Placer County Historical Society marks history with new signs

If you have driven down Nevada Street lately, you might have noticed two new signs – one for Spanish Flat and one for the Auburn Fruit Sheds. These new signs were put in by the city of Auburn with the support of the Placer County Historical Society. One of the main goals of the society is to mark points of historical interest in the county. With the recent changes at City Hall, there is so much more support for projects like this than there has been for many years. Spanish Flat was one of the most important and lucrative gold mining areas around Auburn (the other being Rich Flat at the modern-day Railhead Park). Spanish Flat began near the cemetery and extended about a half mile northward nearly to Mt. Vernon Road. It was about a half mile wide. A small village grew up around the mining ground with a hotel, called the Spanish Flat Inn, several houses, a few merchandise stores, a butcher shop and several bars. We don't know exactly how much gold came from Spanish Flat, but it was significant. It was especially known for the large nuggets found there. In January 1852, the Sacramento Daily Union reported that a lump of nearly pure gold weighing 75 ounces (about four pounds) was found on the flat. Generally , the miners on the flat were making at least an ounce of gold per day per man. They were aided by the water coming from the all-important Bear River Ditch that came into the flat in 1852. The other sign is for the long-forgotten Fruit Sheds that were further down Nevada Street near the Nevada Station building and the Echo Valley Ranch building. The fruit industry around Auburn peaked in the 1930s and '40s. The vast fruit sheds here were a hive of commerce, with hundreds of people making crates, packing and shipping Auburn fruit that was sent all over the county on refrigerated rail cars. Changing economic conditions after World War II and the pear blight dealt a blow to the entire industry, and when the fruit sheds burned down in a spectacular fire in 1969, they were never rebuilt. Grapes and mandarin oranges are the mainstay of the industry today. The Placer County Historical Society is always searching for ways to mark our history. If you have a location that might need recognition, please contact us at April.pchs@gmail.com. April McDonald-Loomis is president of the Placer County Historical Society.