island was close to the  north shore of Buck Island Lake, about 50 yards or so. The water  there was shallow and in winter it froze enough for him to  ski/snow shoe across. In the spring he could wade . At most,  the water depth was about 5 feet at one point. Thus, he never  really had to "swim" to the island.</div> <div> </div> <div> He spent many idyllic years at  the lake until the 1950's when age began to take its toll. He  passed away in Oakland, Alameda Co. CA, on August 7, 1958. His  wife, Alice, survived another few years until the early 1960's.  End of an era! (no children)." A Lint Brown and his  father-1953 Fishing Trip to the Rubicon "I  finally got around to relooking at the photos from the July 1953  backpack trip with my father and Bob Neeley. We started at  Wentworth Springs, hitching a ride with Joe Hacker in his Jeep,  who carried us up somewhere around Spider Lake and dumped us out  where the road got really bad-we started hiking, passing Buck  Island Lake on the way to our first night's camp at Rockbound  Lake.  We  continued the loop: past Rubicon Springs, over Barker Pass to  Five Lakes Creek, and back down the Rubicon through Hell Hole  and Hales Camp, photos of which you have already seen. (By the  way, Joe Hacker and his wife Isabelle were both expert fly  fishers, both of whom my father admired for their skill; they  frequented the Crystal Basin in the 1950s.)  Attached are three photos you have not previously seen. (Lint  Brown Sr Photos 1953 provided by Lint Brown)  <img border="0" src="BuckIsland1953.jpg" width="400" height="283" /><img border="0" src="BuckIsland1953detail.jpg" width="416" height="285" /><img border="0" src="WikanderSign1953.jpg" width="399" height="287" /> The  first is the one I hoped to find, a shot of Buck Island Lake,  taken by my dad as we passed by on the way to our first night's  camp at Rockbound Lake. The second is a blowup of a portion of  that first photo, which shows a cabin that is almost certainly  Vic Wilander's. This photo was taken on July 15, 1953, the first  day of our 6-day trip. As you can see, we were not very close to  the cabin--I am not even sure we noticed it at the time. The  scanner sees things our eyes miss... Third  is a shot of a couple of trail signs, taken on July 16, 1953  along what is now known as the Rubicon Trail, between Buck  Island Lake and Rubicon Springs. The top sign, a USFS model,  pins down the location. But the real find here is the handmade  lower sign: "To Buck Island Lake--Wikanders." It's easy to  imagine that Vic himself crafted that rustic sign. But why? Who  would have been coming to visit them from that direction? </div>  <a href="gerlecreek.jpg">Bugle Lake</a>  Headwaters for Ellis Creek which flows out of and down into the  Northeast end of Loon Lake. In the days prior to the new Loon Lake  Dam, the creek entered Pleasant Lake which is now a part of Loon  Lake. The lake is directly above Wentworth Springs on the Northside  of Jerrett Peak.  <a href="bunkergerle.jpg">Bunker  Hill-</a>1875-Eldorado  National Forest, Placer County, Ca The mountain top which was  acquired inorder to put a lookout on top, was purchased by the  Forest Service May 5, 1936. Early wood low to the ground  lookout structure pictured in Supernowizc 1983 History of the  Eldorado National Forest of the 1930's was replaced by Joe Bauman  who built the present day <a href="bunkerhilllo1957b.jpg">stone lookout tower and living quarters in the 1942  </a>( Forest  Fire Lookout Association  <a href="http://www.lookouts.us/Sorted_By/California.htm"> http://www.lookouts.us/Sorted_By/California.htm</a> .)This is a Lint  Brown photo from 1957. <a href="airportcamp1931c.jpg" name="C">California Water Company-1874</a> The early details of the California  Water Company and all their activities in this area are covered in  great detail by Bowman, 1874; Gildersleeve, 1880 and finally  summarized in Sioli's history of El Dorado County in 1883.This  company, originated and capitalized in San Francisco, was central to  early development of resources in the Georgetown Divide area,  building a Loon Lake log dam initially along with a ditch to connect  Gerle Creek to Hanna's Camp by 1874. This trial dam was  followed by building the granite stone dam to replace the original  nine foot high log dam at <a href="loonlakedam1940.jpg">Loon  Lake in 1881-1882</a> using Chinese labor which stood till<a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/loon103062b.jpg">  </a> <a href="loon103062b.jpg">removed in 1962 </a>for the current earth filled dam built in 1963.  The companies need to support their ditch and flume structures  to bring the water from Loon Lake to Georgetown also necessitated  their building the South Fork Mill,( between 1874 and 1880) a water  powered saw mill at Hanna's Camp, which still stands today. The California Water Company of 1874, became the California  Water and Mining Company 1880, Loon Lake Power and Water Company,  1904, merging with the California -Nevada Electric Power Company to  become Truckee River General Electric Company in 1912.. The  water company merged once again with the Sierra Pacific Power Company from  Nevada in 1914. Between 1930 and 1935 the old water company became the Georgetown Divide Water Company. and in 1946  , the Georgetown Divide Utility District was formed as a result of  local voters, whom later purchased the water system from the Georgetown  Divide Water Company in 1952 and passing the utilities rights  to water from the upper part of the system including Gerle Creek and  Loon Lake to Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD in 1961.  The summary of the California Water Company timeline above and much more detailed discussion can be found in Lint  Brown's "Sixteen Summers on the Ditch", Feb 2003 in the chapter on  the "Georgetown Divide Water History," pages 1 through 6. Charles Creek...Named for one  of the Gerle Brothers, Charles W. Gerle (born 1823) or  possibly the baby son Charles  or Charlie Gerle of the other Gerle brother, Christoper Cyrus or C.  Gerle, born December 1870 and died February 1,1871. The creek is just to the West of  the Gerle Ranch in the meadow. <a href="ClausseniusPlaceSlabCreek.JPG">Clausenius  Site, Slab Creek, Box Mill</a> Georgetown Gazette May 12, 1910 “The editor, J.C. Horn and son Hulbert, made  a trip to Clausssenius’ place on Slab Creek, Saturday, returning  Sunday. We found Mr. Clausenius and his help busy turning out box  shook for which he has a ready sale at the mill. The fruit men  of this and adjoining counties know that Mr. C. turns out excellent  work, and many of them go up there for their box shook. In the  box factory is an automatic sawing machine which makes at least 20  cuts to the minute, so one can imagine the number of boxes that can  be produced in a day. The place is nicely located in tall  pines at an elevation of 4400 feet near Headquarters, with an  abundance of free, pure mountain water and good fishing and hunting.  Some of the sugar pine trees in the place measure as much as eight  and nine feet in diameter…They have named their place “The Park”,  and it must be seen to be appreciated…”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>The spellings of Clausenius above  vary due to editor Horn’s own writing at the time in 1910.  Claussenius Site is 2 miles South of Pino Grande on old Michigan Cal  now Sierra Pacific property, about 10 air miles miles west of  Union Valley Dam.  <a name="D">Dellar's  Cabin</a>-1889-Eldorado National Forest, Placer County, Ca   According to the Surveyor's  field notes who completed the original survey plat on the Township  including Dellar Meadow and Dellar's cabin in September, 1889, he  wrote that Deller's first name was Louis.....Louis Dellar. In fact  his full and complete name was Louis J. Deller, spelled with a "e"  vice an "a," who was born in California in 1854 according to the  official 1910 US Census. In reviewing the records of the Deller  family on the 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930  census' respectively, it would appear from the hand written census  entries from 1860 that Deller was originally either Dellar, Doller,  Daller, Duller or Deller. I believe over the years that Andrew  Deller, Louis J Deller's father elected to use the "Deller"  spelling after 1870 as the census listing for 1870 lists the Deller  family name as Deller. I think that in common use, so many people  spoke the name as Deller, that the original spelling was changed by  usage and family need to Americanize their name. The Surveyor  spelled Deller's last name both on the original plat and in his  field notes as Dellar which could very well have been the correct,  original family name when Andrew and Eva immigrated to the US around  1849 from Germany.. For this reason and through the years, the  map makers have continued to use the original spelling, In  Mountain Meadow, just above Dellar Meadow where L. Dellar  cabin was depicted in the final surveyors work and original survey  plat of the area in 1889, there are another set of ruins on the  South edge of Mountain Meadow, identified by the Forest Service ,  right on the Dellar Trail or Stockmans Trail which went on around  Bunker Hill down into the Rubicon Canyon and across to the other  side. These ruins could possibly have been an earlier cabin  belonging to the Deller family or some other early user of this very  beautiful meadow. Krista Deal of the US Forest Service believes  these cabin ruins date from approximately the 1850's. The Georgetown  Gazette got the Deller name spelled as the family was to prefer in  their article of 1882 below. A report from the June 23, 1882  edition of the Georgetown Gazette on the movement of livestock  through Georgetown to the ranches in the Sierras.........."A  great many droves of stock and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, have  passed through Georgetown during the present month for their ranges  above, and many more are yet to pass before the month ends.  Among those who have already passed up with dairy stock are: Forni  of Gold Hill, Sam Forni of this place(Georgetown), filippini & Co.,  Bacchi of Garden Valley, Schelari and Gerley(mispelled) of  Uniontown, Deller and Son near this place (Georgetown) and others  whose names we have not in mind. Besides this, no less than a  dozen large bands of sheep and goats have passed through town.  Much stock is also passing up by routes south of this place." (Gernes;  Deibert, 1999) In the above article in the  Georgetown Gazette, the editors when they referred to Deller and Son  would be referring to Louis J Deller as the "Son" of Deller and Son,  while the " Deller" was Louis' father, Andrew Deller. Andrew  Deller was married to Eva, both born in Baden, Bavaria, Germany  according to the US Census' of 1860, 1870 and 1880. Andrew was  born in 1812. Eva, his wife was born in 1830. They came  to the US around 1849 as their oldest child, Emma, was born in  Louisiana in 1849, while Louis J. was born in California in 1854  according to the 1860 census. The family arrived in California  sometime after 1849. The oldest child Emma was not listed in the  1870 census which could mean she died or had been married off.  Andrew and Eva Deller had two other children, Lenora born  approximately 1860 and Adaline or Addie born in 1865. In the  late 1890s Louis married Rose, born June 13, 1872 and had three  children, Anna born in 1897, Andrew J. in 1899 and Aninita in 1904.  When Louis's parents, Andrew and Eva passed away in the 1880s, he  took over the ranch in Greenwood township (Pilot Hill) in the  1880s. The Mountain Democrat in the Feb 10, 1912 edition of the  paper reported the real estate transfer of the Deller Ranch in  Greenwood to H.B. Stacy. This may have been only part of their  property, as they were still running cattle per the following  article in the Summer of 1912 “Andrew  Deller and Wesley Lovejoy of Cool passed through town Monday with  ninety head of cattle for their summer quarters in the higher  mountains (Dellar Cabin & Meadow, below and on the east side of  Bunker Hill). These youthful cowboys are aged 12 and 10 years  respectively and were fitted with sombreros, chaps and all the  equipment of the older cowboys. Louis Deller and Steve Lovejoy,  fathers of the boys, went up later in the day with supplies.”  June 27, 1912 Georgetown Gazette Louis J. Deller was not listed  in either the 1920 or 1930 census, while his wife Rose was. I  believe he probably passed away by 1920. By 1930, Louis' son Andrew  J Dellar had married Florence and moved to Sacramento where he  raised his family. Andrew and Rose had two children, Richard L. born  in 1923 and Lorraine W. born in 1925. On the 1930 census, Andrew J.  Deller was listed as a butcher in Sacramento, while his mother Rose  was working in Sacramento as a servant. According to the 1930  census, the Deller family lived in the city of Sacramento.  Rose Deller, Andrew's mother, died in Sacramento on August 15, 1966.  <a href="http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt9h4nc8rw"> Desolation  Valley </a>"Indian Hatie told the Rupleys about trouble between the  white men and the Indians when she was a little girl. One day her  mother hid her in the woods and told her not move. She came back  day and said the white men had driven off the Indians. the Indians  started back for Carson Valley, but there was a storm....in the  Spring they were found frozen to death. They say that is how  Desolation Valley got its name." (Yohalem, pg 214)  <img alt="" height="644" src="../images/dobbasranch1885.JPG" width="996" />   <a href="dobbasranch2.pdf">  Dobbas Ranch</a><a href="dobbasranch2.pdf">mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">    at the head ofmso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">    Pleasant Lake on Ellis Creek-1870s</a>-middle  of section 33 of Township 14/15-Chembino  J. Dobbas or CJ Dobbas or Jim Dobbas of Greenwood was a butcher,  rancher and owner of the City Market on Main Street,  Georgetown. Chembino would eventually sell the City Market to one of  his Gerle Creek neighbors, AA Francis of Georgetown and Francis Cow  Camp, another of the many Georgetown merchants and butchers.  Chembino Dobbas was born in Switzerland in 1841, immigrating to El  Dorado County after 1860.<o:p></o:p>   <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/history/williamtellbutchercompanycdobbas1864-1%20copy.jpg"> Chembino being a butcher was an early  employee with the William Tell Butcher Company of Garden  Valley and Georgetown along with John Petar, Joseph Sartor, Charles  Petar and Joseph Dobbas. </a>The company eventually  split up January 11, 1864 when each of the above employees left  William Tell and went into business for themselves when Ciprino  Pedrini and Company sold the William Tell Butcher Company to John  Petar. This change was announced in the local El Dorado County  newspapers as well as the Sacramento Daily Union via legal notices. <o:p></o:p>   Chembino married Amanda B Lovejoy of Greenwood on June 5, 1873 in El  Dorado County. Amanda was born in Maine in 1854. Amanda's  family came to California from Maine and settled in Greenwood, El  Dorado County where her father LH Lovejoy was a very prominent El  Dorado County businessman who tried his hand in a number of pursuits  such as lumberman, miner, farmer, toll road operator, blacksmith,  before acquiring Doctor Thomas' line of stage in 1869 from  Georgetown to Sacramento by way of Pilot Hill and Salmon Falls in  partnership with Page, one of his inlaws, who eventually moved into  politics and leaving the stage company to Lovejoy (Sioli,  1883). He was born in Sidney, Kennebeck County, Maine on December  18, 1820 and arriving in California in 1853, moving to El Dorado  County in 1854. Her mother Clara G (Page) Lovejoy was  born in Maine in 1829, marrying LH Lovejoy in 1848. LH Lovejoy's  family came west and joined him in El Dorado County in 1862. Besides Amanda, they had four other children,  including three boys, Thatcher, Fred, Stephen and one additional  girl named Maud. Fred, Stephen and Mary, the three youngest of  the five children were born in California, while Amanda and her  older brother Thatcher were born in Maine.<o:p></o:p>  Chembino and Amanda Dobbas had two sons, Herbert born in California  in 1874 and Arthur born two years later in 1876,  also in California.<o:p></o:p>  From a October 1883 edition of the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT which reprinted  a note from the GEORGETOWN GAZETTE<o:p></o:p>   "Jim  Dobbas and family passed through town (Georgetown) Tuesday on their  way to Greenwood. They have been at Pleasant Lake, near Loon Lake during the  summer, where Mr. D. has a stock ranch. Jim looks as seedy as a  '49er." Some clarification on the location of Dobba’s  Ranch, from August 3, 1887 reprinted in whole in the paragraph below. This refers to declaring part of  the Georgetown – Lake Tahoe Wagon Road (now mostly known as the  Rubicon Trail) a public road. Thanks are due to Cindy Baker of  PAR Environmental Services of Sacramento, California who found this  interesting paragraph below from El Dorado County records as  part of her research on the old El Dorado County Road from Wentworth  Springs via Rubicon Springs to Lake Tahoe now called the Rubicon  Trail and kindly shared it.  'The petition of E. L. Crawford and 19 other citizens and taxpayers  of Georgetown Township and taxable therein for road purposes,  praying that the Board of Supervisors declare as a public highway  that certain trail or highway in Georgetown and Lake Valley  Townships described as follows: commencing at Wentworth Springs  running up the Valley of Gurly Creek in S. S. E. course 1 ¼ miles to  a point about ¾ mile north of Loon Lake, thence S.E. 1 mile to Ellis  Canon about 1 mile north of Dobba’s Ranch at the head of Pleasant  Lake, thence nearly the same course to the pass near old trail about  2 miles, then about 2 miles nearly S.E. to and leaving Spider Lake  1/4 mile south, crossing the Little Rubicon at the outlet of Buck  Lake, thence nearly E. ¾ mile to a point about 1/3 mile north of  Rock Bound Lake, thence Northerly to Potter’s ford on the Rubicon  River about ¾ miles, thence down the westerly bank of the Rubicon  River ¾ mile to Hunsuckers Spring connecting with the Hunsucker  Grade, having been considered and it appearing that said trail or  highway should be declared a public highway, and there being no  objections made thereto, it is ordered that the said trail or road  as herein before described be and the same hereby is declared to be  a public highway and ordered to be recorded as such" (El Dorado  County Board of Supervisors Minutes n.d.:300; County Road Book:210). The Dobbas Ranch on the Northeast side of Loon Lake and at the  head of Pleasant Lake where Ellis Creek comes into it. The  ranch probably made use of the considerable low level open meadow and  mountain marsh around Pleasant and Loon Lakes which was  conducive for cattle use during  the summer particularly before the California Water Company  installed the temporary log dam on the outlet of Loon Laketo Gerle  Creek as well as Pleasant Lake up stream from Loon Lake on  Ellis Creek which fed Gerle Creek and Loon Lake in 1873 to see if  they could develop more storage water and support their business  needs for water throughout the summer dry season in Georgetown and  the lower western half of El Dorado County. These log dams increased the size of Loon  and Pleasant Lakes in the summers after  1873, thereby proving the California Water Company business model  for increased water supplies which would have decreased Chembino's  grazing area. With the completion of the granite block dam at  Loon Lake by 1883, the property which Chembino had been using was  more restricted in the summer months due to the much larger Loon and  Pleasant Lakes.<o:p></o:p>  Chembino or Jim Dobbas was a member of the Masons in Pilot Hill and  very active in their affairs. Amanda Dobbas was very active in  the local Grange and was an officer in the local chapter. In the  early 1890s, Chembino and his wife, the Greenwood Butcher, kindly  donated a lot in Greenwood for the building of a new Catholic Church  since local Catholics had been meeting in the Winkelman Hotel for  church services since 1880. The church was finished and dedicated in  1891 (Gardner, 1993, 2002); Upton, 1940). Author Georgia  Gardner made a slight error listing "Mr. And Mrs. Arthur  Dobbas, the town butcher" as the parties who donated the lot, when  Arthur was barely age 17 in 1891 and certainly not married.  Chembino moved his family and business to Rocklin, California,  becoming a partner with a distant cousin to his wife's father, who  was also a butcher, named Lovejoy, opening the Dobbas & Lovejoy Meat  Market. 1893 was not a kind year for Chembino Dobbas as  you will read. On April 20, 1893 the Georgetown Gazette reported  Chembino was seen limping while walking on the streets of Georgetown  due to a horse cart accident on a road near Pilot Hill.  Unfortunately the business was lost in the terrific fire which  burned almost the entire northern half of the town of Rocklin on May  25, 1893. Not long after this, Chembino died very unexpectedly  during a Sunday evening walk of a heart attack on August 13, 1893 in  Rocklin. His wife Amanda remarried in 1894, marrying Charles W.  Lovejoy from Auburn, California.<o:p></o:p>  <o:p><a href="../images/BunkerHillQuadrange7.5min1953.pdf">Dobbas  Cow Camp French Meadows</a> During research I discovered that  Dobbas family had a second ranch called Dobbas Cow Camp which was located  under the lake near the dam at French Meadows in southern Tahoe  National Forest, Placer County on the  banks of the Middle Fork of the American River which existed until the<a href="../images/MiddleForkAmericanRiverProjectRelicenseMap%203-1930.pdf">  construction of the French Meadows Dam in the mid 1960s</a>. The ranch is clearly shown on early maps.  I find it most interesting that both of the Dobbas Sierra cow  camps/ranches were lost to new dam construction of the early 1960s.  This location was more accessible for the  Dobbas family especially with their butcher business moving to  Rocklin in  the later years of the 19th Century. Arthur Dobbas and family  settled in Auburn which made their summer cattle operations in  French Meadows quite accessible via Auburn and Foresthill. The power plant licensing proposal  map (above link ) showing historical locations within the French  Meadows lake and dam area uses the 1930 map of the area to outline  the locations for this new power project.</o:p>  A<o:p>ccording to an <a href="../images/dobbascattlemanarticle1963.pdf">Oxnard  PRESS-COURIER Newspaper article of August 30, 1963,</a> Bernard Dobbas was the owner of Dobbas Cow Camp  in French Meadows and had been holding up the building of the French Meadows Dam and  Lake due to mitigation issues associated with items the contractors  and the utility were to provide inorder to take his 1 1/2 acres in  the Meadow along with the historic cow camp buildings the family had  originally erected there. Bernard was the grandson of  Chembino or Jim Dobbas and the son of Arthur Dobbas. Bernard was born in 1913 and was a star  basket ball player at CalDavis besides being a life long cattleman  like his father and grandfather. Bernard's father Arthur was born in  1876. Although the article  says he had been running cattle at the cow camp since 1939 which  would be around  the time he graduated from CalDavis, infact he, his father and  grandfather had been cattlemen and butchers since the middle of the  19th Century in El Dorado and Placer Counties, making use of the  area surrounding this meadow for summer grazing like his father  before him and his grandfather and father did on Pleasant Lake.</o:p>  <o:p> <img alt="" height="311" src="../images/dobbascowcampfrenchmeadows.jpg" width="729" /></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p> <img alt="" height="612" src="../images/doylesranch1873.JPG" width="635" /></o:p>  <o:p> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/history/historypages/amosbowmap1873a.jpg"> mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"">  <a href="../images/bowmanmap1873DoylesRanch_edited-1.tif">Doyles Ranch,  </a>  <a href="../images/bowmanmap1873DoylesRanch_edited-1.tif">  Southeast of Loon and Pleasant Lakes-1873</a></a></o:p><a href="../images/bowmanmap1873DoylesRanch_edited-1.tif"> </a>  His ranch is identified on the Amos Bowman Map of the Georgetown  Divide holdings of the California Water Company, published in 1873  as well as on the <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1"> G. M. Wheeler Atlas Sheet 47 B, D, E Calif, Nev 1876/79</a> .  The info on the Wheeler Atlas was kindly volunteered by   Doug   Walker of the El Dorado County Historical Society and El Dorado  County Museum. The ranch was located on the trail between the southwest part of  Loon Lake over to Tell's Ranch right at the crossing of the South  Fork of the Rubicon River, called "Little South Fork" on the map.  The ranch location is but a 1/2 mile above present day Stone Cellar.  <a href="../images/doylesranch1873.JPG">Doyle's Ranch</a> is a long  time research effort to  learn more about who Doyle was. <o:p>Doyle, whoever he was, most certainly had a lower ranch on the  Georgetown Divide, but any information or identification of that  location or background on Doyle, continues to elude me. The  search for Doyle is ongoing and anyone with any information on who  he might have been, please drop me a note. The 1873 map was obtained from the UC  Berkeley Water Resources Library from their collection on the  California Water Company. The California Water Company of San  Francisco originally hired Amos Bowman, a  Canadian engineer to do a full survey of the company holdings on the  Georgetown Divide resulting in a formal report which included this  map to the Board of  Directors in 1874. His 1873 map is the definitive map of early El  Dorado County, California and along with Sioli are the two major  sources of early history in the county.</o:p>  <o:p> <img alt="" height="643" src="../images/bowmanmap1873DoylesRanch_edited-1.jpg" width="642" /></o:p>    <a href="Doyle's%20Ranch-1873%20Eldroado%20National%20Forest.pdf"> Doyle's Ranch</a>   <a name="E">Ellis  Creek</a> Probably named for Jock Ellis, a Squaw Valley dairyman and  sheep herder whose name is on Ellis Peak, Ellis Lake and Ellis  Valley in Placer County above the Georgetown-Lake Tahoe road.  See also <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1"> G.M Wheeler Atlas 47B,D,E Sheet Calif, Nev 1876/79</a> for  Ellis Peak. Jock  Ellis had a dairy on the West side of Ellis Peak for many years  before he gave it up to shift to raising sheep. Ellis would sell  during the summer months all the butter, milk and cream he could  generate to those passing on the Georgetown-Lake Tahoe road as well  as the Lake Tahoe community. (James, 1915)This creek flows out of  Bugle Lake into Loon Lake. In the days prior to the new Loon Lake  Dam in 1962, the creek entered what was then Pleasant Lake. Pleasant  Lake is now part of the new Loon Lake. Where Ellis Creek crosses the  Georgetown-Wentworth Springs-Rubicon Springs-Lake Tahoe 4WD road is  where the new (since the 1980s) Jeepers 4WD trail joins from Loon  Lake Dam.  <a href="aafranciscowcamp.jpg" name="F"> Francis  Cow Camp-</a><a href="aafranciscowcamp.jpg">AA  Francis-1872s</a>,Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca In 1872, Allessandro A.  Fransioli, one of several Swiss-Italians to establish ranches in the  area, constructed a log bunkhouse at Francis Cow Camp. Born in  Canton Tieno, Switzerland, May 29, 1817, Alessandro came to America  with his father Joseph, arriving in California in 1852. Like many  others before them, they became miners on the Georgetown Divide with  some success. Allessandro's father Joseph returned to  Switzerland where he died at age 68, leaving his son alone in  California. Allessandro continued to engage in mining, before  leaving the Divide for San Francisco where he became a fruit and  cigar merchant in 1857. In 1858, he returned to the Georgetown  Divide, changing his focus and got into the butcher business. He  eventually purchased the business from the firm he was working for,  continuing in the business very successfully for another 25 years.  Additionally, he owned a saloon and livery business in Georgetown.  Alex Francis also owned a sheep ranch near Folsom. Georgetown  Gazette Jan 14, 1881 He had 1500 sheep on this ranch  as well, again reported in the Georgetown Gazette June 3, 1881(Gernes;  Deibert, 1999). In a late 1880 edition of  the Georgetown Gazette, a quarter page advertisement for the  "Bonanza", on Main Street, Georgetown was displayed. "Verbiage  in the ad included the following recommendation from the proprietor,  A. A. Francis...."Nothing but the finest brands of Liquors, Cigars  and Tobacco kept. Best French Brandy "The Pete" Whisky, Gin,  rum, bitters of all kinds, Mountain Brewery Lager for sale by the  bottle or gallon. Club Room with Pool Table." In a late  1890 advertisement in the Georgetown Gazette, AA Francis ran a near  quarter page ad for his butcher business called "City Market, Main  Street, Georgetown, A. A. Francis . The editors of the Gazette  referred to Francis as Georgetown's Butcher. Later in a  editors note from the July 19, 1900 edition of the Georgetown  Gazette, it was reported that....."Alex Francis has decorated his  place of business with a handsome new sign - Arcade Saloon - from  the brush of Trask, the artist."(Gernes, Deibert, 1999) In  1870, "Alex" Fransioli married Florina Forni, daughter of another  local Swiss-Italian immigrant. They had seven children. He  eventually retired in 1897. (Jerrett, 1963; Errington, 2000)  However the retirement was due in part to the fire of 1897,  whereupon, he soon reopened his butcher shop after finding it  difficult to "remain idle" (Morgan;Rambeau; Wurm, 2003).  Review of these early maps shows that AA Fransioli's name was  shortened or misspelled to read AA Francis, which may have been  related to how he was commonly referred. For a picture of Alex  Francis, see Rambeau, 1998, page 21 for a group photo of the  I.O.O.F. lodge in Georgetown, 1889. There is a group picture showing  members Alex Francis, Charles Forni, Dan Jerrett, Gus Orelli and  Charles Wentworth, all significant men in the history of Gerle Creek Here are some 1973 pictures of  Francis Cow Camp, picturing my wife Pat, sister Karen looking over  the historic cabin and the ranch site including the original cattle  loading ramp made of logs.......<a href="aafranciscabin1.jpg">Pic#1,</a>  <a href="aafranciscabin2.jpg">Pic#2,</a>  <a href="aafranciscabin3.jpg">Pic#3, </a> I recently obtained a copy of  the Georgetown Historical Walking Tour Brochure which includes a  wonderful illustration of AA Francis' Georgetown home 1880 which is  on Church Street in Georgetown. Jacqueline Morgan did the drawing  while Sheryl Rambeau was the historian and author, with Bonnie Wurm  doing the layout in the original brochure, 2003  <img border="0" src="aafrancishouse2.jpg" width="406" height="307" /> (Morgan; Rambeau; Wurm, 2003)   <a href="Francis_Lake.jpg">Francis Lake </a> Named for  the Francis family Georgetown Gazette. <a href="Fig-6-Loon-Lake1.jpg">Lake is about halfway between the old  Mary's Lake in the West end of Loon Lake (Francis Fill Dam) and  Francis Cow Camp on Rocky Basin Creek where it drains into Gerle  Creek.</a> The actual picture of Francis Lake is from the Wikipedia  note on Francis Lake. Recent Francis  Cow Camp Ranch building pictures of the remains of the ranch  buildings taken October, 2001.<a href="franciscc.jpg">  Pic#1,</a>  <a href="franciscc2.jpg">Pic#2, </a>  <a href="franciscc3.jpg">Pic#3 </a> Francis CC after collapse winter of 90-91, July 91, <a href="franciscc91.jpg">Pic#4</a> Forni-Van Vleck-Orelli-Bassi-Swift-Rupley  Families- A little history and background researched and written by  Jonni Hill-Tanner. This edited e-mail historical review of local  ranching families was the result of the exchange of between Jonni  and I on a wedding notice from the pages of the Mountain Democrat.  This e-mail is from April 4, 2004. You will find this a very  interesting read and in the near future, apart of the book she has  written on our local mountain ranching families................... "In regards to the Forni/Van  Vleck connection: This came from the mouth of both the Forni and the  Van Vleck families...First of all...where to start? Samuel Q Forni  was the father of Virginia (Forni) Bassi, wife of Giosue (pronounced  Jisuway) Bassi who was the owner and builder of what is now the  Upper Bassi. 160 acres of the upper Bassi was purchased from John  Ramelli in 1867 and an adjoining 160 acres was purchased from Daniel  Lombardi in 1889 completing what is now known as the Upper Bassi.  Alex Forni was Samuel's nephew, making Virginia, obviously, his  aunt. Alex's father was Dennis, Samuels brother. Dennis and another  brother had gone to the area between what is now El Dorado and  Plymouth and bought a lot of land for ranching there. They didn't  stay in the Georgetown area like Samuel or for that matter, a lot of  the Orelli's. Alex must have liked the area where his Uncle Sam  lived better than where his father was at. Alex returned to the  Georgetown area and bought out most of the Fillipini-Pedrini  holdings from Rinaldo Fillipini, both in Garden Valley and also the  Tells Peak Mountain Ranch which is now the Van Vleck. (Just a side  bar incase you don't already know this: Ciperano Pedrini changed his  name here in America to William Tell because he wanted his name to  sound a little more American...That is where the name Tell's Peak,  Creek and the Tell's Peak Mountain Ranch originated. Prior to the  sale of the property to the Van Vlecks in 1933, this is the name to  reference for the property.) At the time of purchase of the high  country ranch the acreage was approximately 2,240. Alex was a very  successful cattle rancher and the Forni beef was some of the best in  the county. Alex had a meat market in Placerville located  somewhere on the west side of main street near to what is now the  bell tower. The Forni's owned the Tells Peak Mountain Ranch for  almost 18 years when Alex died on September 30, 1927. Alex's widow  Nettie and his only child, son Loren, then just 20, tried gallantly  to keep the Forni holding in tact. They were too wide spread as they  also had sizeable holding somewhere in between Galt and Latrobe in  the Sacramento Valley. This has to tie into the Orelli connection as  the one of the Orelli's also had a sizeable ranch in that area too  as well as the Swift family. In 1932, Nettie made the decision to  sell the high country ranch but it was a very bitter sale. She  didn't want to relinquish it but too many of Alex's business dealing  were made on his word and reputation and when he was no longer there  to insure success, too many of his investors wanted to take their  money and run. They didn't have much faith in a widow and a wet  behind the ears kid of 20. Nettie made the sale of the upper ranch  very hard on the Van Vlecks. They were unable to take possession of  the main ranch buildings until late in 1933 and it almost turned  into a war of wills. Oren Van Vleck, Stanley's father, built a small  cabin out in the back meadow so they at least had a line shack to  use until the completion of all the negotiations of final sale on  the property. I saw the remains of the cabin which was there in a  pile when I first came to the ranch and that was when I first heard  some of this history. Dennis Forni, Jr...only Grandson of Alex, who  lives right on Forni Road in Placerville, right behind the  fairgrounds property which, by the way, was Forni land at one time  too, told me the Forni side of the story and showed me pictures of  him as a two year old sitting on the front grass in front of the  ranch house. The pictures are more than interesting because they  show the ranch house before the big picture window was installed  years later by the Van Vlecks. Stanley inherited the upper ranch  when his father passed away. He(Standley) had one too many failed  marriages and his last divorce prior to 1974 was his financial  downfall. He had to sell off a lot of property to settle the  divorce. One of his decisions was to sell the ranch that had been in  the Van Vleck family for almost 40 years to William J Pendola out of  Grass Valley for the tidy little sum of $2 million dollars.   The Orelli is a relationship  to the Bassi connection. Virginia Forni's mother, Florinda was an  Orelli before her first marriage to Joseph Fripp. He died and  Florinda married Sam Forni. Virginia had three sisters. Louisa,  Josephine (Swift)...hence the Swift connection, Adelaide (Fredricks),  one brother...Amelio who is buried in the Georgetown Cemetery and  one Half brother Joseph Fripp. Virginia died in child birth at the  ripe old age of 24 leaving Gisoue with three small children. Daniel,  Josephine(Campenosi) and Kitty Angelina (Davis). Gisoue sent his  children to live with relatives in Oakland and he never remarried.  Daniel returned as a young adult to help his father but the two  girls remained in the bay area. Daniel married Annie Grother of  Lotus. They had three kids. Joshua, Lillian (Viccini) and Marcella (Maninwaring).  To the best of my knowledge Marcella is still alive but I do know  her son Dan and his wife Roberta. I have been in touch with them and  Bert has offered to provide all the old pictures and information to  me on the Bassi part of the story.  The Swift connection to the  Bassi came into the picture when Daniel sold the upper Bassi to  Michigan California Lumber Company and a cousin, Rufus Swift was  able to acquire the lands back in a land trade. Rufus had three  daughters who inherited the property on his death. Phyllis Swift  (Williams, Fox) who has now passed away continued her fathers  business and used the upper Bassi like her father did. The  Upper Bassi is now in control of the 13 grandchildren of Rufus  Swift.  The Rupley/ Askew information  you mentioned about the quiet wedding at the home of Alex  Forni might be a connection from Alex's wife Nettie. Somewhere in  all my things I have her maiden name and some of the connections she  had to all of this history. I will have to go in search for all of  that. Jonni "   <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/lot24.htm" name="G">GCSHT-1953/1957- Lot 24-GA Brattland Family Cabin-1958-Old and  Current Pictures</a> Georgetown Gazette(GG)- Mountain  Democrat(MD) Newspaper Reports on interesting events on the  Georgetown Divide from 1860 to the Present..............Gernes,  Diebert, 1999 GG June 19, 1890 "Theodore  Schlein, while engaged in building a new flume for the California  Water Company at South Fork on Wednesday 11 inst., the flume , not  being securely braced, went down precipitating Mr. Schlein upon the  rocks, severely injuring his hip and side. He was brought down  Saturday for treatment. He is under the care of the Odd Fellows."  GG June 10, 1898 "Among  the stockman who passed through our town the past two weeks for  their alpine ranges were: Murphy Bors. of Weaver Creek, for their  range at Mckinney's(Lake Tahoe); G. Bassi for silver Creek: Sam and  Amelio Forni, for Forni's(Stone Celler, Butler Meadow, Fornis's  Ranch(Tell's Ranch, Fillipinni's eventual Van Vleck). Wm. Bachin and  Son from Garden Valley; McCollough from near Folsom, for South Fork;  Rodoni Bros: Butler from near Folsom, with sheep: Jake Drairer from  Cool." Georgetown  Wentworth Springs Rubicon Springs Lake Tahoe Road This road was described by  James in 1915 as a "stern road, that would make the "rocky road to  Dublin" look like a "flowery bed of ease. The Georgetown Road  is an important and historic feature of the Tahoe Region, for it  connects Georgetown with Virginia City, and it was the former place  so many Tahoe pioneers came." James, 1915, pg 220,347. In a short informational note  in the Tahoe Tattler in the Fall of 1881, the current owner of  Rubicon Springs reports on plans for the road........"Hunsucker  Bros' proprietors of the Rubicon Springs, say they will have a road  open to Georgetown next year, to give visitors a better chance to  see the wonders of that wonderful place and to expedite the ways and  means of getting out the famous soda water. Up to date the  demand has been much greater than the supply."(Gernes; Deibert,  1999) Later in the Georgetown Gazette  edition of July 1st, 1885, the editors offer their thanks to to Mr.  Hunsucker for this personal effort in getting the road from the  Rubicon Springs to Lake Tahoe in serviceable  condition.............."Good! the new road from Rubicon  Springs to Lake Tahoe is in splendid order, and Mr. Hunsucker  deserves much credit for the good job in its construction.  Johnny Poor, who is running the stage on that road now sends a  four-in-hand down the road as though it was level ground. At  the Springs the thermometer during July 5, 6, and 7th stood during  the warmest part of the day at 85 degrees. Since the 4th the  health and pleasure seekers are coming in more freely. There  remains only a short piece of road to be made between the Rubicon  and Wentworth's to complete the wagon road from Georgetown to Lake  Tahoe."(Gernes; Deibert, 1999) Even with the best efforts of  the Hunsuckers and Wentworths, the road remained unfinished in 1887  when the editor summarized the history and need for the road to be  finished by the county in the July 16, 1887 edition of the  Georgetown Gazette..............."During the past twenty years there  has been expended, by the citizens of the Georgetown Divide in  opening a wagon road to Tahoe, no less than $10,000. It is now  completed to Wentworth Springs, 42 miles from Georgetown, and from  Lake Tahoe to Hunsucker's Springs (Rubicon Springs) about 10 miles.  leaving about 10 miles between those points to be opened. the  road has always been free to anyone who desired to travel it, and no  person ever received back any of the money expended. To complete the  road will cost at least $3000. To raise that amount by private  subscription has been found impossible; yet a portion could be  raised, and if some assistance had been rendered by the County, the  road could have been opened this year."(Gernes; Deibert, 1999) In a further very short note or  tidbit in the July 12, 1888 edition of the Georgetown Gazette, the  editors reported........"Arrangements have been made for completion  of the Georgetown and Tahoe wagon road."(Gernes, Deibert, 1999) During the Summer of 1888, the  Gazette reported on the progress of the Lake Tahoe road completion  in the August 2, 1888 edition as follows.........."The wagon road  now being completed from Georgetown to Lake Tahoe will make this the  most direct and best route for people coming from the lower Counties  who have not visited this great lake. Georgetown being a  central point is a very convenient place for procuring supplies for  a mountain trip, and we believe that goods can be brought at as low  figures here as in any mountain town." (Gernes, Deibert, 1999) Finally, in the late Fall of  1888, the final part to the Georgetown to Tahoe wagon  road was completed and reported upon in the October 4, 1888  paper..........."The wagon road is now completed through to Lake  Tahoe from Georgetown, so that loaded teams can pass over to the  lake. With tow daily stage lines plying between Placerville  and Auburn, making Georgetown an important junction, it is believed  that by next Spring business will justify a daily line between  Georgetown and Lake Tahoe." (Gernes; Deibert, 1999) The continuing condition of the  Georgetown to Lake Tahoe Road via Wentworth Springs and Rubicon  Springs was in yearly need of work to keep it in passable condition.  the attraction of Lake Tahoe and its resorts as well as Wentworth  and Rubicon Springs made it necessary to keep the pressure on the  county supervisors for road maintenance. The following letter was, I  am sure, a sincere request for support for the county infrastructure  but it should also be noted that Judge Bennett was running for  re-election at the time of this letter. This letter may have also  been a means of reminding the citizens of Georgetown of his name and  his obvious civic interest in the county. He was subsequently  re-elected shortly here after. In a letter to the editor of  the Georgetown Gazette of September 14, 1896 by Judge M.P. Bennett  of Georgetown, he wrote......"Most residents of the county are  familiar with the natural advantages of the Placerville road, the  liberal hospitality of the Inns along the way, and the climax of  scenic grandure, when from the western summit of the Sierras, Lake  Tahoe, fifteen hundred feet below, breaks into view....there has  been for many years a road from Georgetown to Wentworth Springs and  despite some pretty steep hills, it is a good mountain road. I  first traveled it in the summer of 1877 and it was a most delightful  renewal of my early impression through the mighty  timber....Wentworth Springs....owned by Nathan Wentworth whose well  built hotel is in a beautiful valley, in which a number of  sparkling, health-giving springs are an attraction that annually  bring thither numerous tourists from this county as well as  Sacramento and Placer counties. Many stop here and venture no  further because the wonderful beyond, like all the fabled wonders of  antiquity, is approachable through only the most perilous way.  From Wentworth Springs to the Rubicon Springs, is not exceeding ten  miles, measured in feet and inches, but a mile of good road is a  mile, and how far a mile of this is, I do not dare to state.  Some portions of it are called "Sluicebox" and one of our party  designated it "Devil's Sluice Box" to go with "Hell Hole", not far  off. To make this road passable, from three to five hundred  dollars should be spent on it and the investment would be a most  judicious business proposition for El Dorado county.....As  McKinney's stands for progress on the western shore, so does Tallac  with its beautiful new hotel building, at the south end of the Lake,  but there is woeful want of land communication between the two  places. A good road is constructed from Tahoe City to  McKinney's, and from Tallac to Brigham's, and a wagon has been  through from McKinney's to Mr. Frost's Rubican Park, but from that  place to Dr. Brigham's, a distance , I think, of probably five or  six miles, there is no wagon road....We have in Lake Tahoe one of  the greatest natural wonders and beauties of the world....does not  fairness to the North Divide...demand that the approach to the Lake  over the Georgetown road be made safe and comfortable?....(signed)  M.P. Bennett"(Gernes, Deibert, 1999) I recently came across this  local <a href="http://liddicoat.net/Rubicon/index.htm"> Georgetown-Placerville Liddicoat Family history </a>showing their  early involvement with using Jeeps on the road from Georgetown to  Lake Tahoe via Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs with wonderful  pictures of Wentworth Springs in 1946 along with detailed pictures  of their Jeep travel on the road including historic pictures of  Rubicon Springs and the bridge before the steel bridge and  after..........This website is a must review for a look back 60  years plus at Rubicon Springs and road to Lake Tahoe.  <a href="pacificdistrictmap1950.jpg">Gerle Creek(Gurley)  </a>The creek was named for  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/history/bowmanmap1873.pdf">early  El Dorado County settler, Christopher C. or Cyrus Gerle,</a> a Swedish immigrant  who arrived before 1860(Gudde)but in later records(Mason) it  indicates he arrived in California in 1854. The youngest of two Gerle brothers who came to California in 1850's,Christopher Cyrus Gerle  was born in Sweden in 1833, marrying his wife, Mary Clausen in  Coloma, El Dorado County in 1865. Christoper C. Gerle became a  naturalized US Citizen on August 19, 1861 at the El Dorado County  Courthouse in Placerville, California.   normal">Mary was daughter to Peter (also called Paul) and Mary Clausen, who  emigrated from Heliogoland in 1853, was born in Heliogoland in 1849.  The Clausen’s had three daughters with the oldest Anna  marrying Jasper P. Jurgen’s in their native Heliogoland on October  3, 1852. The newlyweds  decided to leave for California making the trip their honeymoon.  Eight other members of the immediate family decided to head  to California with the newlyweds, including Anna’s parents, Peter  and Mary Clausen, their sons, Numel and Paul, their other daughters  Margareta and Mary and Numel’s wife.  The other two making the trip were Chris and John Jacobsen  who were distant relatives of the family. The Jacobsen’s other  brother, Alex Jacobsen, came the next year to California and later  married Margareta Clausen in Coloma. Jasper  P Jurgens and his wife Anna Clausen Jurgens settled in Pinchem on  Weber Creek, El Dorado County(Baldwin, 1975).<o:p></o:p> normal"> The ship voyage from Hamburg Germany to San Francisco around the  horn of South America took six months.  Once in San Francisco, the group took a river steamer to  Sacramento and eventually on to Mississippi Bar, which is now Fair  Oaks, California, staying there until 1854 and then continuing their  journey to Weber Creek and Pinchem in El Dorado County (Baldwin,  1975).<o:p></o:p>  normal"> Peter Clausen was born in England 1806 and his wife Mary was  born in Heliogoland in 1815.  While our US Census records show the Peter Clausen indicated  he was from England, this may be due to the British capturing Heliogoland  in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars, with Heliogoland remaining a  possession till England returned the island to Germany in 1890.<o:p>  It could also mean he was in fact born in England and moved to  Heliogoland as well.</o:p>  normal"> Peter Clausen was a boot maker and cobbler by trade.  He and his wife setup a cobbler shop in Coloma where he  worked for years before retiring and moving back to Weber Creek,  where he passed away in 1884, with his wife Mary Clausen passing  away 4 years later in 1888 (Baldwin, 1975).  Christopher C.  Gerle and his wife, Mary initially had two boys, Peter C. Gerle,  born Wednesday December 22, 1869 and dying Wednesday, February  1,1871 and a second boy, Charles (Charlie) Gerle, born  Wednesday December 14, 1870 and dying Wednesday February 1,1871, on  the same day as his brother.  Their deaths were reported in the SACRAMENTO DAILY UNION in  the death notice section, "At  Coloma, Feb. 1st, Peter C, son of Mary and Chris Gerle 2 years, 1  month and 11 day. At Coloma, Feb. 1st, Charlie, infant son of  Mary and Chris Gerle, aged 7 weeks."  Both are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Coloma with their uncle,  Charles W. or William Gerle. Christopher C. Gerle  and his wife Mary later moved to Plymouth, in Amador County,  California, in 1877 (Mason) having a third son George and three  girls, Mary, Charlotte and Maggie. The 1880 census indicates  Christopher was working as a laborer in Plymouth. By 1881,  Christopher was working as a Mason in the Empire Mine in Plymouth  (Mason) .  <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=W59BAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327&dq=Empire+Mine+Plymouth+California&source=bl&ots=ryitQoBcxy&sig=tjrJIFVDuz4LK7Xwu0mk7T5zvuQ&hl=en&ei=f-1ES7bHMJWsMfXxuPEB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBTgU"> The Empire Mine in Plymouth </a>is not to be confused with the  Empire Mine of Grass Valley. The Empire Mine became the Pacific Mine  in the early 1880s with new ownership. Christopher C. Gerle  died in Plymouth, Amador County February 26, 1885 at age  51 as reported in a death notice in the March 9, 1885 issue of the  SACRANTO DAILY UNION.  <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Gerle&GSfn=charles&GSmn=William&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=6&GSob=n&GRid=6723232&">Charles W. Gerle was the oldest brother, born in Sweden in  July, 1823 and  dying March 4, 1907,</a> Charles W. or CW Gerle became a  naturalized US Citizen on March 9, 1858 at the El Dorado County  Courthouse in Placerville, California. Charles W. Gerle arrived in Coloma in 1851  according to the 1860 census while his younger brother, Christopher  C. Gerle arrived three years later in 1854. Both were living  together as bachelors in 1860 and identified themselves as miners in  1860 census. Eventually Charles W. Gerle lived in Coloma with  Minnie Johnson, who was previously married to an Englishman and had  two boys Juan Johnson and Charles W. Johnson in Sweden, with a  third child George Marian. Johnson, born in Coloma in 1878. Later George  and the other children took  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ipZd1-j5bM&feature=my_favorites&list=FLyzI5aVvTGVUd-uy5LFZkUw">Charles Gerle's name, inheriting the  ranch property of Uniontown Coloma Pilot Hill. The Georgetown  Gazette would always refer in later years to George M Gerle of Pilot  Hill.</a>“C.W. Gerle (Charles  William Gerle of Uniontown/Gerlees Ranch on Gerle Creek) was  plaintiff and David Croft et al. was defendants in an action to  recover Gerle’s mining claim and $100 damages July 1, 1861.  The jury determined that Gerle owned the claim, but did not award  the $100 damages”<o></o><o:p></o:p> <o> </o>From Justice Court Records of Coloma,  stored in the California State Library California History Room’s  Collections between 1859 to 1888 compiled by Paul Nesbitt,  PhD…published in the April 22, 1988 issue of the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT  Newspaper page A-8<o></o><o:p></o:p>  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ipZd1-j5bM&feature=my_favorites&list=FLyzI5aVvTGVUd-uy5LFZkUw">According to original Land  Patent records, Charles W. Gerle filed on 4 pieces of property  within MD 11N, 09E, sections 10 & 3, of which 3 pieces were in 10  and 1 piece in 3 in Uniontown, El Dorado County, Ca.</a>. The  attached map outlines these sections which are basically Northwest  or down the South Fork of the American River from Coloma and  Uniontown. Their ranch was most certainly on the North side  associated with the land along the section line between 3 and 10.  The land is flat and was close or on the river directly. The Gerle  Brothers needed that water for their livestock. When they  drove their cattle to their cabin (Gerles) on Gerle Creek, they  drove it Northeast up to Georgetown and then on the road to Gerles  on Gerle Creek each Summer. These land patents were issued in 1874,  1879 and 1892 to Charles W. Gerle by the General Land Office.  <img border="0" src="Gerle%20Brothers%20Ranch%20Uniontown.JPG" width="655" height="460" />  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ipZd1-j5bM&feature=my_favorites&list=FLyzI5aVvTGVUd-uy5LFZkUw">The Gerle brothers ranch in Uniontown Coloma  </a>outlined above is  now contained within the <a href="http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/folsom/cronan.html">Cronan  Ranch Regional Trails Park </a>in Pilot Hill California now  administered by the BLM. Currently one of the walking and biking  trail loops within this very large park along the Northside of the  South Fork of the American River is referred to as the "Gerle Loop"  reflecting the three Gerle brothers original settlement there in the  1850s. Anyone with information on the Gerle brothers who  would like to share should contact <a href="mailto:jbarnes@blm.gov"> James Barnes, the BLM Archeologist </a>in charge of the current  research in this area. According to the <a href="mdsept301916[1].jpg">Mountain  Democrat of Sept 30, 1916,</a> the Gerle Brothers bought their ranch  property (Gerles/ Wagner Brothers/Lawyers Cow Camp) on Gerle Creek  from the Indians in the early sixties(1860s). By 1877, Christopher  Cyrus Gerle and his family had moved to Plymouth in Amador County. Gerle  Family sources indicate that Christopher may have lost his portion  of the Gerle Ranch in Uniontown and on Gerle Creek in a poker game  in Carson City to his own brother Charles W. Gerle, which would  account for his move with family to Plymouth. Another possible  reason for this move is it came shortly after Christopher and Mary  lost their two infant sons which may have also convinced them to move as  well to make a fresh start. In 1889, the California Water and  Mining Company purchased the Charles W. Gerle's interest in  the property and had the land surveyed. The survey reported that the  property was swampland and overflow lands which made it the property  of the State of California. In 1895, CM Fitzgerald, the  superintendent of the California Water and Mining company, was  granted a patent to the 440 acres of property in section 36 of  T.14N, R. 14E.. He then deeded it to his company and who in turn  deeded to each of the other companies who have taken ownership  since. The remaining part of Gerle's Ranch on Gerle Creek....the eastern  part was still owned by Charles W Gerle and remained in his family,  being passed to his wife Minnie and son George M Gerle after Charles  death in 1907. Later after the death of George M Gerle in 1917, George's  wife Aileen became the owner of Gerle's Ranch property on Gerle  Creek, eventually deeding the ranch property in 1935  to George's two younger brothers, Thomas H Gerle and Grant G. Gerle(Chris  Hankins, 2010)  Thomas passed away in 1949 while Grant Gerle died in 1956. In 1964,  Bruce Wadsworth of Georgetown bought the eastern part of the Gerle  Ranch , 330 acres, on Gerle Creek and held it until it sold in late  2008/early 2010 to the Sacramento Municpal Utility District or SMUD. The Georgetown Gazette reported  in their August 20, 1880 edition about Charles Gerle's trial in  justice court.........."The trial of Chas. Gurley (misspelled), for  drawing a rifle on James Smith, took place in Justice McLains court  last Saturday. Dist Attorney Ingram represented the  prosecution, with Jas. Smith and Chas. Harris as witnesses for the  complaint, while Gurley testified for himself. The weight of  the testimony told against Gurley, but the matter was compromised by  Gurley pleading guilty to simple assault and paying a fine of  $50.00."Gernes; Deibert, 1999 A report from the June 23, 1882  edition of the Georgetown Gazette on the movement of livestock  through Georgetown to the ranches in the Sierras.........."A great  many droves of stock and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, have passed  through Georgetown during the present month for their ranges above,  and many more are yet to pass before the month ends. Among  those who have already passed up with dairy stock are: Forni of Gold  Hill, Sam Forni of this place (Georgetown), Filippini & Co., Bacchi  of Garden Valley, Schelari and Gerley(mispelled) of Uniontown,  Deller and Son near this place (Georgetown) and others whose names  we have not in mind. Besides this, no less than a dozen large  bands of sheep and goats have passed through town. Much stock  is also passing up by routes south of this place." (Gernes; Deibert,  1999) The  <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1">Gerle Brothers</a> used their <a href="jacobsens1895.jpg">Sierra  ranch on Gerle Creek</a> (Gurley; Lawyer's Cow Camp; & Wagner  Bros.) from the early 1860s to raise hogs and cattle during  the Summer months, hauling the pork products over the Sierra's on  the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs/Rubicon Springs/Lake Tahoe Road to  sell in Virginia City, Nevada. The earliest maps including  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/bowmanmap1873.pdf">Bowman's  1874 Map </a>of the whole Georgetown Divide show their ranch and  the creek identified with Gerle misspelled and written as it  sounded; "Gurley." Gerle's Ranch dates from the early 1860s and  became a very important way stop on the road to Lake Tahoe from  Georgetown, remaining so well into the 20th Century after the ranch  property was sold off in 1889. <a href="../images/gerlemeadowbridges.JPG">Gerle Meadow/Neck  Meadow</a> The <a href="../images/gerlecreekJune252011%20009.jpg">Old Bruce Wadsworth cabin  </a>at the back of the very southern section of Gerle/Neck Meadow up against the  base of Johnny's Hill, on the south side of Gerle Creek serviced by  two wood and steel bridges. The <a href="../images/gerlecreekJune252011%20014.jpg">main wood bridge across the meadow</a> and  <a href="../images/gerlecreekJune252011%20012.jpg">the old  flatcar bridge recovered from Jacobson's Crossing of Gerle Creek</a>, one 1/8  mile up Gerle creek from the main bridge. Gerle Meadow/Neck Meadow  is the Eastern part of the Section which originally belonged to the  Gerle Brothers and now belongs to SMUD, purchased in 2009 from Bruce  Wadsworth of Georgetown. Bruce owned the property from 1964  and <a href="../images/gerlecreekJune252011%20010.jpg">built the cabin and the barn structure</a> using a chainsaw saw mill  using timber in the meadow. The cabin uses water from a spring off  the lower North side of Johnny's Hill. This area is one of the most  beautiful and serene areas on Gerle Creek. Walking this area will  immediately tell you why the Gerle Brothers attached themselves to  this area. The original Gerle Brother's cabin before the main one (  Gurleys, Gerlees, Wagner Bros, Lawyers Cow Camp ) to the west on the  meadow was built was in Neck Meadow on the original survey plat from  the 1870s.  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org">Gerle  Creek Summer Home Tract(GCSHT)</a>, <a href="gerlecreekmap1950.jpg">US  Forest Service Summer Home Tract,</a> first  established/located on Southwest side of Gerle Creek opposite from  Swimming Hole on logging spur by the the Forest Service.  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/Chronology%201938-1988%20Holmes.pdf"> See also John Holmes Chronology from 1938-1988. </a> A  November 5, 1953 article in the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT entitled  "Plan New Recreation, Homes on Wentworth Springs Road,"  "A new summer home and  recreational area is being planned by Eldorado National Forest for  Gerle Creek, on the Wentworth Springs Road approximately 40  miles East of Georgetown. The site selected embraces an area  large enough for 50 to 60 summer homes, one public camp area  and two organizational areas. Fishing, swimming and hiking  will be the principal attractions. The area is only eight  miles west of Desolation Wilderness area. Work on the proposal  is being carried out under direction of County Supervisor Gene  Chappie and Ranger George Ramstad."  This original plan and layout  of the summer home tract lots along the Southside of the creek did  not work out. Interest in the lots was basically lacking and  some of the old stories indicated due to the location directly on  the creek, the mosquitos made it difficult. In any case, with  no interest in the original location, the Forest Service went back  to the drawing boards and re-laid out the summer home tract in the  present location on the North side away from the creek and up on the  hillside above the<a href="airportflats1895.jpg">  Airport Flats area</a><a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/eldoradomap1895.jpg"> </a>as laid out in the map below. Have a look at this  original <a href="gcshtmap1953.jpg">US Forest Service Map of the GCSHT, a compass and tape survey, dated  Feb 1953. </a>By the time the FS offered lots at Gerle Creek, they  had eliminated the lots on the Southside of the creek in favor of  the current position up the hill on the Northside of the flats.   For a number of reasons not  clear, there were no takers for the summer home tract between the  original offering in 1953 and when they began again to create  interest in the summer home tract. In a January 31, 1957  article entitled "SPRING OPENING OF SUMMER HOME TRACT ON GERLE  CREEK PLANNED," published in the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT,   "Plans were announced this week  by Ranger Kenneth St. John of Georgetown Ranger station for the  opening of a <a href="airportflats1895.jpg">summer home tract along Gerle Creek. </a> The forest service will  offer 40 lots for lease this spring or early summer, said St. John.  The tract, about three and a one-half miles north of South  Fork on Gerle Creek., will be reached either from the  Georgetown-Wentworth Springs road or by the Icehouse road from  Highway 50. The area is 39 miles northeast of Georgetown on  the Georgetown-Wentworth Springs road and 28 miles north of  Riverton on the Icehouse road. The lots, each of one-quarter  to one-third acre in size, will be leased on a standard forest  service permit, reissued annually, according to St. John.  This is the first summer home development area opened along Gerle  creek." As originally envisioned, it  was laid out for lots 1 through 47, but later lots 1 through , 8,9  and 16 were removed from this original plan. The exact position of  the Summer Home tract center is 38 Degrees, 59.205 Minutes North;  120 Degrees, 23.010 Minutes West.  Later in the Summer of 1957,  the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT reported in a July 11, 1957 article entitled  "FIVE SUMMER HOME SITE APPLICANTS AWARDED LOTS AT GERLE CREEK,"   "Summer home sites along Gerle  Creek above Georgetown have been awarded to five applicants in the  first allotment of 42 sites in the Forest Service development it was  announced this week by Georgetown Ranger Kenny St. John. Lots  were awarded to Steven R. Camber, Oakland; D.C. Young, Orinda;  Albert H. Somner, Garden Valley; John Holmes, Sacramento; and Harry  Heckenliable, Stockton. The five were among a list of  applicants which has been building up since 1952, it was explained  and many who had previously applied apparently were no longer  interested, accounting for the small number of applicants appearing  to select sites. Later applicants now on file will be notified  of a date to be announced later when further selections may be  made." I believe that due to the  rather remote location, the unfamiliarity of people in general with  this area on the forest and real difficulty in reaching this area in  the early 50s, that interest was lacking for few interested folks  who were willing to trek to Gerle Creek. The roads to Gerle Creek  then were little more than two tire tracks whether coming from  Riverton or Georgetown. The narrow old log roads took  considerable time and navigational skill to make your way to places  like Gerle Creek. The initial offering of summer home sites in 1953  was coming at a period of time when the country was just 8 years  past a major World War and currently was involved in the Korean War.  Recreation opportunities for people were not high on the scale when  balanced against the need to reestablish their basic needs including  housing and work. Among the other difficulties of Gerle Creek was  the fact that the original log bridge crossing Gerle Creek at  Airport Flats in 1927 had been washed out in the Winter of 1951/52.  So besides the isolation presented by the summer home tract at Gerle  Creek was the fact you had to ford the creek every time you came or  went to the summer home tract. In the days before the new Loon Lake  Dam, this was no small feat and nearly impossible during the early  Spring and Summer, due to the snow runoff. All tract residents as  well as other users of Airport Flats barracks buildings, including  the South Fork Mill ditch keeper had to ford the creek till 1963  when the first lane of the new concrete bridge was completed. By 1957, 1958 people were ready  to take up the opportunities presented by the Forest Service  offering of summer home tracts. My parents, Gordon and Joy Brattland  found out about Gerle Creek as a result of applying to the Forest  Service for a summer home lot at Wright's Lake. Our family camped  regularly at Wrights Lake from the mid 50s and fell in love with the  isolated setting and the cabins around the lake. The Forest  Service advised that they had no more lots at Wright's Lake, but  they had a summer home tract at Gerle Creek and plenty of available  lots. My parents then visited the tract in the early Summer of 1958  via Georgetown with my sister and I in tow and selected lot 34  next to the Holmes on Lot 33. After completing the paperwork and  being awarded the lot, the Carey Brothers, who had also wanted Lot  34, had begun to build on the lot. When we showed up after being  awarded lot 34 by the Forest Service, the Carey family  indicated they had earlier actually selected lot 34 and that  one of the three Carey Brothers was supposed to go to Georgetown and  sign the required paperwork with the Forest Service, but had failed  to do so. They were so intent on this lot that my father and mother  decided to pick another lot, selecting instead Lot 24. They  reported the problem to the Forest Service, who corrected both lease  documents, awarding Lot 24 to the Brattland family, while allowing  the Carey family to retain Lot 34.  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org">Gerle Creek Summer  Home Tract Association</a> Original Association <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/pumps.jpg">Hydraulic Ram  Pumps for the water system picture 1</a> Here is a later picture  with my friend Dave Orchard standing in front of the hydraulic ram  pump house built over the ram pumps, <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/pic52.jpg">picture 2.</a>  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/lot24.htm"> Lot 24 History</a> Brattland Family Cabin  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/lot41.htm"> Lot 41 History  </a>McDowall Family Cabin  <a href="gcshtaerialshot1968.jpg">Aerial shot 1968</a>  <a href="gerlecreekplan.jpg">Gerle  Creek Reservoir-</a>Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca  In 1885, Alex F. Forni applied  for a patent on 560 acres near what is now Gerle Reservoir in the  Butler Meadows area, where he operated a ranch (Errington 2000).  Review of the earliest map of the area, shows <a href="aebrowns1895.jpg">AE  Browns ranch house </a>and fence in this area, but no mention of  Forni. Butler Meadows is more than likely named for the Samuel  Butler and his pioneer family who were early cattle ranchers,  arriving in about 1860. This same area was also an area frequented  by Indians, most likely <a href="http://shinglespringsrancheria.com/history/history-home.html"> Southern Maidu,</a> making use of several areas around the juncture  of Angel Creek and Gerle Creek, "during the Summer months, hunting,  fishing and gathering seeds, fruits, and bulbs" underneath the  current reservoir, according to Wilson and Dyson(1962)  <a href="http://shinglespringsrancheria.com/history/history-home.html"> For more information on Native Americans in this area of Eldorado  National Forest, try the historical page for the Shingle Springs  Rancheria</a> For a picture of Charles Forni,  see Rambeau, 1998, page 21 for a group photo of the I.O.O.F. lodge  in Georgetown, 1889. There is a group picture showing members Alex  Francis, Charles Forni, Dan Jerrett, Gus Orelli and Charles  Wentworth, all significant men in the history of Gerle Creek  <a href="gerlecreekdam.jpg">Gerle  Creek Reservoir Dam</a> Gerle Creek Reservoir Dam was  completed in 1962 and is on the East side of Butler Meadows. As an  interesting piece of background on this eventual site for this  storage reservoir for SMUD, in 1916, hearings were held on the water  rights of the Truckee River General Electric Company to water from  Gerle Creek. These rights had been assumed when they acquired  them from the California Water and Mining Company (California Water  Company). The company wanted to build a dam and reservoir to produce  electricity. This claim was disputed and became part of rather  complicated and extended federal hearing. The most interesting part  of the proposal, was the intention to build this dam on Gerle  Creek at Jacobsens, creating water storage lake in the meadow  adjacent to Jacobsens extending back into Gerles Ranch or Lawyers  Cow Camp. The hearings were reported on extensively, including  the names of witnesses who testified, including Jacob Jacobsen  (Mt Democrat Sept 30, 1916). In the April 17th issue of the Mt  Democrat in 1917, it was reported the federal government found in  favor of the Truckee River General Electric Company and confirmed  their rights to the water for use of Gerle Meadow for a dam and  reservoir. By 1924, these rights had been passed along to the  Georgetown Divide Water Company (Mt Democrat, March 8, 1924). All  real action to actually create a dam and reservoir were put off till  the early 1950s when El Dorado County in the push to resolve their  increasing need for water with the post WWII boom revisited creating  a a number of dams and reservoirs in the county for electricity  generation. From early 1951 till at least 1955, the planning  of the SMUD Upper American River Project on the divide included the  Gerle Creek Dam and reservoir in Gerle Meadows next to Jacobsens.  The Mountain Democrat carried a very extensive and detailed article  including a map showing 68 proposed dam sites in the June 23, 1955  newspaper, including the actual proposed reservoir site at Gerles  Meadow, next to Jacobsens and not in its present location. As the  proposed SMUD Upper American River Project progressed after 1955,  the Gerles Meadow site was dropped in favor of the eventual and  current site in Butler Meadow.  <a href="gerlecreekresaerial1968.jpg">Aerial shot of the Lake 1968 </a>  <a href="township120nr14emd1a.pdf">Georgetown and Carson Valley  Road-</a> Very popular road from Georgetown down <a href="eldorado1916mapa.jpg">across Union Valley to the Wilson  Ranch near Wright's Lake</a> connecting with the Placerville Road to  Lake Tahoe (Highway 50) just East of Fred's Place at the Georgetown  Junction (Toll House). This road dates from the mid 19th Century up  through the late 1950s when the construction of the Upper American  River Project of dams and lakes, many of the old roads or parts of  the old road went away. Granlees Ranch (Forshoda)  Diversion Dam and Ditch ........John (Jack) D .  Granlees owned this summer ranch on Big Silver Creek, Union Valley,  as well as his main ranch near Slough House along the Cosumnes River.  The Granlees Ranch property near Slough House was sold in the early 1960s to form the basis for the new community <a href="http://www.ranchomurieta.com/aboutrm/historyindex.html"> Rancho Murieta</a> . The Granlees built a stone diversion dam and ditch to  divert water from Big Silver Creek to supply water for their ranch and  cattle in the meadows of Union Valley, located above Granlee's  Ranch on Big Silver Creek. The ranch was removed with  the construction of Union Valley Dam and Reservoir in the early  1960s. According to the markings in the top of the rock diversion  dam, it was most recently rebuilt and repaired in October of 1947.  My original thought was the diversion dam was built to support  Millionaire Camp, but according to Krista Deal of the Forest Service  at Pacific House, the old diversion dam was built to support Granlees Ranch in Union Valley. The remnants of the original ditch  are still there in places down to the lake.  For a more comprehensive review of the Granlees/Macklin/Driscoll  Family history see <a href="Granlees%20History-Granddaughter%20of%20early%20RM%20pioneers%20dies%20at%2096.pdf">Naida West's article in the El Grove Citizen On Line February 8,  2008 entitled, " Granddaughter of Early RM pioneers dies at 96"  written on the passing of Mary Anita Granlees Macklin.</a> <img border="0" src="granleediversiondam.JPG" width="530" height="365" /><img border="0" src="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005001.jpg" width="531" height="338" /> Additional pictures............<a href="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005003.jpg">pic  3,</a> <a href="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005004.jpg">pic 4,</a> <a href="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005005.jpg">pic 5,</a> <a href="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005007.jpg">pic 7,</a> <a href="bigsilverdiversiondamoct122005008.jpg">pic 8</a>  <a href="bunkergerle.jpg">Gurley's  Ranch(Gerle) </a>Lawyers Cow Camp, Wagners Cow Camp Early  1860s,Gerle Brothers-Natives of Sweden-Hog Farmers-Eldorado National  Forest, El Dorado County, Ca Summer range location for the  Gerle Brothers, early emigrants and farmers on <a href="jacobsens1895.jpg">Gerle  Creek, 2 miles West of Wentworth Springs </a>(USGS Map of 1895) on  the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs/Rubicon Springs/Lake Tahoe road,  next to Gerle Creek. Their ranch property butted up against the  Jacobson Ranch property on the West side of the section, also  on Gerle Creek. One of two Gerle brothers who came to  California in 1851,Christopher C. or Cyrus Gerle was born in Sweden in 1833,  marrying his wife, Mary Clausen in El Dorado County in 1865. Mary  was daughter to Paul and Mary Clausen, both emigrating from  England to Coloma. Her father Paul was born in 1806 while her mother  was born in 1815, both in England. Her father Paul was a boot maker.  Christopher C.  Gerle and his wife, Mary initially had two boys, Peter C. Gerle,  born Wednesday December 22, 1869 and dying Wednesday, February  1,1871 and a second boy, Charles (Charlie) Gerle, born  Wednesday December 14, 1870 and dying Wednesday February 1,1871, on  the same day as his brother. Their deaths were reported in the SACRAMENTO DAILY UNION in  the death notice section, "At  Coloma, Feb. 1st, Peter C, son of Mary and Chris Gerle 2 years, 1  month and 11 day. At Coloma, Feb. 1st, Charlie, infant son of  Mary and Chris Gerle, aged 7 weeks."  Both are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Coloma with their uncle,  Charles W. or William Gerle.   Christopher C. Gerle and his  wife Mary later moved to Plymouth, in Amador County, California, in  1877 (Mason) having a third son George and three girls, Mary,  Charlotte and Maggie. The 1880 census indicates Christopher was  working as a laborer in Plymouth. By 1881, Christopher was working  as a Mason in the Empire Mine in Plymouth (Mason) .  <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=W59BAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA327&lpg=PA327&dq=Empire+Mine+Plymouth+California&source=bl&ots=ryitQoBcxy&sig=tjrJIFVDuz4LK7Xwu0mk7T5zvuQ&hl=en&ei=f-1ES7bHMJWsMfXxuPEB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBTgU"> The Empire Mine in Plymouth </a>is not to be confused with the  Empire Mine of Grass Valley. The Empire Mine became the Pacific Mine  in the early 1880s with new ownership. Christopher C. Gerle  died in Plymouth, Amador County February 26, 1885 at age  51 as reported in a death notice in the March 9, 1885 issue of the  SACRANTO DAILY UNION. <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Gerle&GSfn=charles&GSmn=William&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=6&GSob=n&GRid=6723232&">Charles W. Gerle was the oldest brother, born in Sweden in  July, 1823 and  dying March 4, 1907</a><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Gerle&GSfn=Christopher&GRid=6723234&">.</a> Charles W.  or CW Gerle lived in Coloma with Minnie  Johnson, who was previously married to an Englishman and had two  boys Juan Johnson and Charles W. Johnson in Sweden, with a  third child George M. Johnson, born in Coloma in 1878. The Gerle  Brothers used their Sierra ranch on Gerle Creek (Gurley;  Lawyer's Cow Camp; & Wagner Bros.) to raise hogs and cattle during  the Summer months, hauling the pork products over the Sierra's on  the Georgetown/Wentworth Springs/Rubicon Springs/Lake Tahoe Road to  sell in Virginia City, Nevada. The Gerle Brothers and the Wagner  Bros were long time neighbors in the Sierras during the Summers with  Murray Camp folks just a mile North of their ranch on the way to  Bennett's Ranch in the McKinstry Lake area, as well as the Jacobsons,  Francis, Wentworths, Dellars and Jerretts.  By 1877, Christopher C. Gerle and his  family had moved on to Plymouth in Amador County. Gerle family  sources indicate that he may have lost his share of the Gerle  properties in El Dorado County in a poker game to his brother,  Charles W. Gerle in Carson City. According to the Georgetown  Gazette, reprinted in the Mountain Democrat of Sept 16, 1916, the  Gerle Brothers bought their ranch property (Gerles/ Wagner  Brothers/Lawyers Cow Camp) on Gerle Creek from the Indians in the  early sixties(1860s). In 1889, the California Water and Mining  Company purchased the Charles W. Gerle's interest in the property  and had the land surveyed. The survey reported that the property was  swampland and overflow lands which made it the property of the State  of California. In 1895, CM Fitzgerald, the superintendent of the  California Water and Mining company, was granted a patent to the 440  acres of property in section 36 of T.14N, R. 14E.. He then  deeded it to his company and who in turn deeded to each of the other  companies who have taken ownership since.  The earliest maps including Bowman's 1874 Map of the whole  Georgetown Divide show their ranch and the creek identified  with Gerle misspelled and written as it sounded; "Gurley."   Gerle's Ranch became a very  important way stop on the road to Lake Tahoe from Georgetown in the  "Sixties", remaining so well into the 20th Century after the ranch  property was sold off in 1889 to the California Water Company.  The Wagner Brothers eventually purchased this property and have  retained ownership among their family, Wagner and Veer Kamp, of the  majority of Gerle Meadow around the old ranch house to this day. In the early part of the 20th  Century, Archie and Irma Lawyer leased Gurley's Ranch from the  Wagner's about the same time they actually purchased Uncle Tom's  Cabin, at which point it became known as "Lawyer's Cow Camp" after  1920(Errington 2000). Reviewing the original Eldorado National  Forest Map of 1916 shows this old ranch still listed as "Gerles."  Later, the historic ranch was returned to the Wagners, who referred  to it as Wagner Bros., Wagners and or Wagner's Cow Camp. The 1950  Forest Service map clearly shows the ranch listed as Wagner's but in  later years returned the name to Lawyers when in fact the ranch was  never owned by Lawyers and long since not leased anymore. The US Forest Service acquired  80 acres of section 34 of Township 14N, R14E, of the original Gerle  Ranch property May 3, 1920.  The Gerle Brothers lived on  their ranch in Uniontown -Coloma during the rest of the year when  not using their high sierra ranch on Gerle Creek.  <a href="lawyerscowcamp1.jpg">Gurley's Ranch1,</a> <a href="lawyerscowcamp2.jpg">Gurley's Ranch2,</a>  <a href="lawyerscowcamp3.jpg">Gurley's Ranch3,</a>  <a href="gerlesranchwell.jpg">Gurley's Well,</a> <a href="gerlesranch1.jpg">Gurley's  Ranch 4,</a> <a href="gerlesranchhouse.jpg">Gurley' Ranch 5</a> See Gerle Creek. <a href="Gerle-Meadows-Snow.wmv">Gerle's  Meadow-Eastern half of Gerle's or Lawyer's Cow Camp</a>-Now  owned by SMUD-Slide video made up for the sale of the property  by Wadsworth family in 2010.  <a href="picture028[1].jpg" name="H">Hales Camp  Cabin </a> on the North side of the <a href="eldoradonfmap1916.jpg">Rubicon River,</a> near Hales Crossing, 4 miles down the Rubicon  River from Hell Hole Dam. Hales Crossing is located at the Western  point of the Charles Creek Trail which began at Jacobsens on Gerle  Creek and wound its way West and down into the Rubicon Canyon. Lent  Brown photo  <a href="historypages/southforkmill.htm">Hanna's Camp-South Fork Mill-California Water Company-</a>Water  Operated Saw Mill, 1874-1880, South Fork of Rubicon River, Eldorado  National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca .   Hartless Mountain is named for  Benjamin W. Hartless, a Garden Valley dairyman and farmer. Hartless  received formal land patents from the General Land Office in 1892 on  land immediately around Hartless Mountain and Uncle Tom's Cabin  which he used for Summer grazing of his livestock. The Hartless  Guard Station, on Hartless Mountain was the original Hartless Summer  grazing cabin. Originally born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, Feb  15, 1828, he moved with his widowed mother to Carroll County  Missouri, living there for 6 years, before heading to California. As  so many new arrivals to California, Hartless took up mining  initially in Nevada City before eventually migrating to the American  River as well as Dry Creek , near Georgetown. By 1858, he gave up  mining and began farming and running dairy cattle at Garden Valley.  Hartless married a widow, Mrs Wakefield with six children on April  23rd, 1871. The children's names were Claudis B., William B.,  Jefferson D., Frank, Thomas and John. Mrs Hartless was a native of  Saratoga County, upstate New York, who arrived in California in  1853. She first made her home in Sacramento County at Brighton  before moving on to Negro Bar and then to Garden Valley. Benjamin  Hartless owned 160 acres in Garden Valley in 1883.(Sioli, 1883)  <img border="0" src="hartlessmountaincabinmap.JPG" width="535" height="430" />  <a name="I">Ice House Ranger Station 1910</a>  This building burned and was lost in the 1959 Ice House fire.   <img border="0" src="Icehouse%20Ranger%20Station%20circa%201910.jpg" width="628" height="416" />   The history surrounding Ice  House and this original building which eventually evolved into  a ranger station in the early 20th Century is directly related to  the <a href="http://malakoff.com/goldcountry/mcplacsw.htm">Old Soda  Works building in Placerville </a>owned and built originally by John  McFarland Pearson, the Ice Merchant in Placerville and is laid out  at  <a href="http://malakoff.com/goldcountry/mcplacsw.htm"> http://malakoff.com/goldcountry/mcplacsw.htm</a> .  <a href="gerlecreek.jpg" name="J">Jacobsen's  Ranch/Dairy</a>- Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/jacobsens1895.jpg"> Johnny  Jacobsen </a>(USGS 1895 Map) applied for a patent on 80 acres of  land in 1891, on the West side of Gerle's Ranch, where he operated a  diary in the meadow now bearing his name, adjacent to one of the  crossings of Gerle Creek (Baldwin 1975). <a href="johnnyjacobsen.jpg">Johnny  Jacobsen, or Jacob Jacobsen,</a> (Picture published in Baldwin,  1975) or "Jake" as his friends and ranching neighbors called him in  later years (Hill 1929), born in 1860 in California, was one of three children (Sophia,  Peter and Jacob) of Alexander and Margareta Clausen Jacobsen. Alex was born in the  province of Schweswig, Germany on May 30, 1830, arriving in California in 1854, who married Margareta  Clausen of Coloma in 1858 (Sioli, 1883; Baldwin 1975). Alex's  parents were born in Denmark, where his two brothers John and Chris  were born. The Jacobsen's migrated to Heliogoland where they became  friends with the Peter Clausen family before returning to Germany.  Alex became a sailor early on signing on to a Dutch ship serving 3  years off the west coast of South America (Sioli 1883; Baldwin  1975).   Baldwin tells an interesting story about Alex falling in love with  an unknown young girl during his trip to America aboard ship in  1853, whose parents did not approve of her relationship with Alex.  They wanted her to marry a rich merchant and pressed her to break  off the friendship. The quarreling and demands from her parents to  stop the relationship caused the young lady to jump overboard,  drowning herself, to never be found. This was very difficult  on the young man Alex Jacobsen. After his arrival in Weber Creek and  Pinchem, Alex fell in love with Margareta Clausen but the Clausens did not approve of the match either,  which was probably due to the stormy relationship Alex went through  on the ship and the tragic death of this young girl. Alex was very  disappointed, but perseverance was the answer which led to the  marriage in 1858 in Coloma (Baldwin, 1975). Margareta   normal"> was daughter to Peter (also called Paul) and Mary Clausen, who  emigrated from Heliogoland in 1853, was born in Heliogoland.  The Clausen’s had three daughters with the oldest Anna  marrying Jasper P. Jurgen’s in their native Heliogoland on October  3, 1852. The newlyweds  decided to leave for California making the trip their honeymoon.  Eight other members of the immediate family decided to head  to California with the newlyweds, including Anna’s parents, Peter  and Mary Clausen, their sons, Numel and Paul, their other daughters Margareta  and Mary and Numel’s wife.  The other two making the trip were Chris and John Jacobsen  who were distant relatives of the family. Jasper  P Jurgens and his wife Anna Clausen Jurgens settled in Pinchem on  Weber Creek, El Dorado County(Baldwin, 1975).<o:p></o:p>   normal"> The ship voyage from Hamburg Germany to San Francisco around the  horn of South America took six months.  Once in San Francisco, the group took a river steamer to  Sacramento and eventually on to Mississippi Bar, which is now Fair  Oaks, California, staying there until 1854 and then continuing their  journey to Weber Creek and Pinchem in El Dorado County (Baldwin,  1975).<o:p></o:p>  normal"> Peter Clausen was born in England 1806 and his wife Mary was  born in Heliogoland in 1815.  While our US Census records show the Peter Clausen indicated  he was from England, this may be due to the British capturing Heliogoland  in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars, with Heliogoland remaining a  possession till England returned the island to Germany in 1890.<o:p>  It could also mean he was in fact born in England and moved to  Heliogoland as well.</o:p>   normal"> Peter Clausen was a boot maker and cobbler by trade.  He and his wife setup a cobbler shop in Coloma where he  worked for years before retiring and moving back to Weber Creek,  where he passed away in 1884, with his wife Mary Clausen passing  away 4 years later in 1888 (Baldwin, 1975). <o:p></o:p>  Alex died in Sept 1906 followed by his wife, one  month later (Baldwin, 1975). The Jacobsen's settled on Weber  Creek, where they conducted a dairy farming business (Sioli,  1883, Baldwin, 1975).  Lilla Hill, "Our Traveling Correspondent" from the Mountain  Democrat wrote a series of articles about her summer of 1929 where  she rode her horse Hightower from Lake Tahoe to the Hill Ranch in  Kelsey via Desolation Valley, Rock Bound and Buck Island Lakes, down  the Lake Tahoe to Gerogetown road past Wentworth Springs, Gerlee's  where she spent a night at Jacobsend's, Mr Jacobsens or Jakes Dairy  at Gerle Creek. Since Jake was not there, she used the corral for  her horse and slept on the ground next to the corral for the night,  reporting it to be cold and damp, before heading out the following  day and arriving at Kelsey after 2 long days in the saddle with her  only protection being a 32 caliber pistol she carried when riding.  She described the corral as "fair sized with pasture grass in it."  Lilla Hill's description of the Lake Tahoe to Georgetown Road was  "primitive." (Hill 1929)  Johnny "Jake" Jacobsen died in 1944 and was buried in  Coloma.   <img border="0" src="Jacobsen%20gerle%20bridge%201922.jpg" width="718" height="424" id="img2" /> This is a 1929 picture (also  picture directly below) of the  log bridge built and finished in 1929 crossing Gerle Creek at  Jacobsen's meadow and dairy. this bridge was reported completed  in the MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT of September 27, 1929. It reported  that by a civilian crew headed up by Mr. Lawrence. This bridge remained in place many  years but was lost like a lot of the bridges on Gerle Creek. With  the loss of this bridge, travelers to all parts of forest East  of Jacobsen's Dairy were required to ford once again.  <img alt="" height="518" src="../images/gerlecreekbridgejacobsens1929.jpg" width="705" /> After a number of years without  a bridge at Jacobsen's Dairy, El Dorado County Board of Supervisors  in Sept of 1944 approved an appropriation (not to exceed $2000) to  build a concrete bridge over Gerle Creek at Jacobsen's (Mt Democrat,  Sept 7, 1944). The concrete bridge at "Jacobsen's" as this  creek crossing is and has been referred to for years, was eventually  lost during the Winter of 1963/1964's. The Mayor of  Placerville tried to ford Jacobsen's in late May, 1964 on the way to  check the road to Wentworth Springs and Lake Tahoe for the upcoming  Jeeper"s Jamboree only to get stuck in the middle of the creek due  to the depth and flow of the water from the Spring runoff and SMUD's  need to let extra water flow out of the new Loon Lake Dam. John  Holmes from Gerle Creek came to the rescue and pulled the Mayor and  his jeep out of Gerle Creek.  (Mountain Democrat June, 1964) El Dorado County would later  construct a new bridge which used an old railroad flat car which  would last till about 1980 when it was washed away during the  Winter. El Dorado County at this point, with the new paved road in  and a means for people to go around the old Wentworth Springs road,  abandoned any further replacement of this bridge leaving it to  become the ford it is today and was originally before 1944. The  railroad flat car bridge was  <a href="jacobsengerlerailroadbridge1980s.jpg">left abandoned after being a casualty  of the Gerle Creek Spring runoff </a> (<a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/lot39.htm">Sandy Hart Papenfus GC  Lot 39 family photo</a>). Bruce Wadsworth, the owner of the  Neck Meadow, below Wentworth Springs, which includes the eastern  half of the old Gerle's Ranch asked the county if they were going to  use the bridge and they indicated they were not. So Bruce had an  obliging logger with a Cat tractor drag the bridge up the old  Wentworth Springs road to his property where they installed it in  Neck Meadow over Gerle Creek, which then allowed Bruce  Wadsworth to reach his cabin at the back of the property.  Previously, he had some log bridges which had taken a beating over  the years from the Spring Runoff and a Winter on Gerle Creek with no  dam in place during the construction of the new Loon Lake Dam.   Considering that Johnny  Jacobson owned the dairy and meadow at the foot of what is annotated  on area maps as "Johnny's Hill," Johnny's Hill takes its name  from Johnny Jacobsen.  <img border="0" src="jacobsencrossbridgejune1964.jpg" width="271" height="526" /> Mountain Democrat June 1964  <a href="gerlecreek.jpg">Johnny's  Hill.</a>..named for Johnny "Jake" Jacobsen, Jacobsen's Meadow and old  Dairy Ranch on Gerle Creek.  <a href="gerlecreek.jpg">Jerrett  Creek and Peak </a>  Jerret Peak and Creek were  named for the Jerrett family, early El Dorado County pioneers.  The Wentworths and the Winslows eventually sold Wentworth Springs to  Robert S. Jerrett of Georgetown, Ca, son of Daniel Jerrett, a  Georgetown Grocer and 49er.Robert's brother, Herman Daniel Jerrett,  wrote two books...."California's El Dorado, Yesterday and Today,"  1915 and a later book entitled "Hills of Gold," 1963. For a  picture of Dan Jerrett, see Rambeau, 1998, page 21 for a group photo  of the I.O.O.F. lodge in Georgetown, 1889. There is a group picture  showing members Alex Francis, Charles Forni, Dan Jerrett, Gus Orelli  and Charles Wentworth, all significant men in the history of Gerle  Creek. Jerrett  Creek flows out of the West side of McKinstry Lake and down crossing  the Wentworth Springs Road below the springs into Gerle Creek.<img border="0" src="pic49.jpg" width="450" height="303" />  <a href="bunkergerle.jpg">Joe's  Spring </a>More than likely named for the famous early Eldorado  National Forest Ranger, Joe Bauman who was principal to the  establishment and surveying of the Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract as  well as current massive, beautiful hand built stone lookout station  at Bunker Hill. Here is an actual photo of <a href="joespring.jpg">Joe's  Spring in 1990 </a>with my mother Joy Brattland enjoying a drink of  the very good water which is a product of the spring on Bunker Hill.  Jones  Silver...Named for Fleming and Florence Jones who Summered in  the Silver Creek area, running dairy cattle.(Yohalem) Jones Silver  cabins, pictures<a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/jonessilver03a.jpg">  </a><a href="jonessilver03a.jpg">1, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/jonessilver03b.jpg">  </a><a href="jonessilver03b.jpg">2,  </a> <a href="jonessilver03c.jpg">3,</a>  <a href="jonessilver03d.jpg">4,</a>  <a href="jonessilver03e.jpg">5.</a>  <a href="jonessilver03f.jpg">6. </a>  and <a href="jonessilver03g.jpg"> 7.</a>  <a href="leonardi.jpg" name="L">Leonardis  Ranch </a>This is a Jonni Hill photograph of the ranch contributed  to help with the history of important places and people in El Dorado  National Forest and County, which was used as a basis for one of her  original paintings. <a href="http://www.highcountrysketches.com/aj.asp">Jonni Hill </a> is a noted artist of people and early places in El Dorado County.  Many of her works are displayed in Robb's Resort. Our family  personally owns one of her wonderful Native American paintings. You  can find out more about her art work at <a href="http://www.highcountrysketches.com">High Country Sketches</a>.  <a href="pacificdistrictmap1950.jpg">Loon Lake  </a>and Dam-1873/1881/1962,Eldorado National Forest, El  Dorado County, Ca Identified early on by The  California Water Company as a means to deliver a constant supply of  water to Georgetown and the many mines and farms during the dry  months of the Summer. the California Water Company tested this idea  by building a temporary dam of logs, nine feet high (Bowman, 1874)  to determine whether sufficient water could be retained through the  Summer such that it could be selectively released to overcome the  shortage of water in the lean summer months. This idea required the  building of the 4 mile long South Fork Ditch connecting Gerle Creek  with to Hanna's Camp on the South Fork of the Rubicon River in order  to further divert this Loon Lake water via a series of creek beds,  ditches and flumes to Georgetown. This initial log dam was completed  along with the South Fork Ditch by the Fall of 1874.This original  log dam was then replaced by a second higher log dam, about 20 feet  in height which remained till replaced in 1882 by the granite stone  dam. In addition to the higher log dam on Loon Lake, separate log  dams were built on Pleasant Lake and Bixby lakes behind Loon Lake  which enabled each to collect more water which flowed from them into  Loon Lake. Complete details of each of these log dams as well as the  log dam on Loon Lake was covered in the 1880 California Water  Company report to the Board of Directors. In this report, the  recommendation was to build a larger, taller dam at Loon Lake to  increase the total storage of water to allow the company to sell  more water for farming, mining and agriculture. By building the  larger dam, it would also replace the smaller additional log dams on  Pleasant and Bixby Lakes. Bixby Lake is currently the part of Loon  Lake behind the Francis Fill Dam. July 30, 1881, MT DEMOCRAT,  "Dam at Loon Lake-the Georgetown Gazette says: The California Water  and Mining Company has commenced the erection of a substantial  stone dam at Loon Lake. The wall to be entirely built of  granite, which is found in inexhaustible quantities, and of the best  quality, right on the ground. We understand that that portion  of the dam which it is intended to complete before Winter, include  about 450 feet in length and 20 feet high at the trunk or  highest point. A force of experienced quarrymen have been engaged, a  number of whom have already gone forward. All the tools and  appliances necessary for the rapid and economical prosecution of the  work, such as derricks, tackle, wire guys, car for transporting rock  from the quarry to the dam, cement, supplies for the men, etc; are  either on the ground or on the way there." Further reporting on the  progress of granite dam construction at Loon lake from the September  2, 1881 edition of the Georgetown Gazette..........."The dam being  constructed by the Cal. W.&M. at Loon Lkae are composed of Granite  and the works are of the character to do service for  ages....the winter following the present Company's purchase of the  promising property was one of the severest ever experienced by ditch  owners owners in the Mountains of California, and the Manager, Mr.  Findley in common with the leading men of the County, has determined  that such a disaster sjall never visit their property again, and  further they are building dams of such dimensions as to increase the  water reserve sufficient for all future wants of the divide and the  city of Sacramento, besides, which the County many have the  opportunity of supplying in the near future. The object of  these immense reservoirs located at an altitude of more than 6000  ft. above the sea, is to store an abundance of water from the vast  accumulation of snow, as a reserve for the dryer seasons, when the  supply from other streams begins to fail."(Genres; Deibert, 1999) The California Water Company in  their official company report to their board of directors of 1880  said much the same thing regarding supplying Georgetown and the City  of Sacramento, actually including San Francisco in their proposal  for water from their Loon Lake water. The Georgetown Gazette kept  track of the Loon Lake dam building again reporting on the work  progress in the short new report of October 21, 1881.........."There  are some forty men engaged on the work of the Cal. W.&M.Co. at Loon  Lake. C.H. Jones, the Superintendant of construction says that  a more faithful and better lot of men he never saw anywhere, and to  the credit of Mr. Jones, we have heard it remarked by several  of the men, that a better Boss they never worked under. When  the spring opens a much larger force will be employed, and the works  completed during the season. The dam will be 664 feet in  length on top, and forty feet in height along the widest base."(Gernes,  Deibert, 1999)  It would appear that the Mt  Democrat and Georgetown Gazette were talking and getting reports  from two different people regards the actual size of the dam being  constructed at Loon Lake. In a short note in the June 23,  1882 edition of the Georgetown Gazette........"We noticed yesterday  1200 feet of 1 inch wire cable in front of the Cal. Water Co.'s  office which goes to Loon Lake for guys to support a large derrick  used in moving ponderous blocks of granite from the quarry for the  everlasting dam which the enterprising management of the Company is  constructing at that point." (Gernes; Deibert, 1999) July 22, 1882, Mt Democrat,  reported "Superintendent Wolf of the California Water Co's works at  Loon Lake was down on a hurried visit this week. He reports  that work on the dam is progressing rapidly; the force  increased, a new derrick being put up, making the fourth derrick,  and that he believes the dam will be completed this season." Early winter weather caused  some confusion and delay in finishing the dam early in October, 1882  as reported in the Georgetown Gazette of October  7...................."A portion of the quarry men employed at Loon  Lake dam came down this week on account of the storm and signalized  their intention of quitting for the season, as they believed winter  had set in. There being a couple gaps in the dam yet to be  closed, and the managing Director Findley being satisfied that there  would yet be plenty of good weather in which to complete the work,  tried to persuade the men to return, but they refused.  Yesterday, Mr. Findley stated for the Lake to utilize the force  already there to see that the two gaps are filled and you may depend  on it."(Gernes, Deibert, 1999) As a post script to the  personnel situation which Managing Director Findley was facing when  some of his quarry men quit with the initial October winter storm,  the Gazette reported the following snippet in their October 14, 1882  edition of the paper on Findley's character..............."The Loon  Lake boys tell us that Tom Findley, who was with them the past two  weeks, threw his coat and went to work with a vim. Findley is  the man to meet an emergency every time."(Gernes, Deibert, 1999) In mid May, 1883 the California  Water Company had to dispatch a crew of men to Loon Lake Dam to make  some repairs on the just completed granite dam in the Fall of 1882  as reported in the May 26, 1883 edition of the Georgetown  Gazette............"A party of laborers departed for Loon Lake on  Thursday to repair a portion of the surface of the new dam washed  out, owing, it is said, to the waste-way being too small for the  discharge of surplus water."(Gernes, Deibert, 1999)  <img border="0" src="Fig-6-Loon-Lake1.jpg" width="623" height="547" />  <a href="loonlakedam1940.jpg">Later  in 1881(Sioli,1883), the California Water Company build a permanent  replacement granite stone dam finishing it in late 1882 which stood  </a>[(This historic photo was taken on June 24, 1940 by Linton  A. Brown(1901-1966), father of Linton Brown of Red Bluff, Ca, who  has kindly provided these historic photos from his collection on the  South Fork Mill, the ditch system and Loon Lake Dam.. His  father was a friend of Art Rasor, the ditch tender for the  Georgetown Divide Water Company] till removed by <a href="loon103062b.jpg">SMUD's  contractors in Fall(Sept/Oct) 1962 </a>(another great  historic photo provided by Lint Brown and taken by Eugene Poe on Oct  30, 1962)and replaced by the present Loon Lake Dam in 1963. Here is Loon Lake empty in 1962  during the construction of the new and present modern dam, looking  from the area of the Loon Lake Boy Scout Camp area (to be) the dam  area in the first picture and up to the tunnel at the very Eastern  end of the new Loon Lake where the road goes over the top of the  tunnel over the mountain in this picture to the Rubicon Reservoir  and Buck Island Lake. This road was constructed entirely for the  construction of the dam at Buck Island Lake as well as the tunnel  under the mountain carved from solid granite which brings the water  from Rubicon Reservoir down into Loon Lake. The tunnel opening at  the loon lake end is quite large but is about 8 ft in diameter.  These pictures show the extensive work done by SMUD's contractors to  make the new lake area ready for the completion of the New Loon Lake  Dam by 1963.  <img border="0" src="loonlake1962c.jpg" width="659" height="418" /><img border="0" src="loonlake1962a.jpg" width="659" height="400" />    <img alt="" height="494" src="loonlaketunnelearly1970s.jpg" width="457" /> The hand cut granite blocks  removed from the considerable granite rock surfaces surrounding the  dam area on the North side of the present day Dam, can now be found  spread out along the top of the current dam structure as well as the  Francis Fill on Loon Lake. A walking tour of this area and close  inspection reveals where all the original granite was hand cut by  Chinese Labor. Chinese Labor were also principal to the construction  of the South Fork Ditch with rates for their pay specifically  outlined in the Amos Bowman Report to the company directors. For a  very good, recent 2001 Mountain Democrat article on the modern dam  and the various powerhouses and underground interconnections, try <a href="http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2001/August/16-563-R0815_N.txt"> www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2001/August/16-563-R0815_N.txt </a>. For a <a href="http://www.pirate4x4.com/trailreports/loon_powerstation"> very good picture and descriptive tour of the under Loon Lake Power  House, </a>check out this web site......the author took the tour and  offers a great set of pictures....just fabulous.... For the most recent research on  this area of the Eldorado National Forest, refer to <a href="mailto:lariatlane@hotmail.com">Brown, Linton A., </a> "Memories of South Fork and Gerle Creek Ditches and Old Loon Lake  Dam, El Dorado County, California," Linton A. Brown, Red Bluff, Ca,  2003. Lint goes into greater detail on the whole original history of  the dam, lake and ditch system, as well as most of the local  Georgetown Gazette discussion of the work on the dam.  <a href="loon070353.jpg">Loon Lake  Dam.</a>..historic July 3, 1953 photo of the dam kindly provided by  Lint Brown.....from archives of California Department of Water  Resources, Division of Safety and Dams and originally taken by  Eugene V. Poe as several photos in sequence to get the entire  dam....this Jpeg was the result of Lint Brown's efforts to enhance  and make all of the photos into one Jpeg....a very, very nice  photo......... Here are links for about 47  historic pictures collected by Lint Brown from Ca State Archives  which offer a wonderfully historic look at the California Water  Company built dame of 1882 at Loon Lake.... <a href="picture108.jpg">108,</a>  <a href="picture109.jpg">109, </a> <a href="picture110.jpg">110,</a>  <a href="picture111.jpg">111, </a> <a href="picture112.jpg">112, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture113.jpg"> 1</a><a href="picture113.jpg">13, </a>  <a href="picture114.jpg">114,</a>  <a href="picture115.jpg">115,</a>  <a href="picture116.jpg">116,</a> <a href="picture117.jpg">117,</a>  <a href="picture118.jpg">118,</a> <a href="picture119.jpg">119,</a> <a href="picture120.jpg">120,</a> <a href="picture121.jpg">121,</a>  <a href="picture122.jpg">122,</a>  <a href="picture123.jpg">123, </a>  <a href="picture124.jpg">124,</a>  <a href="picture125.jpg">125,</a>  <a href="picture126.jpg">126 </a> <a href="picture127.jpg">127, </a> <a href="picture128.jpg">128,</a>  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture129.jpg">129, </a> <a href="picture130.jpg">130,</a>  <a href="picture131.jpg">131, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture132.jpg"> 1</a><a href="picture132.jpg">32,  </a> <a href="picture133.jpg">133,</a>  <a href="picture134.jpg">134, </a>  <a href="picture136.jpg">136, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture137.jpg"> 1</a><a href="picture137.jpg">37, </a>  <a href="picture138.jpg">138, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture139.jpg"> </a>  <a href="picture139.jpg">139,</a>  <a href="picture140.jpg">140, </a>  <a href="picture141.jpg">141,</a>  <a href="picture142.jpg">142, </a>  <a href="picture143.jpg">143,</a>  <a href="picture144.jpg">144,</a>  <a href="picture145.jpg">145,</a>  <a href="picture146.jpg">146, </a> <a href="picture147.jpg">147,</a>  <a href="picture148.jpg">148, </a> <a href="picture149.jpg">149,</a>  <a href="picture150.jpg">150,</a>  <a href="picture152.jpg">152, </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture153.jpg"> 1</a><a href="picture153.jpg">53,  </a>  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture154.jpg">1</a><a href="picture154.jpg">54, </a>  <a href="picture155.jpg">155,  </a> <a href="picture156.jpg">156</a> The following 19 links are  copies of official State of California Water Department inspection  documents written as a result of various inspections and additional  work on the Loon Lake Dam between September of 1934 till mid year  1953, Georgetown Divide Water District documents, including a couple  old newspaper articles on the raising of the dam's height and cracks  in the dam due to atomic bomb tests in the early 1950s. These  documents were also collected by Lint Brown during his research work  in 2002 on the Ditch Camp at South Fork and shared with me. I have  put them up here so that others with a historic interest in our area  of the forest might enjoy them as I do.....a very interesting read  as well....enjoy and many thanks to Lint Brown........  <a href="picture089.gif">089, </a>  <a href="picture090.gif">090,</a>  <a href="picture091.gif">091,</a>  <a href="picture092.gif">092,</a>  <a href="picture093.gif">093, </a> <a href="picture094.gif">094,</a>  <a href="picture095.gif">095,</a> <a href="picture096.gif">  096,</a>  <a href="picture097.gif">097, </a> <a href="picture098.gif">  098,</a>  <a href="picture099.gif">099, </a> <a href="picture100.gif"> 100, </a><a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture100.gif">  </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture101.gif">1</a><a href="picture101.gif">01, </a>  <a href="picture102.gif">102, </a>  <a href="picture103.gif">103, </a>  <a href="picture104.gif">104, </a>  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture105.gif">1</a><a href="picture105.gif">05,  </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture106.gif">1</a><a href="picture106.gif">06, </a>  <a href="picture107.gif">107  </a> Here are two early 1990's pictures of Loon Lake in front of the  spillway dam during the drought showing the lake at extremely low  levels, which show the <a href="41AYearofextremedroughtLoonLk.jpg">concrete box structure built with the new dam </a>which captures water for the supply to Gerle Creek and a picture of  the area of granite walls on the <a href="40%20Extreme%20drought%20Loon%20Lk%20note%20cars%20upper%20left,%20red%20truck%20with%20trailer%20and%20blue%20suv%20in%20center%20down%20by%20spillway.jpg"> left side or North side where the quarrymen of the California Water  Company carved the obliging blocks of granite </a>which made up the  original stone structure Loon Lake Dam in 1883. These are Papenfus-Hart  GC Lot 39 Family photos  <a href="loonlake.jpg">Loon Lake,</a>  identified in Amos Bowman's 1874 Report and Map prepared for the  directors of the California Water Company and probably so named due  to the presence of Loon's, a type of bird (Gudde, 1969) and is  also the headwaters of Gerle Creek.  The following is a report from  the Mt Democrat on the fine lakes in the area of Wentworth Springs  from the September 23, 1882 issue of the newspaper.  "Our Lake Region-Within a radius of one and one half miles of  Wentworth's Springs are five beautiful little lakes, varying from 15  to 80 acres in size. The altitude of the Springs is about 6,200  feet, or about the same as Lake Tahoe, and those little lakes are  from 300 to 500 feet higher than the Springs. Groves of Tamarack  surround these lakes, and a beautiful little meadow usually found  adjoining. We learn that one of these lakes has been stocked  with trout, and that Mr. Wentworth intends to stock the others next  Spring. Loon Lake, two miles Southeast, and nearly 200 feet  higher than Lake Tahoe, is a natural body of pure fresh water of  some 1300 acres of surface, and in places 40 to 60 feet in depth;  but since the construction of the dam, its size has been greatly  increased, and will, when the monster granite dam now being built by  the California W. & M. Co. is completed, embrace an area of  about 7 square miles. Strange to say, until of late years this  lake contained no fish. A few years ago some trout were put in, but  until recently, it was supposed the fish did not live; now it is  known that they have done well, and with the new supply added, it is  believed that Loon Lake will become a favorite fishing resort in the  near future-Georgetown Gazette"  Loon Lake Aircraft Crashes  /Mishaps Georgetown Gazette July 6, 1922 “An  airplane belonging to a man named Hunt of Sacramento, and occupied  by himself and a friend, in making a forced landing, skidded into  the north end of Loon Lake Sunday afternoon, and into the rocks at  the edge of the lake. The machine was badly damaged but the men  escaped unhurt, and walked to McKinneys(Lake Tahoe), twenty miles  away, from there they went to Reno, their destination. Engine  trouble was the cause of this accident.  <img border="0" src="huntairplanecrashloonlake19221a.jpg" width="843" height="387" />   This photo of the Irwin Hunt airplane crash on the North side of  Loon Lake Dam on Sunday afternoon, July 9, 1922, was kindly shared  by <a href="mailto:arizonawrecks@cox.net">Chris Baird</a> of <a href="http://www.arizonawrecks.com/">Arizona Wrecks. </a>   <a href="mailto:arizonawrecks@cox.net">arizonawrecks@cox.net</a>  <a href="huntairplanecrashloonlake19221a.jpg">Hunt  Crash Photo 1 </a> <a href="huntairplanecrashloonlake19221b.jpg">Hunt  Crash Photo 2 </a>  <a href="huntairplanecrashloonlake19221c.jpg">Hunt Crash Photo 3  </a>  <a href="wikandernsjarticle1950.pdf">Wikander of Buck Island Lake</a>  <a href="CrashSitePerLAB.jpg">Lint  Brown Loon Lake Airplane Crash Location</a> This airplane crash was covered quite well at the time in  newspapers with articles written in the Woodland Democrat, Woodland,  Ca, the Georgetown Gazette, Oakland Tribune and the Reno papers. It  was most probably written about in the Sacramento Union and Bee as  well. The most interesting aspect of this mishap is that it  was witnessed first hand by Vic Wikander of Buck Island Lake. He and  a friend who had been out hiking were at the time sitting on the  shore of Loon Lake, enjoying their lunch, when this flying machine  come down, circled the lake and then made the landing on the lake  which ended up in the rocks on the north shore. This whole story is  included in the above Wikander article published in 1950 in the Reno  paper. Though the article says this event happened in the Summer of  1925, this oversight was due to the time passed since the event and  Vic's memory of so many years in the past It is quite a read  and the whole article is available above via the highlighted link.  The pilot, Irwin Hunt, was a famous young dare devil pilot who  lived in Woodland and barnstormed around the country. Accompanying  Hunt was a Warren Gould of Reno. The airplane with both men aboard  was en route to Reno to began a series of flying exhibitions in Reno  and around the country. The airplane suffered some sort of engine  difficulty causing Hunt to make a forced landing reported in some of  the papers as landing on the lake and skipping across and coming to  rest up in the rocks and granite on the north edge of the lake very  close to the original granite block dam. The Woodland Democrat  reported in the article that they intended to make repairs on the  aircraft, estimated to cost $3500 at the scene of the accident and  actually fly this airplane out of the crash position on the north  edge of the lake and dam.  Reviewing various sources, we have not be able to tell whether  Irwin Hunt and his associates ever rebuilt this airplane onsite and  flew it away, although it was removed in some manner, yet to be  determined.  As a final note about the photographs, we are curious about who  the people were that took these photos and who might have provided  the horses to visit the site. I think it highly unlikely that these  visitors trucked their own horses in but rather made arrangements  with any number of the many ranches which surrounded this area, from  the Wagner Brothers at Gerles Ranch, Jerretts of Wentworth Springs,  Jacobsen's of Jacobsen's Meadow, Francis Cow Camp, the Devore's at  South Fork Mill, Forni's of what is now VanVlecks, Orelli's of Robbs  Valley, Bassi...or even the US Forest Service Ranger at Wentworth  Ranger Station, a mile east of Wentworth Springs, and just barely a  mile down Gerle Creek from the dam. In those days this ranger  station actually had a FS telephone for communication purposes.  The list goes on. My sister, Karen Brattland points out, that these  horses  "appear  to be "ground tied" which is an old cowboy thing. You train  your horse to stop and stay in one spot by dropping your reins on  the ground--he's suppose to understand that he is tied to something  solid and un moveable. Very useful out where there is  nothing solid to tie a horse to." This suggests the horses indeed  came from one of our local ranches. The people in these photos could  very well be some of our locals to this overall area of the Eldorado  National Forest and not associated with the airplane  ownership. Lastly, many of our forest service people still got  around the forest during this period on horseback, so they could be  from the Forest Service Credit for the research on this interesting event in the past  history of Loon Lake and it's historic dam includes <a href="mailto:banjomaker@hendericksbanjos.com">Monte Hendericks,  Eldorado National Forest expert on airplane crashes </a>and crash  sites here in the Sierra Nevada, <a href="http://www.arizonawrecks.com/">Chris Baird of Arizona  Wrecks,</a> Lint Brown, author of   <a href="mailto:lln01@clearwire.net">"SIXTEEN SUMMERS ON THE DITCH,  Memories of South Fork and Gerle Creek Ditches and Old Loon Lake  Dam, El Dorado County, California," </a> <a href="mailto:lln01@clearwire.net">Linton A. Brown, Red Bluff, Ca,  February, 2003</a><a href="mailto:lln01@clearwire.net">,</a>  the late Judge Wil Johnson and myself. Earlier in the Summer of  2008, I came across the old article from the Georgetown Gazzette  which peaked all of our interests as we had been following up on  reports of another airplane crash below Loon Lake Dam in 1931-1932  which Judge Johnson remembers visiting and seeing from about 1932.  Later in 1946 as a young person, Lint Brown was shown the remains of  an airplane crash down below the dam by the late Art Razor of the  Georgetown Divide Water District in 1946. <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/CrashSitePerLAB.jpg">Lint  Brown created a very nice graphic map of Loon lake </a>identifying  the location below the dam where he remembers being shown the  crashed airplane remains. Les Clementsen of Stone Cellar, has  also reported seeing the same crashed aircraft below the dam in his  lifetime of working and living in our area. Wikander in the 1950  Reno newspaper article also talks about the bits and pieces  remaining from a airplane crash. Well, in early 2009, Chris Baird,  an <a href="http://www.arizonawrecks.com/">aircraft crash site  historian in Arizona </a>purchased several very old airplane crash  photos (photos 1, 2 and 3 above) including the above photo plus  several others off E-Bay. The photos came out of an old personal  album which had the pictures described as Greimes Airplane Crash.  Greimes was another aerial daredevil who during the 1920 to 1923  period lived in California and performed with various dare devil  pilots of the day as a wing walker. It was not until 1925 that he  moved to San Antonio and learned to fly at Brooks Field. Chris  published these photos on a aircraft crash site blog asking if  anyone might have any information on this mishap and where it might  be. Monte Hendericks reads the same blog, saw the photos and  immediately recognized the location as Loon Lake from the above  photograph which has our Guide Peak next to McKinstry Lake, Eldorado  National Forest in the picture. Knowing about the Georgetown Gazette  article on the 1922 airplane crash he shared the photos with myself.  I could immediately see the same location as Monte, as did Lint  Brown and Krista Deal of Pacific Ranger District. Chris Baird, Monte  Hendericks and Lint Brown have all done exceptional jobs of  digging up further documentary information on Irwin Hunt which gives  us more knowledge about the pilot. During this period, he was  in a partnership with William Moffett who later died in a Navy  airship crash as a Rear Admiral. Naval Air Station Moffett Field, in  Mountain View, California was named for him. Unfortunately for Irwin  Hunt, in 1925 he had a fatal crash during one of his barn storming  events where he was giving paid rides to the public, killing himself  and his passenger. As a footnote, we are continuing in our research on this crash  and would like to hear if anyone can provide any documentation on  how this demolished airplane as the newspapers described it was  removed from the location. I think it was extremely unlikely that if  it could be rebuilt on site, that it could have been flown out.  <img border="0" src="1922-2009.jpg" width="594" height="636" />  This is a August 2009 Lint Brown photo matched with the 1922  crash site photo. he has recently returned from a search of the  crash site at Loon Lake for old debris.   Snow Survey Helicopter from Rogers Helicopters Stranded at  Loon Lake February 1, 1960 due to Snow Storm  Here is the Mountain Democrat Article of the day discussing this  event up at Loon Lake. Thanks to Lint Brown, author of "SIXTEEN  SUMMERS ON THE DITCH, Memories of South Fork and Gerle Creek Ditches  and Old Loon Lake Dam, El Dorado County, California,"  and the retired Director of the California Division of  Water Resources for Northern California, who did all the sleuthing  on this article when I shared it with him. He had worked with both  of the two Division of Water Resources employees involved and  contacted Jack Hannaford about the event. Rather than a simple  e-mail response, Jack wrote a nice article about the event which is  linked below. Jack makes it clear on what really happened and  where they stayed since the article suggested they stayed at a cabin  at Loon Lake which in the pre 1962-63 enlarged Loon Lake Dam days,  there never was any buildings there at the lake since the early  1880s when there was some sort of large barracks building to  accommodate the many workman who lived at the lake and worked on the  original granite block dam. This building survived till about 1890  or so when the Winter snow crushed it. He offers some background on  what the survey does and the conditions of the snowpack and water  content for the Winter of 1959 to 1960. This event happened  well before the new road and in the days when it could take 3 hours  from Highway 50 or Georgetown to get to Gerle Creek on the roads of  the day, let alone Loon Lake which needed 4wd for the last two miles  passing Schlein Ranger Station for the crawl over Chipmunk Bluff and  down to the South end of the lake during the Summer. In the Winter,  this was a completely isolated area period.....and very unfriendly  to anyone not prepared which was not the case here. As a final  note about this event, Harry Rogers of Rogers Helicopters, Fresno,  California, went from a very small commercial helicopter service in  1960 to one of the biggest commercial helicopter operators in the  State of California today. His aircraft work around the state and  country for civilian and government customers...........<a href="hannaford.pdf">Enjoy  the "Rest of the Story".........</a>   <img border="0" src="rogershelicoptersloonlakefeb1960a.jpg" width="422" height="310" />    <a href="loonlakebsa64c.jpg">Loon  Lake Boy Scout Camp </a> The Golden Empire Council of the Boy  Scouts of America in Sacramento, Ca acquired about 5 acres of  shorefront property directly East across from Loon Lake Dam, where  they constructed a Boy Scout Camp beginning early Summer, 1964. Due  to the  <img alt="" class="auto-style10" height="216" src="loonlakebsalodge4.jpg" style="float: left" width="298" />location of the new camp, all materials had to be transported  by water to the camp as there was no roads and only a trail along  the East side of the lake from the Campground to the Boy Scout Camp.  Two full summers, 1964 and 1965 were required to construct the  present main lodge building on the site, and build the septic  system. The camp was envisioned as a base camp where the scouts  would then begin their main camping experience from by hiking into  the Desolation Valley Wilderness area. I was one of the two dozen  scouts and the oldest(only Scout with a drivers license) who worked full time the entire Summer of 1964 and 1965  helping to build the camp, living at the camp from June till August  of both years. <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/loonlakebsa64e.jpg">I</a><a href="loonlakebsa64e.jpg">  drove the tractor, the camp Ford dually flatbed truck and boats and barges </a>(A picture of the 16  year old author on the camp John Deere Tractor awaiting another  barge load, Summer of 1964, taken by my late father, Gordon A.  Brattland) used to haul all the building materials from the  campground to the camp via the water. The main lodge has special  glue lamb beams custom made for this unusual shaped lodged, hauled  up by truck to the campground and then hauled intact via barge to  the camp where they were raised using a large Gin Pole by the US  Navy Seabees from the Sacramento unit who spent two weeks active  duty at the camp for this purpose. <a href="loonlakebsa64a.jpg">Loon  Lake BSA pics 1,</a> <a href="loonlakebsa64b.jpg">2, </a>  <a href="loonlakebsa64c.jpg">3,</a>  <a href="loonlakebsa64d.jpg">4,</a>  <a href="loonlakebsa64e.jpg">5, </a>  <a href="loonlakebsa64f.jpg">6,</a>  Here are some later photos taken during a visit by my father Gordon  and myself during the mid 70s via our fishing boat to the camp which  very nicely show the main lodge which was the end result of all the  work of the Summers of 1964 and 1965.....<a href="loonlakebsalodge4.jpg">Pic#1, </a> <a href="loonlakebsalodge1.jpg">Pic#2, </a>  <a href="loonlakebsalodge2.jpg">Pic#3,  </a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/loonlakebsalodge3.jpg">P</a><a href="loonlakebsalodge3.jpg">ic#4</a><a href="loonlakebsalodge3.jpg"> </a> The summer of 1964 and 65 were the two best summers of my early  life. This original Boy Scout built  camp is now <a href="http://www.deercrossingcamp.com/">Deer Crossing  Camp</a> and has been now since 1983 a private summer camp which  offers the same types of activities originally envisioned by the  Golden Empire Boy Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Sacramento  when this camp was built on the lake. For the official history of the Golden Empire Council's  <a href="LoonLakeBSACampHistory.pdf">Loon Lake Boy Scout Camp,</a>  try this abbreviated part of the overall <a href="http://www.gec-bsa.org/about/history">History of the Golden  Empire Council </a>itself. If you look at the Loon Lake Staff Photo  on page 80 of the abbreviated Loon Lake Camp history, you will see me  as a 17 year old in  the top row middle of the official BSA photo. Loon Lake Road -Click on the  maps for more details-According to Les Clementsen of  Stone Cellar (Clementsen,'04), by the mid 1930s, the Airport Camp or  Camp Gerle at Gerle Creek was a <a href="http://www.cccalumni.org/history1.html">Civilian  Conservation Corps (CCC) </a> Side Camp with a local man named Joe  Flynn in charge of it. In his regular Mountain Democrat  Column, Three Amigos from September 4, 1998, Joe Flynn indicates in  the summer of 1940 he was in charge of the Airport CCC Side Camp  with 30 men working for him. Among the projects they worked on that  summer was making the road from Schlein's to Loon Lake a  better road. Joe Flynn was a local El Dorado County  resident who went off to the Army Air Corps to fly during  WWII, returning after the war to study at Oregon State and returning  to work for the Forest Service eventually becoming the Forest  Supervisor of Eldorado National Forest. After retiring from the  Forest Service he would continue in active public life eventually  being elected as a El Dorado County Supervisor.  <a href="flynn_joe.pdf">For more detailed history about Joe Flynn, see the Joe Flynn USFS  Retires Reunion Living History Project Feb 9 2001, Nordstrom  Whited Interviewer oral history done through UCB. </a>  <a href="loonlakeroad1943.pdf"> <img alt="" class="auto-style7" height="224" src="loonlakeroad1943.jpg" width="390" /></a> Loon Lake Road 1943   <a href="loonlakeroad1950.pdf"> <img alt="" class="auto-style7" height="255" src="loonlakeroad1950.jpg" width="690" /></a>  Loon Lake Road 1950 Lower Bassi Ranch, Union Valley -1860s- Lower Bassi Ranch in Union Valley was  removed during the construction of Union Valley Dam and the  reservoir. The Pacific Ranger District Map of 1950 shows the ranch  in the upper north east section of Union Valley very near the power  house. The first picture is from the 1940s-50s while the final two  are probably just before the reservoir area was cleared for the dam  around 1960. The pictures below were provided from the Swift Family  collection of photos by Michael Kuhl of Swift Ranch, Union Valley,  Ca. <a href="historypages/lowerbassiranch.htm">Click on the map to  view the original 1875 Survey Plat showing Lower Bassi Ranch in  1875.</a> See also Upper Bassi and Swift Ranches.  <a href="historypages/lowerbassiranch.htm"> <img alt="" height="306" src="lowerbassiranchmaptmap1950.jpg" width="501" class="auto-style7" /></a>  <img alt="" height="305" src="lowerbassiranch1a.jpg" width="486" />  <img alt="" class="auto-style6" height="310" src="lowerbassiranch1b.jpg" width="508" />   1st picture to the left-This is the barn and corrals, which were  west of the cabin. Picture was probably taken in late 1940s, early  1950s. Unable to identify the individual standing next to the  loading chute.<o:p> 2nd picture to the right </o:p> This photo looks east towards the cabin. Much later, possibly  right before they started clearing the area for the lake. Notice  that the corral with the feeding troughs and tree in the previous  photo are gone.<o:p> </o:p>   <o:p> </o:p>   <img alt="" height="323" src="lowerbassiranch1c.jpg" width="568" />  This was taking at the same time that the previous photo, this time  looking west towards the barn. I believe the fellow is my  grandfather Rufus Swift- Photo comments by Michale Kuhl Swift Ranch.  <a href="historypages/georgetowndividemaps.htm" name="M">Maps of the Georgetown Divide....from 1865 to the present  day...........</a>  <a href="historypages/map1937a.jpg">Marys Lake </a>  Named most  probably for Mary E Wentworth. Nathan Wentworth discovered the  Wentworth mineral springs while deer hunting in 1879. (Sheryle  Rambeau, 2010)According to the 1880 Census, Nathan was married to  Mary E. Wentworth and had three children, Lillie. N. Wentworth,  Frank Wentworth and Guy E. Wentworth. Mary's Lake one of the  original seperate little lakes which made up the original Loon Lake  before the Loon Lake Dam of 1882 was most probably named for Mary  Wentworth.   <a href="wentmcken.jpg">McKinstry  or Bennet Lake, McKinstry Peak and McKinstry Meadow </a> This map  is a copy of the original survey plat of the area around McKinstry,  originally done beginning in 1875 by J.R. Glover, another part of  the survey done by L.D Bond in 1877 and the last part of this  Township 14, Range 15 East completed by C. F. Putnam in July of  1882. As this is the authoritative original survey of this area by  the US Geological Survey, they did not name McKinstry or Bennet  Lake, the peak or meadow on this map. See also <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1"> G.M Wheeler Atlas 47B,D,E Sheet Calif, Nev 1876/79</a> . This was more than likely the  result of not having or knowing this common name for the area which  Amos Bowman knew about when he did his authoritative survey of the  Georgetown Divide resources owned by the California Water Company in  1873/1874, who may have had the benefit of dealing with people who  were more familiar with this area due to their work and employment  in this area, associated with the California Water Company.  McKinstry Lake or Bennet Lake is noted as "lake" on the map in  section 19, just West of the peak noted as "High Peak" on the map in  section 20. The peak noted as "High Peak' is not McKinstry, but  rather what we call Guide Peak. The surveyors managed to draw it  slightly more to the West than it was. McKinstry peak was not  highlighted by these original surveyors as it would be on the bottom  line of section 18 or the top line of section 19. The larger lake  noted as "lake" on the section 29 section 32 line is what is now  known as Bugle Lake, above Wentworth Springs. The "farmers house"  to the West of McKinstry or Bennet Lake and not named is in fact <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/bunkergerle.jpg">"Bennet's  Range"</a> so named on the township map immediately to the West of  the this sectional. However in the surveyor's notes for this  particular section of township 14N 14E, it indicates at the time  this particular section was surveyed, the "farmers house" annotated  on the original survey plat was now owned by the Fornis. The  surveyor's notes also spelled Bennett with two T's" versus one "T."  These two pictures, one taken  by the Johnson family in 1936 while the other was taken later, most  probably late 1940s by the family of Stanley Mueller, Sr, show the  US Forest Service sign first up in the tree and later attached to a  post on the lake's edge, identifying McKinstry Lake as McKinstry or  Bennet Lake.  <img border="0" src="mckinstryorbennetlake1936.jpg" width="533" height="313" /> Wil Johnson Family photo of  McKinstry or Bennet Lake, 1936, showing Mrs Johnson sitting with her  son, the late Judge Wil Johnson beside the lake.  <img border="0" src="McKinstryorBennetLake1940s.jpg" width="537" height="334" /> Photo  taken by the late  Stanley Mueller, Sr. of <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY w:st="on"> Alameda</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:STATE w:st="on">CA in the late 1940s provided by his granddaughter, Erica  Boivin. As you can see, the original porcelain US Forest Service  naming sign of the lake is in both photos. The Mueller picture of  the 1940's shows the bullet hole in the bottom of the sign which by  the time of this photo, had been removed from the tree and attached  to a post. </ST1:STATE></ST1:PLACE> The following description is  provided by Erwin Gudde............"The mountain is  labeled Mckinstry's Mountains on Bowman's map(1873), and M'kinstry  peak on sheet 47-D of Wheeler's atlas. It has been suggested that  the name may commemorate George McKinstry, Jr., who was one of the  best known of Sutter's men and the first sheriff of the northern  district(1846-1847); it seems more likely, however, that the places  were named for Elliott McKinstry, a miner at Oregon Bar in 1866, or  Lee McKinstry, a miner in Georgetown township in 1867(Gudde, 1969)".   Very nice photo of <a href="mommckinstry90.jpg">Joy  Brattland sitting next to beautiful McKinstry or Bennet Lake  in 1990.</a>   Millionaire  Camp was a small cabin on the original  road to Upper Bassi Ranch from Union Valley, located on Big Silver  Creek, 1/4 mile southwest of the fork of Big Silver Creek and Bassi  Creek. The cabin is long gone. According to Michael Kuhl  of Camp Kuhl on Swift Cove, Union Valley (Bullard Place), he does not  remember the name of the owner but does remember the name  "Millionaire" evolved from what the original owner would say  regarding his cabin. As the story goes, the owner said he  felt like a "Millionaire" every time he stayed at the cabin which  stuck as a name. None of the early Eldorado National Forest maps from 1916  through the 1940s showed this cabin and place name, including the  original survey plat from the early 1880s but it does appear on the  larger geological survey map of this whole section published  in 1953 as well as on later forest service maps. This area has  morphed into a very popular camping area from the middle 1960s with  the construction of the new road from Riverton to Wentworth  Springs/Loon Lake due to the creation of Union Valley Dam and  Reservoir. Prior to the creation of the Union Valley Dam and  Lake, it was more of a challenge to get to this area either via the  road from Riverton to Wentworth Springs through Union Valley  and South Fork or via the <a href="township120nr14emd1a.pdf">old  Georgetown and Carson Valley Road </a>which cut across through <a href="eldoradonfmap1916[1].jpg">Union Valley</a>, and on to the  Georgetown Junction East of Fred's Place on Highway 50. Richard  Cooper has very kindly donated a family photograph of his family  camping in the <a href="millionairecampeldoradonationalforest1930.jpg">Millionaire  Camp area in the 1930s.</a> His family also camped on the  South Fork of the Silver Creek at Ice House besides at Millionaire Camp during those  early days before acquiring a cabin in the Tahoe area. The picture  shows his family in camp at Millionaire Camp  with the family car, a 1932 Chrysler Imperial sedan.  <img alt="" height="416" src="millionairecampbigsilvercreekeldoradonf.JPG" width="776" /> Mountain Meadow Spring House  Foundation. This historic foundation made of stacked granite stones  was located by the Forest Service in 1989 during a survey in this  area prior to some thinning activities. The rock foundation was the  only remains of what was most probably a spring house or small  cabin. It is on the edge of Mountain Meadow, about a 1/4 mile North  of Deller's Cabin in Deller Meadow. I believe this spring house or  cabin was most probably built by the Deller family. The rock  foundation is immediately next to the original trail which went up  from Deller's cabin in Deller meadow around the backside of Bunker  Hill down into the Rubicon Canyon and crossed up to the other side.  Robert Jerrett of Georgetown and later the owner of Wentworth  Springs owned cattle grazing property directly across the canyon  from this site. This foundation site is a sensitive area and should  not be disturbed. It is marked accordingly and unless you know what  you are looking for it is all but impossible to find. This rock  foundation is about 3 to 4 layers high and has two large red fir  growing up within the center of the cabin ruins. The black and white  photo is a 1989 photo provided by Krista Deal of the Forest Service  showing the ruins as they were uncovered. Many thanks to Krista for  sharing this photo. It took me two Summers and about 4 visits with  help to finally find these ruins, even knowing in general where they  are since there is now dead fall on top and one actually has to be  looking right at them to see them. These ruins at one time were  right on the regular trail, but this is no longer the case as the  alder and forest have taken over. My color photos were taken in  October 2005.  <img border="0" src="moutainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005001.jpg" width="501" height="356" /><img border="0" src="mountainmeadow1b.jpg" width="386" height="538" /> Additional pictures <a href="mountainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005003.jpg">Pic 3,</a>  <a href="mountainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005010.jpg">Pic 10,</a>  <a href="mountainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005011.jpg">Pic 11, </a>  <a href="mountainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005014.jpg">Pic 14, </a>  <a href="mountainmeadowcabinruinsoct62005018.jpg">Pic 18</a>  <img border="0" src="mountainmeadowmapoct62005.JPG" width="597" height="379" />   <a href="gerlecreek.jpg">Murry  (Murray) Camp</a> In 1898, William H. Murray  filed on 160 acres14N 14E Section 26 Mount Diablo on what is now  called "Murry's Camp or correctly, Murray's Camp," just inside the  Placer County line on the road to Bunker Hill, just a mile North of  Gerle's or Wagner Bros Cow Camp (Lawyer's Cow Camp). Title transfer  of the land was issued August 15, 1901.  William H. Murray was the son  of William H. Murray born in New York State in 1838. His  mother was Lucy H. Murray born in 1848. William H. Murray, the  son was born in California in 1869. The Murray family lived in <a href="http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/CensusSurveys/Township_and_Place/documents/Pop-Twnshp-Placer_County.xls"> Township #1 in Placer County which is Roseville, Ca .</a>  William H. Murray was married to Kate Murray born 1878. They had 8  children, Roy, Bill, Kathleen, Carl F., Mallie, Carl, Harrel and  James. Both of the Murray families lived in Roseville till the  senior Murray and family moved to Pacific Grove, in Monterey County  early in the 1900s, showing up on the 1910 census living there.  Murray Camp or Murray's Camp was used exclusively for deer hunting.  Murray built a single clapboard sided cabin on the property sometime  before 1916, exact date unknown. This cabin is still standing but  was moved from it's original location on the camp to it's current  location. On the US Forest Service Map of Eldorado National Forest  in 1916, Murray's Camp was formally identified as "Murry Camp,"  while the 1931 Forest Service map simply showed the camp identified  as "Camp." However, the 1943 Eldorado National Forest Map identified  the camp as "Murray Camp." The 1950 Forest Service Map  returned to the "Murry Camp" identity. The Gerle's, specifically  Charles and later the Wagner Bros were very close neighbors of Murry  Camp, eventually leading to the Wagner/Veerkamp family owning most  of the original 160 acres which William H. Murray originally filed  on in 1898. Besides being the main trail to  Bunker Hill, it was the trail to McKinstry Lake and Bennet's Ranch  in the meadows near McKinsty Lake. This trail was actually formally  identified on the earliest maps as the "Road to Bennet's Range."  There are five cabins at Murry Camp situated on Bart's Creek. The  following pictures of the original log cabins built during the 1900s were taken during a visit Memorial Day, 2004.  According to Don Bishop, the new or current log barn was  built in 1946, which replaced an older structure. Don Bishop  also shared the following about their cabin: The Old Thomas, Now  Bishop Cabin was built in either 1934 or 1936 as the information  inscribed or etched into the foundation to the left of the front  door is partially covered leaving the following for all to view, "F.  H. Thomas and Family 19..." Before the Thomas family built their  cabin at Murray Camp, they setup a large summer camp for several  years in the area of Stumpy Meadows according to Don Bishop.  <a href="murrycamp0504a.jpg">Albert Ninas Cabin 1920s,</a> <a href="murrycamp0504b.jpg">  Blair Bros Cabin Murry Camp </a>  <a href="murrycamp0504c.jpg">Barn  at Murry Camp,</a> <a href="murrycamp0504d.jpg">Old  Thomas Now Bishop Cabin Murry Camp </a>  <a href="murrycamp0504e.jpg">Murray  Camp5, </a> <a href="murrycamp0504f.jpg">Murray  Camp6, </a> and <a href="murrycamp0504g.jpg">Murray  Family Cabin Now Serpia Family Cabin Murry Camp</a> According to John Baughman, the Albert Ninas Cabin was built in  the mid 1920s by Albert Ninas. Albert was John and Alvin  Baughman's great uncle. Albert died in 1939 in Auburn, California.  John's brother Alvin Baughman and he own this cabin now. <img border="0" src="MurryCamp.JPG" width="530" height="529" />  <a href="historypages/georgetowndividemaps.htm" name="O">Orelli's Ranch</a> was located on the Eastern slopes of Robb's Peak  in the natural meadow of Robbs Valley and is first shown on the <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/history/bowmanmap1873.pdf">Bowman  Map 1873</a> and <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1"> G.M Wheeler Atlas 47B,D,E Sheet Calif, Nev 1876/79</a>. The ranch building is now  only ruins. The following map shows exactly where the ranch building  ruins are as shown in the picture below: <img border="0" src="oreliranchrobbsvalley.JPG" width="450" height="308" />  Robb's Valley Resort sits on  the property immediately next to the old ranch location. The Orelli's, Charles and Catherina, came to California in  the 1850's from Switzerland. Catherina, a native of Osasco,  Switzerland, arrived in California in 1857 and married Charles  in Placerville in 1858 (Mountain Democrat, Oct 14, 1911). They were  from an area very near the border with France called Canton  Ticino (Baldwin, 1975). Their cattle ranch was located in the  area between Lotus and Rescue in the foothills, where they raised  "beef and milch cattle" according to Anna Baldwin. In the early  Summer, they herded their cattle up to the range property in Robb's  Valley. The cattle remained till herded back down to their ranch  Lotus/Rescue in the Fall. This property at Robbs Valley was  "obtained by government permit" according to Anna Baldwin. The  Orelli's made salami, cheeses and other dairy products which they  sold to various merchants. The Orelli cabin or ranch in Robb's  Valley was noted on the Amos Bowman 1874 Map of the Georgetown  Divide for the California Water Company of San Francisco, California  as "Orelly." According to the Georgetown  Gazette of October 9, 1885, "Charles Orelli brought down a ton of  cheese from his mountain dairy a few days ago, which is pronounced  to be of excellent quality, it being made from pure un-skimmed milk.  This lot of cheese is in store at Gus Orelli's and is being  sold at 16 cents per pound, by whole cheese."  (Gernes, Deibert, 1999)   For a picture of Gus Orelli,  see Rambeau, 1998, page 21 for a group photo of the I.O.O.F. lodge  in Georgetown, 1889. There is a group picture showing members Alex  Francis, Charles Forni, Dan Jerrett, Gus Orelli and Charles  Wentworth, all significant men in the history of Gerle Creek.   Catherina suffered from heart  trouble throughout her life, which eventually led to her death  October 10, 1911, at home near Lotus. She was also related to the  Bassi, Forni, Francis and Leonardi families and the Orellis of  Georgetown. Her funeral was held at the Odd Fellows Hall in  Georgetown with interment in the Georgetown Cemetery(  Mountain Democ rat, Oct 14, 1911).. <img border="0" src="orelisranchoctober102006%20007.jpg" width="450" height="338" /> Oreli Ranch  ruins Robbs Valley,  October 2006 <a name="P">Pino Grande-Michigan California Lumber Company, Saw Mill ,  Logging Railroad & Mill Town-1892-1951</a>  <img alt="" height="269" src="pinograndemilltownsmall.jpg" width="450" /> Pino Grande Mill Town-About 1902 There has been considerable material written about the lumber  mill at Pino Grande which was the hub of the logging, narrow gauge  railroad of the Michigan California Lumber Company. For starters  read R.S. Polkinghorn's "PINO GRANDE, Logging Railroads of the  Michigan-California Lumber Company", Howell-North Books, Berkeley,  California, 1966/Revised/Enlarged Edition Trans -Anglo Books,  Glendale, California 1984.Professor Polkinghorn's books are the  authoritative documents for lumbering on the central Georgetown  Divide-Eldorado National Forest areas during the late 19th Century  through the middle of the 20th Century. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD4jnZ0iP9w">Pino Grande  Michigan California Lumber Railroad Video 1939-1941...Thanks to  George Mihal </a> For a quick read on Pino Grande try the <a href="http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/stories/narrow_gauge.html">El  Dorado County Historical listing</a> or try this slide show on early photos of the <a href="http://www.pacificng.com/imglib/main.php?g2_itemId=3694"> Pino Grande Mill and Michigan California Lumber Railroad</a> <img alt="" height="512" src="pinogrande1916.jpg" width="450" /> Pino Grande 1916 <img alt="" height="329" src="pinogrande.JPG" width="450" /> Pino Grande Site-El Dorado County, Eldorado National Forest <img alt="" height="670" src="rivertonhotel.jpg" width="836" />  <a name="R">Riverton Hotel, Riverton, California</a>-Riverton or River Side  Hotel-Known originally as Moore's Station, named for the owner, John  M. Moore, an early California toll road owner and operator. Moore's  toll road ran between Sacramento and Virginia City, Nevada. Moore  was from San Francisco where he was a former member of the San  Francisco Vigilance Committee (Gudde 1969).  <a href="http://landmarkadventures.blogspot.com/2011/05/moores-station-pony-express-route.html">Moore's Station was  also known in early years as River Side or the River Side Hotel, was  also a stage and Pony Express Stop from the 1850s</a>.  River Side Hotel or Moore's Station was described in the personal  journal of Jesus Maria Estudillio regarding his travel from San  Leandro to Lake Tahoe on September 3, 1864, quoted in full by Cross(1954):   "About half past six we reached River Side (Riverton) (Hotel).  Here we stopped for the night. No better name could have been  given to this place for part of the house is built on the very river  and swishing waters pass below, making a terrific noise. There  is but one house and this is in the one we stopped. If the  supper was not of the best kind, I can say that we had better beds  than at Placerville."  In about 1895 when Moore's Station was to become a post office,  since there already was a post office called Moore's Station in  Butte County in Northern California, an alternative name for Moore's  Station or River Side Hotel was necessary. Hereafter, Moore's  Station or the River Ride Hotel became Riverton and a official  post office from 1895 (Gudde 1969). The Riverton Hotel remained an  important way point for travelers on  <a href="http://www.oocities.org/markarayner/ancestry/johnsons-cutoff.htm">the Placerville  Carson Valley Road, the Placerville Road, Emigrant Ravine Road, the Lake Tahoe  Wagon Road , or simply "Johnson" Cut-Off"in the very early days which eventually was known as California State Highway 50.</a>  Riverton was the jumping off point for driving into the Crystal  Basin including Ice House, Union Valley, South Fork, all the many  ranches, Airport Camp, Gerle Creek, Wentworth Springs and Loon Lake.  The original Riverton Hotel was lost  in a fire on November 2, 1928, but the owner and proprietor at the  time, Albert M. Martin vowed to rebuild immediately which he did.  (Mountain Democrat Nov 2, 1928) Later in the very early 1960s,  the Riverton Hotel burned down for the final time and was not  replaced, but the name remains to this day along with the  historical monuments to this important stopping location on the  Placerville Road to Lake Tahoe or Highway 50.  The Riverton Hotel was a special place to visit and stay. <a href="DaisyBrownRiverton083034.jpg">Lint Brown's parents chose it  as their honeymoon location in 1934. Here is a photo of Lint Brown's mother,  Daisy Brown standing in front of the Riverton Hotel and one of the  cottages during her honeymoon  stay , August 30, 1934, the day after they were married.</a>  For additional historic pictures of the Riverton Hotel, see "THE  WIRGHTS LAKE STORY," The Historical Committee of the Wright's Lake  Summer Home Association, 1962/1994, pages 63 and 64 for three early  1920's pictures of the hotel, including some of its riverfront  cottages along with a picture of the stone highway bridge  across the South Fork of the American River.  Robbs Peak  Gudde indicates it was  named after an early cattle ranchman named Hamilton D. Robb, but  that US Forest Service Records suggest it was named after a  <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1">US Army  Lieutenant with the last name of Robb who during a investigation of  the area with his detachment, climbed the peak and left a metal can  or "tin cylinder" on the peak (Gudde)</a>. See the Wheeler  Atlas link. The Robb's Peak property,  5.54acres, was acquired by the US Forest Service November 26, 1913.  <a href="picture032.jpg">Robbs  Lookout.</a>..Lint Brown photo of Robbs Lookout on <a href="picture032.jpg">Robbs Peak  A </a> <a href="picture031.jpg">B.  </a>As reported in the Mountain Democrat of July 9, 1936, CCC  members from the CCC Spike Camp at Airport Camp on Gerle Creek, will  build a new lookout house on Robbs Peak.  <a href="rubiconsprings.jpg">Rubicon Springs</a>-1869 Hunsucker Springs  <a href="http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/Rubicon/About.htm">Rubicon  Trail</a> See <a href="mailto:history@rubiconspringshistory.org"> Rick Morris'</a> excellent book, <a href="http://www.rubiconhg.com"> "Rubicon Springs and The Rubicon Trail: a history,"</a> 2011. <a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~320~30027:47B,-D--E--Calif-,-W--Nevada-?qvq=q:california%20wheeler%20Atlas;sort:pub_list_no_initialsort,pub_date,pub_list_no,series_no;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=40&trs=67&printerFriendly=1"> Soda Springs shows on the G.M Wheeler Atlas 47B,D,E Calif, Nev,  1976/79</a> Originally discovered and  established by the Hunsucker Brothers. In 1869, they filed and  located themselves on 160 acres here building a log house which was  to become a way station for travelers from Georgetown to McKinney's  at Lake Tahoe. They were great friends with John McKinney who owned  McKinney's on Lake Tahoe. This relationship helped bring people to  the springs via the side wheeled steamer from Glenbrook on Lake  Tahoe to McKinneys, where they were then brought in over the pack  trail to Hunsuckers. Once the Hunsuckers became too old to run their  way station, they sold it to Mrs Vade Clark in 1886, who renamed it  the Rubicon Mineral Springs Hotel. She built a more  substantial structure, finishing her work in 1889(Presba, 1992) and  operated what became a sixteen room hotel for the next 15 years  marketing the mineral water which she said was "better than whisky."  Dr Winslow Anderson felt much the same way describing the Rubicon  Springs in his 1889 prize essay as "an excellent mineral soda  springs, romantically situated in the beautiful Garden Valley, on  the Rubicon River. The owner of this beautiful mountainous  resort is erecting commodious accommodations for guests and  visitors. As for the mineral springs, the doctor described  them as belonging to the Alkalo-Carbonated class of waters, so  valuable in the treatment of the many diseases" (Anderson, 1889).  Vade Clark eventually sold her hotel back to Daniel Abbot in  1898, but leased back to Vade Clark, who continued to operate  it till it eventually sold to Ralph Cowell in the 1908. (James,  1915; Presba, 1992). Here are two images of a modern  reproduction copy of a original Rubicon Springs advertising brochure  in pamphlet form. The pamphlet indicates that R Colwell is the  owner, which means it was published sometime from 1908. My thanks to  Alan Vella from Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract for loaning this  historic document so that it could be imaged and shared via this  historical website.  <img border="0" src="rubsprsbrochure1a.jpg" width="519" height="273" />   <img border="0" src="rubsprsbrochure1b.jpg" width="518" height="249" />  These days the property and the  mineral springs are owned by the <a href="http://www.jeepersjamboree.com">Jeepers Jamboree in  Georgetown,</a> now home to the famous yearly trek (Jeepers  Jamboree) of 4 wheel drive Jeeps from Georgetown to Lake Tahoe via  Rubicon Springs. Originally when the <a href="http://www.jeepersjamboree.com/jamboree_history.html"> Jamboree first begin </a>in 1952, the Jamboree found its way to  Rubicon Springs and Lake Tahoe via Wentworth Springs, but by the  late 1980s, the trek was modified go to Rubicon Springs via Loon  Lake Dam, trekking the North side of Loon Lake and re-entering the  trail to Rubicon Springs at Ellis Creek. Here are four historic pictures  of Rubicon Springs from July 16, 1953, taken by Linton A. Brown, the  late father of Lint Brown. They show the old hotel partially  collapsed as a result of the record breaking Winter of 1951/52 where  the Sierras had one of the biggest snow falls on record, which led  to considerable extra runoff and the damage seen in these nearly 50  year old photos. One of the photos shows what was left of the<a href="rubiconspgs3.jpg">  famous piano </a>in the old hotel; another is a nice shot of the <a href="rubiconspgs1.jpg">collapsed hotel;</a> another a shot of a <a href="rubiconspgs2.jpg">small  barn or shed on the edge of the meadow</a> and the final shot, shows <a href="rubiconspgs4.jpg">Lint  Brown and his friend, Robert P. Neeley standing proudly next to an  interesting piece of old equipment, </a>with their fishing and  hiking equipment displayed. Here are two more historic photos of the  SPRR Cabin in Lower Hell Hole taken by Lint Brown Sr in 1951, which  was removed with the construction of Hell Hole Dam and Lake in the  1960's.  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture029.jpg">029,</a>  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/picture030.jpg">030  </a> I recently came across this  local <a href="http://liddicoat.net/Rubicon/index.htm"> Georgetown-Placerville Liddicoat Family history </a>showing their  early involvement with using Jeeps on the road from Georgetown to  Lake Tahoe via Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs with wonderful  pictures of Wentworth Springs in 1946 along with detailed pictures  of their Jeep travel on the road including historic pictures of  Rubicon Springs and the bridge before the steel bridge and  after..........This website is a must review for a look back 60  years plus at Rubicon Springs and road to Lake Tahoe.  <a href="http://www.delalbright.com/Rubicon/history.htm"> Rubicon  Trail History Page.</a>.......a very nice historical time line on  related history, names and places along the Rubicon Trail to Lake  Tahoe. For even more detail and a wonderful timeline on the history  of Rubicon Springs, along with some new and very interesting  photographs of the Springs, their vehicles, the people and owners,  try <a href="http://www.rubiconspringshistory.org/"> www.rubiconspringshistory.org </a>. This is a new website and is  very comprehensive.........   <a href="gerlecreek.jpg" name="S">Schlein's Cabin</a>- Eldorado National  Forest, El Dorado County, Ca US Forest received this property  December 26, 1944. The original Schlein cabin was built by  Theodore Schlein (family records say his full name was George Henry  Charles Theodore Schlein) and his son, Ernest W. Schlein of  Georgetown, but no longer exists on the property. According to the  Mountain Democrat of July 9, 1936, CCC members from the CCC Spike  Camp at Airport Camp on Gerle Creek will build a new ranger station  on the old Schlein place on the road to Loon Lake. Theodore Schlein married his  wife Anna R. Schlein in 1866. Earnest was born in California in  1867. His father, Theodore Schlein, born 1836 in Hanover, Germany.  His mother, Anna R. Schlein was born in Pennyslvania in 1849. Her  husband Theodore and his older brother William came to America from  Germany prior to 1841. A third brother George Ernest Schlein came to  America in 1841 at the urging of his older bothers. (Yohalem, 1977;  KDeal 2005; Census Records; Georgetown Gazette; GernesDeibert  1999)They remained in the East for many years before heading West to  the gold fields. By the 1880 census, the entire extended family(all  three brothers and their families) were living in Georgetown.  Theodore Schlein's listed occupation in 1880 was as Ditch Agent.  From newspaper records it was determined he was a ditch agent for  the California Water Company. Theodore's other two brothers, William  and George Ernest, listed themselves as miners. Theodore Schlein  and Anna Schlein's younger daughter, Evalina, born in Georgetown in  1875, would eventually marry Robbert S. Jerrett of Georgetown and  become the mistress of Wentworth Springs during the first half of  the 20th Century during their tenure as owners of that venerable  mineral spring and hotel resort. <blockquote class="cite" type="cite"> Taken from the THE MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT, April 5, 1890,  "Theodore Schlein and Al Toland visited Loon Lake last Friday.  They found snow 16 feet in depth, and judge it had been about 24  feet prior to settling. The Loon Lake boarding house has been  crushed in as also the South Fork saw mill; in fact very few  buildings from Forni's to the summit escaped. The roof of Sam  Forni's building is caved in and Uncle Tom's Cabin (is) injured  more than reported. The snow is 10 feet deep at Bill Vaughn's.  As Wentworth's was not visited, nothing is known."</blockquote> Bill  Vaughn's place was infact 12 Mile House to the East of Georgetown  and belonged to the California Water Company. Bill Vaughn, like  Theodore Schlein, was a ditch agent for the California Water  Company. By In 1906, Ernest W. Schlein was issued land patents  for the property which Schlein's Ranger Station sits on as well as  the meadow. The property and the Schein family built cabin and  outbuildings , remained in the Schlein family till it was received  by the Forest Service in 1944 via a land swap This property was used  by the CCC as well during the late 1930s and 1940s.Here are several  pictures of Schleins taken in 1964, <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/schleinstation1964.jpg"> picture 1,</a> <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/pic41.jpg"> 2.,</a> and  <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/pic38.jpg">3.</a>   <img border="0" src="schleinwagondavesouza2009small.jpg" width="396" height="269" /><img border="0" src="schleinwagondavesouza2009asmall.jpg" width="370" height="266" />  Theodore Schlein's Wagon,  purchased in Stockton in 1890...owned now by <a href="mailto:souzaranch@peoplepc.com">Dave Souza of Souza Ranch </a>on Bear Creek in Garden Valley. Dave purchased this wagon from  Leigh Hurley who was married into the Schlein Family....Picture and  historical background, Dave Souza 2009 Spider  Lake-Spider Lake is on the Georgetown to Lake Tahoe Road just  past Wentworth Springs and a long time isolated fishing destination.  One must hike or use a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get there. In a  wonderful article on the front page of the Sacramento Bee, June 3,  1931, it describes the challenging trip by motorcar during Memorial  Day time frame of 1931 for several Sacramento people who wanted to  catch a few trout........"SPICKARD FIRST TO SPIDER  LAKE, Dealer Pilots Car over Granite Boulders to Reach Fishing  Paradise......Driving through mud holes, around fallen trees and  over granite boulders in the sluice box region of the headwaters of  the Rubicon River, C. R. Spickard of the local automobile firm of  Spickard & Loughland, and Ray Weatherwax, service superintendent for  the firm, were the first to reach Spider Lake this season. They  made the tri[ over the Memorial Day weekend, driving there via  Georgetown, Uncle Toms and Wentworth Springs in five hours Friday  afternoon and returning in the same time Sunday night. Road Good for  a ways. Spickard said the road up the Georgetown Divide was very  good to Wentworth Springs, forty-six miles east of Georgetown and  103 miles from Sacramento. From Wentworth Springs on ten miles to  Spider Lake the going was bad and much difficulty was experienced.  However, by persistent effort, the two auto men worked their car to  within a few yards of the lake and pitched camp. Rewarded By  Trout. After they had broken the trail, two or three other cars  followed, but stopped further from the lake. They were rewarded for  their effort by fine catches of large trout in Spider and other  nearby lakes. There is a road that runs from Spider Lake on through  the granite sluice boxes and down to Lake Tahoe at McKinneys, but it  is in such poor condition that but a handful of cars have gotten  through to the lake by this route in the past several years."   Stone Cellar Land patents were  issued to Amelio Fornifor Township 13N 14 E section 24 in 1888  followed by section 23 of the same township in 1894. The 1895  Geological Survey map clearly is annotate with Forni's name on Stone  Celler as well as a number of other properties in the Gerle Creek  area. Les Clementsen owns Stone Cellar and has for  many, many years. Like Robb's Resort, Les built a large camp at  Stone Cellar with several large buildings which cater to private  groups as a summer retreat throughout the season every year. Tells  Creek/Peak Gudde indicates it was named for a early Swiss  "homesteader" named Tell. His cabin is shown on the early maps to  the West of Tell's Peak on Tells Creek around 1875. However other  sources in Gudde's research suggest it was named for "Ciperano  Pedrini", commonly known as "Bill Tell," who was a merchant in  Garden Valley (Gudde) James, 1915, pg 160 wrote "Tell was an old  Switzer who used to keep a dairy ranch on the slopes of the mountain  bearing his name." In fact it was named for Ciperano Pedrini or  William Pedrini as he was called after arrival in America of Garden  Valley who owned a store there called Tell's Store and Tell's Ranch  below Tell's Peak. Later in 1875, his store and ranch holdings were  taken over by his nephew, Renaldo Filippini along with his partners,  Massino and Clemente Pedrini, thereafter known as Rinaldo Filippini  and Company. Filippini arrived in 1859 and worked for his uncle in  the store at Green Valley(Gernes,1982) <a href="historypages/swiftranch.htm">Swift Ranch,  Union Valley, California</a> See  also Lower and Upper Bassi Ranches.  <a href="georgetowndividemap1915.jpg">Uncle Tom's Cabin</a> 1864-<a href="laketahoemap1915.jpg">Georgetown-Wentworth  Springs Road,</a> Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado County, Ca  <a href="uncletomscabin1.jpg">Uncle  Toms1,</a>  <a href="uncletomscabin2.jpg">Uncle  Toms2, </a> <a href="uncletomscabin3.jpg">Uncle  Toms3,</a> Originally built by Tom Markham  in 1864(Presba, 1992). Archie and Irma Lawyer, married in 1912,  owned Uncle Tom's from about1921, living there every Spring till the  first snow of the Fall till the mid 1970s.According to Irma Lawyer,  it was named after a black man who lived there, mining and trapping  in the early mining days. No one ever knew his real name, although  he was referred to as Tom. However, other sources indicate that Tom  Markham was in fact a Caucasian from Missouri. He later left the  county in the late '70s for Tulare County (Gardner, 1993).  White fur trappers who moved into the area would seek help from Tom  with trapping and actually getting their hides out. After many  years, the name "Uncle Toms Cabin stuck and continues to this day (Yohaler,  1977). <a href="RayandIrmaLawyerUncleTomsCabin.jpg">Here is an  undated picture of Ray and Irma Lawyer standing in front of Uncle  Tom's Cabin shared on Facebook by Bill Purier. Ray would be Archie  and Irma Lawyer's son.</a> After Tom Markham left for  Tulare County, John Brock and John Saucerman, hunters and trappers,  made it their headquarters before it was passed along to William  Vaughn and B.W. "Dick" Hartless turned it into a store and beer bar  (Gardner,1993) According to Gardner, Dick Hartless actually  inherited the name "Uncle Tom" among his friends, which followed him  to the end of his life.. By the late 1880s, the the property was  acquired by the Swiss Timber and Land Company who built a  substantial building there. Uncle Toms was then operated by B.  Scholari and then Charles Schultz of Coloma. After the Swiss  Timber Company sold the property, Uncle Toms burned down, but the  new timber company owner rebuilt it immediately (Gardner, 1993).  The Lawyers once they took it over from this timber company,  operated it as a roadhouse which catered to the Spring and Fall  cattle drives of the valley ranchers moving their cattle into the  many sierra meadows which were homesteaded by early California  pioneers  Union Valley-Named  in Spring of 1851 by a party of men, including James W. Summerfield,  formed to find Lake Tahoe. Summerfield was a late arrival to the  goldfields in the Summer of 1849, arriving from Union, Virginia  (now West Virginia) where he was born. He spent the remainder of  1849 and 1850 mining in Kelsey before returning to Hangtown in  1851. He and several other miners heard the story of a "certain  mountain lake" which had a stream flowing into it, where one could  see "innumerable pieces of gold, some of which were fully as large  as a small-sized walnut." (Upton, 1906)The story went on to  describe the lake which the stream flowed into, as so clear that  pieces of gold could be seen in it as well. James Summerfield was  one of several men who formed several companies referred by Upton as  the Gold Lake Party who left Hangtown to find Lake Tahoe, using the  directions written down by the three men who gave them the story of  gold. The party, which included Summerfield, made their way up into  what is now called Union Valley, searching for this clear lake and  stream of gold. Union Valley received it's name from this party of  men as "they communed and held services---when they became puzzled  and were unable to follow the line of procedure as described in the  paper of directions." For this reason, hereafter, it was named Union  Valley. (Upton 1906)  Union  Valley Dam Here are several in construction pictures of the  dam taken by my father with myself standing on the dam during  construction  <a href="unionvalleydam1.jpg">Pictures 1. </a>and <a href="unionvalleydam2.jpg">2. </a> <a href="Map.pdf">Upper Bassi  Ranch  </a>and ranch  buildings, 1860s. Located Northeast of Union Valley on Bassi  Creek, between Fillipinni/Forni/Van Vleck Ranch and Tells Peak.  Both pictures were taken in the early 1960's by John Holmes, Lot 33  Gerle Creek Summer Home Tract......<a href="upperbassi1.jpg">Pictures  1. </a>and <a href="upperbassi2.jpg">2. </a> The following information  comes from G Bassi's own comments to P.Sioli during the  preparations and writing of the "The History of El Dorado County,  California, 1882-83. G. Bassi was born in Valle, Switzerland May 18, 1840, the son of  Antonio and Osula Bassi. He spent his early years herding cattle  but by age 18 was ready to seek his fortune in America,  setting out for California and the opportunities there. G. Bassi arrived 10 years into the Rush to California in January  of 1859 spending his early years in El Dorado County working on dairy  ranches and as a miner saving his money. In 1864 ,he went to Nevada  looking for opportunity but returned in the Fall of 1864 and bought  an interest in a dairy ranch at Rock Bridge.(Sioli, 1883). Later by 1870 ,  G. Bassi was able to buy the dairy ranch in full which was situated  on the banks of the South Fork of the American River and included  summer ranches and ranges on the banks of Silver Creek (Later  years, called Big Silver Creek) in Union Valley and a  second ranch on a fork to Big Silver Creek, later called Bassi Creek. (Sioli,  1883) In  the early years the lower ranch on Big Silver Creek was referred to and  marked on maps as "Bassi," while the ranch on Bassi Creek which is a fork of  Big Silver Creek, was referred to as Upper Bassi and so marked on early maps. With the construction of Union Valley  Dam in the early 1960s, Bassi Ranch on Big Silver Creek was removed  from within the area of the new lake. G Bassi later married Virginia Forni, daughter of Sam Forni of  Georgetown January 6, 1878. Their children included Daniel M Bassi  born January 20 1879; Josphine V. Bassi born August 19, 1880 and  Kitty Angelina Bassi born March 9, 1882.(Sioli, 1883) "Among the stockmen who passed through our town the past two  weeks for their alpine ranges were: Murphy Bros of Weaver Creek, for  their range at McKinney's ; G. Bassi for Silver Creek; Sam and  Amelio Forni, for Forni's; Wm. Bacchi and Son from Garden Valley;  McCollough from near Folsom, for South Fork; Rodoni Bros; Butler  from near Folsom, with sheep; Jake Drairer from Cool."  Georgetown Gazette June 10, 1898 See also Lower Bassi and Swift Ranches B-17C Crash Site Tell's Peak Upper Bassi Ranch <a href="B17crashoct311941.pdf">B-17C Crash October 31, 1941</a>  <a href="bee-clip.jpg">B17C Pilot Located</a>  <a href="B-17%20Hike%20Halsey%20and%20Dan%207-16-06.jpg">B17C Crash  Site Map</a>  <a href="http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/stories/B17Crash.html">B17C  Crash Site Link</a>  <img alt="" height="263" src="GerleCreekOct2008%20049.jpg" width="350" />  L-R John Watt, Pete Cowper and Bill Dillon during our hike to the  site October 2008 Photo  <a href="eldoradonfmap1916.jpg" name="V">Van  Vleck Ranch ) </a>1870s One of the original ranches built for summer  range East of Robbs Valley for grazing cattle...identified as <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/documents/georgetowndividemaps.htm"> "Tell's Ranch"</a> on Amos Bowman's 1874 Map of the Georgetown  Divide for the California Water Company of San Francisco,  California...Originally belonged to the <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/fillpinis1895.jpg">Ce</a>perano  Pedrini or William Pedrini....(William Pedrini was commonly called  ."William Tell", with his store in Garden Valley called Tell's Store  and his ranch on the slopes of Tell's Peak, Tell's Ranch ) till 1875  when the ranch and store was passed to his nephew, Rinado Filippini  of Rinaldo Filippini and Company. Renaldo arrived in 1859 to work  for his uncle Ceperano Pedrini in the store and on the ranch. (Gernes,  1982) Fillippini owed the ranch till the late 1890s before being  passed to the Forni Family (The 1895 USGeo and 1916 US Forest  Service Map shows Forni's name on the ranch) an then to the Van  Vlecks...four pictures of the Brattland family visiting this  historic ranch in July 1991...the next year the ranch burned down  from a chimney fire. Pictures show the original ranch building along  with the beautiful near natural meadow which made this such a  perfect place for a summer ranch when first located by early  settlers. Some of the timbers of this original mid 19th Century  ranch house most probably came from the Southfork Mill at Hanna's  Camp when it was originally built during the Summer of 1885.  <a href="vanvleck91a.jpg">Pic#1</a>  <a href="vanvleck91b.jpg"> Pic#2,</a>  <a href="vanvleck91c.jpg">Pic#3,</a>  <a href="vanvleck91d.jpg">Pic#4  </a> A report from the October 28,  1881 edition of the Georgetown Gazette on the Filippini  "Dairy"........"A profitable Dairy - Filippini and Company of Garden  Valley, have a dairy of about 200 cows which they keep during the  summer months in the higher altitude above Georgetown. They  brought their stock down last week and reported the following as the  result of the seasons operation. they made something over four tons  of cheese, at which business, being native sons of Switzerland and  trained to it from childhood, they are adept, and for their cheese  they have an active demand. They are shipping this cheese to  Eureka, Nevada, and other points. They also put up something  over three tons of butter of remarkable fine quality , equal to the  best we have ever tasted."(Gernes; Deibert, 1999) A report from the June 23, 1882  edition of the Georgetown Gazette on the movement of livestock  through Georgetown to the ranches in the Sierras.........."A great  many droves of stock and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, have passed  through Georgetown during the present month for their ranges above,  and many more are yet to pass before the month ends. Among  those who have already passed up with dairy stock are: Forni of Gold  Hill, Sam Forni of this place(Georgetown), Filippini & Co., Bacchi  of Garden Valley, Schelari and Gerley(mispelled) of Uniontown,  Deller and Son near this place (Georgetown) and others whose names  we have not in mind. Besides this, no less than a dozen large  bands of sheep and goats have passed through town. Much stock  is also passing up by routes south of this place." (Gernes; Deibert,  1999) A report from the October 23,  1885 edition of the Georgetown Gazette on the Filippini Mountain  Ranch building......."Fred Smeder has just returned from R.  Filippini and Co,'s Mountain ranch, some 40 miles east of  Georgetown, where he has been engaged for the last eight weeks in  building a fine large dwelling house for that enterprising Company.  this and John Flora's new swelling, going up near Volcanoville, are  the finest buildings on the upper divide>"  (Gernes; Deibert, 1999)  <a href="historypages/wentworthsprings.htm" name="W">Wentworth Springs-</a>1880,Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado  County, Ca Quick Index <a href="#A">A</a> <a href="#B">B  </a> <a href="#C">C </a> <a href="#D">D </a>  <a href="#E">E </a> <a href="#F">F </a>  <a href="#G">G </a> <a href="#H">H </a>  <a href="#I">I </a> <a href="#J">J</a>  K <a href="#L">L </a> <a href="#M">M</a>  N <a href="#O">O</a>  <a href="#P">P</a> Q  <a href="#R">R </a> <a href="#S">S </a> T  U <a href="#V">V </a> <a href="#W">W </a> X Y Z  <a href="#Bibliography">Bibliography</a> <a name="Bibliography">Bibliography</a> Anderson M.D., Winslow, "Mineral Springs and Health Resorts of  California," The Bancroft Company, San Francisco, Ca, 1890. Baldwin, Anna Luneman, "Joys  and Tears of Yesteryears", Anna Luneman Baldwin, 1975...source  material for the Orelli, Jacobsen and Leonardi Families  <a href="http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal/WestCounty/Anac-Fid/Anac/Pioneer/Bowman02-BeforeandAfter.html">Bowman, Amos,</a> "Report on the  Properties and Domain of the California Water Company, situated on  Georgetown Divide: Resources of the Country, Between the South and  Middle forks of the American River, In El Dorado County,  California," A. L. Bancroft and company, San Francisco,  Ca,1874. See the link to learn more about Amos Bowman  <a href="http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal/WestCounty/Anac-Fid/Anac/Pioneer/Bowman02-BeforeandAfter.html">Bowman, Amos,</a> "Map of Georgetown Divide, El Dorado County,  Showing also Portions of Placerville and Forest Hill Divide, with  Ditches, Mines and other Properties of the California Water  Company," Amos Bowman, San Francisco, Ca, 1873 See  the link to learn more about Amos Bowman Brown, Linton A., Long time  South Fork Mill, Old Ditch Camp, Georgetown Divide recreational  user, growing up and spending considerable time during his youth  living, hiking, fishing and working in these areas, with his late  father Linton Brown Sr...huge collection of historic photos covering  all areas of the Georgetown divide, including the old ditch Camp,  Loon Lake, Rubicon Springs, Wentworth Springs, and the California  Water Company holdings...most taken by his father Lint Brown Sr..  Lint is working on written history of this area, which will include  many of the historical photos which he has loaned to me to  include in the Gerle Creek history. Lint is a retired Engineer for  California Department of Water Resources and lives in Redding,  California.  Brown, Linton A., "SIXTEEN SUMMERS ON THE DITCH, Memories of  South Fork and Gerle Creek Ditches and Old Loon Lake Dam, El Dorado  County, California," Linton A. Brown, Red Bluff, Ca,  February, 2003 [This new book is a wonderfully written book on the  Ditch Camp, California Water Company, Georgetown Divide Water  Company, Gerle Creek and Loon Lake Dam. It is absolutely full of  wonderful pictures of these areas, not seen before from the author's  family collection, as well as much detail on the Ditch Camp, Loon  Lake Dam, and its early construction, Uncle Tom's Cabin and  Wentworth Bros of Georgetown's mineral springs by the same  name....Wentworth Springs. The maps and charts are very good. This  book should be part of any ones library who has an interest in the  Georgetown Divide, Eldorado National Forest and El Dorado County  history....This is self published. The author, <a href="mailto:lariatlane@hotmail.com">Linton A. Brown, </a>22360  Lariat Lane, Red Bluff, Ca 96080 can be contacted by mail . I  am very pleased to have one of the 35 original copies] Clemenstsen, Les, life  long El Dorado County resident, former Army Air Corps Pilot in WWII  and life long cattle rancher on the Eldorado National Forest,  original owner and builder of Robb's Resort as well as the builder  and owner of the summer camp at Stone Cellar. Personal interview and  historical discussion, Gerle Creek Lot 43 Dinner, October 12, 2004 Cross, Ralph Herbert, "THE EARLY INNS OF CALIFORNIA 1844-1869,"  Ralph Herbert Cross, Cross & Brandt, San Francisco, 1954 Crowder, James L., "OSAGE  GENERAL: MAOR GENERAL CLARENCE L. TINKER," Office of Hisotry,  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma,  1987 Errington, Don; Deal, Krista, "Airport Forest Health Project, Draft  Environmental Impact Statement," USDA, US Forest Service,  Pacific Southwest Region, Eldorado National Forest, Pacific Ranger  District, Pollack Pines, Ca., July 2000 Gardner, Georgia; Edited by  Leonard M. Davis, "Along the Georgetown  Divide, A collection of Stories and Reminiscences About the Famed  Georgetown Divide," 1993, Roseville Historical Society,  Roseville, Ca 2002 Gernes, Phyllis, Editor, "Daily Journal 1852-1860 of Stephen  Wing," Physllis Gernes, Garden Valley, Ca 1982 Gernes, Phyllis L., "Hidden in the Chaparral,"  Phyllis L. Gernes, Garden Valley, Ca, 1979 Gernes, Phyllis & Deibert,  Kenneth, "On &  Beyond The Georgetown Divide," Phyllis Gernes and Kenneth  Deibert (530) 622-7590 (530) 333-4402, 1999 ( web  master's note....just an excellent book....The authors have taken  the time to read all of the Georgetown Gazette newspapers between  1880 and 1900, plus several other smaller relevant papers, pulling  out significant quoted parts which cover significant events, people,  businesses etc. covered by the Georgetown Gazette..... a great help  to anyone without access to the Georgetown papers which are only  available in the El Dorado County library or the State  Library.....if one has any kind of interest in the Georgetown  Divide, it's people, events, places of interest, etc., , one needs  to own their own copy of this book, as do I..........mgb) Gudde, Erwin G. "California Place Names, The Origin and  Etymology of Current Geographical Names," University of  California Press, Berkeley, Ca, 1949,1960,1969. Gildersleeve, David H., "California Water and Mining Company Report to  the Stockholders," New York, 1880.  <a href="http://www.highcountrysketches.com/aj.asp">Hill, Jonni </a> Artist, Early Eldorado National Forest and County historic ranches  and pioneers, Several of her photographs used with her permission <a href="http://www.highcountrysketches.com">High Country Sketches</a> Hill, Lilla, "Our Traveling Correspondent" Newspaper Column,  Mountain Democrat Newspaper, Summer of 1929. Articles reprinted in  September to November period of 1977 in the Mountain Democrat  Newspaper. James, George Wharton, "The Lake of the Sky-Lake Tahoe,"  George Wharton James, Pasadena, Ca 1915. Jerrett, Herman Daniel, "California's El Dorado---Yesterday and  Today," Press of Jo Anderson, Sacramento, Ca, 1915. Jerrett, Herman Daniel, "Hills of Gold," Cal-Central  Press, Sacramento, Ca, 1963 Johnson, Wilbur S., Superior  Court Judge Retired, Redwood City, Ca.... Unpublished early  historical information, e-mail, including early photographs, maps,  etc., on Wentworth Springs and its surroundings, Robert S. Jerrett  and family for Georgetown and Wentworth Springs, Ca, the Wikanders  of Buck Island Lake from 1932, May/June 2003 Mason, J. D. "History of Amador  County California" Thompson & West, Oakland, California, 1881 Mathis, George; Moser, Halmar  Forrest, "El  Dorado Sketches," Friday House, Columa, Ca, 1973 Morgan, Jacqueline; Rambeau,  Sheryl; Wurm, Bonnie, "Georgetown  Historical Walking Tour" Brochure, Georgetown, Ca, Minuteman  Press/USDA/Forest Service, 2003 <a href="mailto:history@rubiconspringshistory.org">Morris, Rick, </a>"Rubicon Springs and The Rubicon Trail: a history," <a href="http://www.rubiconhg.com">Rubicon Historical Group, Rubicon  Soda Springs, Ca, 2011</a> Nicosia, Francesco M., "Italian Pioneers Of California,"  Italian-American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, San  Francisco, Ca, 1960. Niles, Bob, "The Little South Fork Ditch and The  History of the Water Companies on the Georgetown Divide", US  Forest Service Report, El Dorado National Forest, Placerville, Ca,  May, 1979 Parker, Marilyn, "The Pollock Pines Epic," Placerville  press, Placerville, Ca, 1988 Polkinghorn, R.S., "Pino Grande,  Logging Railroads of the Michigan-California Lumber Company," Howell-North  Books, Berkeley, Ca, 1966 Polkinghorn, R.S., "Pino Grander,  Logging Railroads of the Michigan-California Lumber Company,"  Howell-North Books, Berkeley, Ca,1984 (Revised&Enlarged Edition) Presba, Peg, "Jeepers Jamboree, Book II, The First 40  Years," Jeepers Jamboree and Jeep Jamboree, Inc.,  Georgetown, Ca, 1992 Rambeau, Sheryl; Moser-Flynn,  Halmar, "Georgetown and The Divide, Volume II  of El Dorado County Historic Places of Interest Myths & Legends,"  The Heritage Association of El Dorado County, Georgetown, Ca,  1998 Rambeau, Sheryl, "Georgetown" Arcadia Publishing, San Francisco,  CA, 2010 Roth, Major General Marshall  S., "Letter from Maj Gen Roth to Dr. James L. Crowder on Camp Gerle  and why Major Tinker established the encampment," August 28,  198527  <a href="1927%20Amador%20Co%20%20History%20by%20Amador%20Women's%20Clubs.pdf"> Sarget, Mrs J.L.,Editor "Amador County History,"Amador County  Federation of Women's Clubs, Plymouth, Ca 1927</a> Scott, Edward B., "The Saga of Lake Tahoe, Volumes I&II," Sierra-Tahoe Publishing Company, Lake Tahoe, Ca 1955/1973.  <a href="mailto:sevignya@cvc.net">Sevigny, Arthur, Historian</a>, <a href="http://www.20fwa.org/history.htm">20th fighter Wing  Association</a> source for background on Camp Gerle, Eldorado  National Forest, 1932, Major Tinker US Army and 20th Pursuit Group. Sioli, Paolo, "History of El  Dorado County, California," Oakland, California, 1883. Starns, Jean E., 'Wealth From Gold Rush Waters," Jean E.  Starns, Publisher, in association with Word Dancer Press, Sanger,  Ca, 2004 Supernowicz, Dana Edward, "Historical Overview of the Eldorado  National Forest," Masters Thesis, Sacramento State  University, Sacramento, California, Spring 1983. Upton, Charles Elmer, "Pioneers Of El Dorado," Charles  Elmer Upton Publisher, Placerville, Ca, 1906. Upton, Will O., "Churchery 9, 2001s of El Dorado County  California, Their History Covering a Period of Ninety Years From  1850 to 1940," Old Hangtown Press, Placerville, Ca, 1940 <a href="flynn_joe.pdf">Whited, Nordstrom, Interviewer, "Joe  Flynn USFS Retires Reunion Living History Project, UCB Library,  February 9, 2001, Revised/Corrected January-February 2004 by Joe  Flynn</a> Wilson, Norman L., Dyson, Jack  R., "Archeological Survey in Gerle Creek  Diversion Dam Area, El Dorado County, California," State of  California, The Resources Agency, Dept of Parks and Recreation,  division of Beaches and Parks, Sacramento, Ca, 1962. Wrights Lake Summer Home  Association, "The Wrights Lake Story,"  Cal Central Press, Sacramento, Ca, 1962/1994(Revised Edition) Yohalem, Betty, "I Remember"....Stories and Pictures of  El Dorado County Pioneer Families," El Dorado County Chamber  of Commerce, Placerville, Ca 1977 HISTORICAL LINKS FOR  GERLE CREEK  <a href="http://www.visit-eldorado.com/stories.html"> www.visit-eldorado.com/stories.html</a>  <a href="http://www.enfia.info/">www.enfia.info/</a>  <a href="http://www.lookouts.us/Sorted_By/California.htm"> http://www.lookouts.us/Sorted_By/California.htm</a>    <a href="http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/museum/other_museums.html"> www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/museum/other_museums.html</a>  <a href="http://www.visit-eldorado.com/historical.asp"> http://www.visit-eldorado.com/historical.asp</a>  <a href="http://www.jeepersjamboree.com/jamboree_history.html"> http://www.jeepersjamboree.com/jamboree_history.html </a>   </div>   <div id="column_r">   <embed align="absMiddle" height="230" src="gerlecreek.wmv" type="video/x-ms-wmv" width="244" /> Gerle's Ranch  </div> </div>   <div id="footer"> <a href="../index.html">Gerle Creek</a> |  <a href="gerlecreekhistory.htm"> Gerle Creek History</a> | <a href="../hotrods/hotrods.htm">Brattland Family</a> | <a href="../coolplaces/coolplaces.htm">Cool Places </a>| <a href="../dumnayokuts/dumnayokuts.htm">Dumna Yokuts</a> | <a href="http://www.dumna.org">Dumna Indians</a> | <a href="http://www.brattland.org">Alan Brattland IT Dude</a> | <a href="../hotrods/hotrods.htm">Hot Rods Cars</a> | <a href="http://www.brunettesautotransport.com">BAT Inc</a>| <a href="../brattland/simplebookkeeping.htm">Bookkeeping Services</a>|  | <a href="../brattland/basicwebsitecreation.htm">Website Services</a> |<a href="http://www.ford6v.com">Ford Tri-Power</a>|  | <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org">GCSHT</a> | <a href="http://www.thetaepsilon.org">Old HSC/HSU Tekes</a> | <a href="http://www.gerlecreek.org/cabins/lot24.htm">Gerle Creek Lot 24</a> | <a href="http://www.westcoastwillysclub.com"> WCWC</a>  | <a href="../contact/contact.htm">Contact</a> | Copyright © 1996 Gerle Creek.Com &Brattland.Org Michael G. 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