Have I mentioned that we live in a Gold Rush theme park? As such, it is our solemn responsibility to absorb as much Gold Rush historical information as possible. How else to bore the socks off of any visitors that might wander a little to close? In pursuit of such, we endeavor to visit all of the local historical sites/museums/state parks and other repositories of rusty old mining equipment (we should live so long!). One glaring omission, so far, however, has been the Northstar Mine Powerhouse Museum.
Northstar's claim to fame was its giant, 30' Pelton water wheel, which is still located on the premises (the old powerhouse), along with many others from who-knows-where. The Pelton wheel was invented in 1880 by a guy named, yes, Pelton, here in Grass Valley, to provide power to the hard-rock mining operations in the area and made it possible to chomp the earth and get the gold much faster than was possible prior.
It was so successful an invention, that a version of it is still being used today, in hydroelectric plants all over the world. We know this because Paul, the guy who runs the museum, is a walking, talking (take a breath, Paul) encyclopedia of local mining. It's a very dense experience, this museum. A lot to absorb. Life-sized tableaus, photos, maps, documents and an impossible variety of artifacts. Mainly, we learn, again, that we're very glad those mining days are history.
Well, maybe not quite all of it is history. If we were hardcore mine aficionados, we would plunk down $80-100 bucks each for a deep tour (including lunch) of the only mine still working in the area, the "16 to 1 Mine", a few miles up the mountain in Alleghany. For now, probably not.
So, after Northstar, and over-indulging at the nearby B'n'R (did you know they have Peppermint Patty, now?), we drove some backroads of the area for awhile to enjoy the beautiful afternoon, arriving home just in time for a little thunderstorm to do a quick hit-and-run over the top of us.
Tomorrow, one of Tom's partners, Jim, and his wife, Becky will be stopping over for a visit. I wonder if they realize this is Gold Rush territory...
