Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Thompson & West on Sucker Flat



GATESVILLE, OR SUCKER FLAT


The latter name was given it because Gates was a native of Illinois. A store was started here that winter by a man named McCall. Rose Bar was on the river and Sucker Flat just back of it, the two places being practically one. In 1851, the joint population was three hundred men and five women. The nearest post-office was at Parks Bar, a few miles below and on the opposite side of the Yuba river. Rose & Reynolds closed out their business in 1850. L.B. Clark had a store at Rose Bar also. When the bar began to be worked out and the hydraulic mines were developed, Sucker Flat became quite a town, and Rose Bar was abandoned. Daniel Donohue purchased McCall's old store in 1853, and a few other stores were started. In 1858, a fire destroyed Donohue's store, several other small stores, and a great many dwellings. Rose Bar is now covered up with tailings from the mines, and Sucker Flat is simply a place of residence for the men who work in the hydraulic mines. There are now three small saloons, two boarding houses, and from fifty to sixty miners' cottages. The population is about three hundred. Smartsville is now the base of supplies for the people of Sucker Flat.
from Thompson & West's "History of Yuba County" - 1879.

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