Coloma Road - Rescue & Coloma, California

DATE VISITED:  03/21/2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  Coloma Road - Rescue to Coloma

LOCATIONS:  4222 Green Valley Rd., Rescue, El Dorado Co., CA & Hwy 49 (Gold Discovery Parking Area)

MARKER #:  747 & 748

DEDICATED:  August 14, 1960

"Past this point on the old Coloma Road, running between Sutter's Fort and his sawmill on the American River, James W. Marshall rode with the first gold discovered at Coloma on Jan. 24, 1848. Travelled by thousands to and from the diggings, this road became the route of California's earliest stage line established in 1849 by James E. Birch"

"Here in the valley of the Cul-Luh-Mah Indians, James W. Marshall discovered gold on January 24, 1848, in the tailrace of Sutter's Sawmill. The old Coloma Road, opened in 1847 from Sutter's Fort to Coloma, was used by Marshall to carry the news of the discovery to Captain John A. Sutter. During the gold rush it was used by thousands of miners going to and from the diggings. In 1849 it became the route of California's earliest stage line established in 1849 by James E. Birch"

Markers Placed By:  Placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Golden Key of Greenwood, El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, and the Grand Parlors, Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden West

 

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: Note to self: If you plan an outing and then wait a week or so before you go, you should review the places you have outlined on a map.

My oldest son David accompanied me on this trip and I have to say, having someone along is much more fun, but it's doubly so with either, or both, of my sons.

When I picked David up, he said "where first". I looked at the map and pointed...here. "Where's here?" David asked and I couldn't remember.

It was a nice warm day and a very pleasant drive around Folsom Lake passing by the Dam. I've never seen the Dam from that angle and I was surprised at how big it is. Excitedly, I told David to take a picture, which he did. When we got home I looked at the pictures and you just can't get a feel for how enormous the dam really is. I was going to put it here but David took a great picture of the end of my nose with my hair flying since I had opened the window for him to take a clear picture....*hits the delete button*. 

We stopped at the side of the road when our GPS notified us were at the landmark. Looking around, we really didn’t see anything so David got out and found the landmark behind a chain link fence. It lies in a construction area, a bit overgrown and with what looks like insulation on it. We might have missed it if David hadn’t gotten out and looked around.

I put these two landmarks (747 & 748) together since they are a stop and a final destination on the same route. This was the road that went from Sutter's Fort to Coloma. While the early route was a pack trail, it became more and more compacted as more miners poured into El Dorado County. The Oregonians are  credited with bringing the first wagons on the trail. 

Most people think of this road as the major route taking miners into the foothills and while that is true, the road played a role in getting the news out as this is the route James Marshall took back to Sutter's Fort to tell his partner, John Sutter, that gold had been found. 

Coloma Road became the first stage line in 1849. Surprisingly, of the maze of roads that radiated out from Coloma, some still exist:

• ·         Georgetown Road through Garden Valley (SR 193)
• ·         Ridge Road to Kelsey
• ·         Gold Hill Road to Cold Springs and Placerville
• ·         And SR49 "mother lode highway" Placerville to Auburn via Coloma

 

Chung Way Cemetery / Young Wo Cemetery - Folsom, California

DATE VISITED:  03/08/2015

HISTORICAL SITE:  Chung Wah Cemetery

LOCATION:  1221 Mormon St., Folsom, Sacramento Co., CA

MARKER #:  1995000999

DEDICATED:  August 21, 1995

**closer look below

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: Well, now I know why Dana and I couldn't find the cemetery. It's located at the back of the current cemetery behind gates and signs that say "do not trespass".

I'm totally confused over the Chinese cemeteries in Folsom. Everything I read says there were 3 of them. The federal application for historical designation says any remnants of the Young Wo Cemetery no longer exists yet I visited it...I think. And when you google "Chung Wah Cemetery", you often see a picture of the Young Wo Cemetery. I also have seen reference to the Chung Wah Cemetery being on private lands and so not accessible to the public. While I am unable to confirm, I'm going with the inaccessible story as I found a sign leading back to where the maps said the cemetery is and the sign has "Chung Wah" on it.

When I told Dirk what I had found, he said...so there is a national landmark on private property that we're paying for that we can't get to? Yep, and I'm sure this isn't the only one I will find like this.

One of the reasons it is not longer open to the public is that the graves were desecrated in 1967. Vandals dug up graves and destroyed the shrine. Jewelry and artifacts stolen were traced to pawn shops in San Francisco.

A little history...Chinese did not "mix" with other Chinese from different provinces in China, mainly because of the differences in dialects. Basically, they weren't speaking the same language. The competition between these factions was fierce and so Associations were started up in America that could help the newly arriving Chinese from particular provinces. While these Associations assisted newly arriving Chinese that were here mainly because of the discovery of gold, they also were a source of support and news from home. The reason there were 3 Chinese cemeteries is simple...they were overseen by the different Associations.

The graves were never set in any order and the deceased were buried haphazardly. I think it was done because the Associations that oversaw the various cemeteries would disinterred the deceased and send the bones back to China. It looks like this was done, more or less, once a year, so there were never really any headstones as is pretty standard in any other cemetery.

Because there were no headstones and records weren't kept, the exact number of Chinese buried remains unknown but all 3 cemeteries saw a large number of burials in 1893 from some epidemic as noted in the Folsom Telegraph on November 4, 1893..."Chinatown is full of sick heathens . . . and the number of deaths is greater than ever before known in history".

 

HISTORICAL SITE:  Young Wo Cemetery

LOCATION:  Forrest St., Folsom, Sacramento Co., CA

DEDICATED:  1994

"This sacred grounds is one of three revered cemeteries *Young Wo, Sam Yup-Sze Yup, and Hakka * that served the Chinese community once located just north of here. One cemetery vanished during the gold dredging activities; only the Young Wo and Sam Yup-Sze Yup remain. The Young Wo Cemetery provided burial primarily for people from the Chung Shan District of China. Buried here are Chinese pioneers who struggled for economic survival and human dignity and in so doing helped build Folsom and the West"

**closer look below

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: Became a California state historical point of interest but couldn't be designated as a state landmark because major modification had already taken place.

While I was taking a picture of the front gate, a family came and went in. I could hear one parent telling the kids that this is an old Chinese cemetery while the other said the land should be used for the neighborhood. They then proceeded to throw Frisbee's and playing around. I honestly don't know if the Chinese community would consider this in bad taste, but somehow it seemed wrong to me.  

I was reminded of the time my youngest, Daniel, was visiting a cemetery with his grandfather and us. We were in an older part of the cemetery, and he was running around, singing, touching every headstone and jumping around. Both his father and I tried to rein him in when finally his grandfather said "leave him alone...this is more attention than these people have gotten in a very long time".