Activities include:
Enjoy a free carriage ride on Columbia’s Main Street – board the carriage at the
City Hotel. Greet Father Christmas at the Tibbits House and receive a gift of
freshly-made gingerbread. Members of the Columbia Girls and Boys Academies will
be dressed in 1850s attire and demonstrating parlor games and other traditional
Christmas activities from the 19th century at the Tibbits House. Newsboys and
shoe shiners, and Columbia State Historic Park docents will be seen on Columbia’s
streets too, decked out in their old-time finery. Visit them in the Gazette
Office and see the printing press in action and stop by the Wilson Store to hear
the story of a real Columbia family and learn a little of mercantilism from days
gone by. Listen to the sounds of the season – local children and others will be
singing Christmas carols – and enjoy traditional food and drink from Columbia
stores, such as gingerbread and hot chocolate to warm yourselves from the inside
out.

Fanciful gingerbread houses will be displayed in Angelo’s Hall. To enter this
free contest, make and decorate a gingerbread house and deliver to Angelo’s Hall
by 4 p.m. on December 9. Judging is at 6 p.m. The grand prize winner will
receive a Faberge egg with a music box tucked inside, and other winners will
receive ribbons. Call Carolyn Prindle at 588-9704 for more information on the
contest.

Columbia’s Merry Merchants event is fun for all ages. For more information, call
532-1850 or the Columbia Chamber of Commerce at 536-1672

The Ranch – I avoided these conflicts by constructing buildings for Columbia’s booming population. In ’52, I met a family from my hometown in Kentucky who needed help starting a dairy ranch.

After a seemingly endless monotony crossing the plains, mountains came into view. They provided a welcome vision of change from the tedious plains. In the distance, they appeared peaceful and beautiful. I remember thinking they reached into heaven. In crossing these mountains, hell became a better description. The mountains were a series of formidable obstacles that claimed wagons and lives.

After we conquered these mountains we had to cross a vast desert. I can not describe how some of my new friends simply gave up and died rather than continue trying to survive this endless waste and overwhelming heat. At one point, only a vision of my Patti kept me from giving up.

After the dessert, came a another range of mountains, called the Sierras. When we finally crested the Sierras, we could see California. It truly was a vision of the promised land. What a joy we shared…” (To be continued)

Willie’s recollections recount how he, like the majority of 49ers, was a young adventurer joining the gold rush with more enthusiasm than knowledge of what he was about to undertake. In 1849, gold camps were overwhelmed by a flood of 100,000 fortune seekers. Everything was in short supply, from food and housing, to necessary tools. This flood did not end in ’49.

In 1850, Columbia’s rich gold discovery provided a new bonanza to feed a continuing gold fever. However, it took several challenging years to develop a sufficient water supply to profitably mine this bonanza. With adequate water, Columbia become known as the ‘Gem of the Southern Mines.’ Willie’s story follows.

Dr. James and Geraldine McConnel – James was a local dentist and Geraldine had grown up on a horse ranch in the valley. They were involved in State politics and a personal friend of Governor Earl Warren. In 1945, Governor Warren was a guest in their Columbia home when he officially signed a bill to create Columbia State Historic Park. On that day, he declared their home the ‘Governor’s Mansion’ and Columbia an honorary State Capitol for the day. On the 25th Anniversary of this date, then Governor Ronald Reagan again declared Columbia an honorary State Capitol.

The Brewery Road – Traveling this trail in 1854, you would meet two German brothers. They established a brewery at the abandoned Indian springs. The Bixel Brewery produced lagers, ales, wines and syrups for over 60 years. The Brewery gardens were popular for socializing on Sunday afternoons. Still visible is the brick brewery building, hops kiln, and a stone spring house.
Also visible nearby, are three generations of Columbia’s water treatment facilities served by the Matelot Ditch. Ditch water was also vital for fire protection after Columbia completely burned in 1854 and 1857.

The Italian Bar Road – A group of Italian prospectors traveled this trail past the Ranch and Brewery. Beyond Five Mile Creek, on the Stanislaus River, they discovered a gravel bar rich with placer gold. This gold had accumulated over thousands of years of being washed down from higher gold veins. This portion of the ancient Indian trail then became known as today’s Italian Bar Road.

Liquid Gold – Columbia grew like wind blowing sand in a desert. And like a desert, Columbia lacked dependable water. Water was needed to mine the seemingly boundless gold deposits. For this reason, water was considered ‘liquid gold.’ Years later, Mark Twain visited this area and reportedly observed that whisky was for drinking, water was for fighting over.

The Ditch Trail ‘Worth its Weight in Gold’ – Return a year later, when a French miner named Matelot, followed this trail to a creek five miles out of town. He inspired a group of fellow miners to construct a ditch along this trail to provide the profitable water supply required for large scale mining. This popular trail was now referred to as the Matelot Ditch trail to Five Mile creek.

Pine Log Trail – Next, let your mind travel this trail in the Spring of 1850 to meet a group of prospectors, known as the Hildreth party. These men left their camp in Jamestown to prospect for new gold deposits. They traveled this timeworn trail to explore the area north of the Stanislaus River, or today’s Calaveras County. Since a portion of this trail used a pine log as a bridge across the river, they referred to this as the Pine Log trail.
After an unsuccessful search for new gold deposits, the Hildreth party were returning to their home camp tired, discouraged and damp on a rainy spring afternoon. They had traveled past an Indian village and springs, then a Mexican encampment. Finding a sheltered area, they decided to rest and dry out before continuing the last miles to their home camp in Jamestown.