by Jeffery W. McKelroy   Virginia City, Nevada   Virginia City embodies the Old West of our childhood dreams. Surrounded by rocky barren hills, the town has retained the look and feel of a turn of the century mining town. While walking down its dusty old streets it is easy to imagine the Lone Ranger riding…

by Jeffery W. McKelroy After leaving Placerville, I headed east over the mountains along the El Dorado Freeway to what was for many pioneers the last stop on their journey west before crossing the mountains into California and a new life. Although, if you reached this place at the wrong time of year it would…

by Jeffery W. McKelroy A short drive from Mokelumne Hill is the once infamous town of Placerville, better known at one time as Hangtown. Crime was a real problem in these remote mining towns and the citizens of Placerville were determined to keep the peace. In the mid-1880’s it was said that anything and everything…

by Jeffery W. McKelroy Traveling from Fort Bragg, California, if one heads east and into the mountains of Northern, California where gold was discovered in the 1840’s you will find the area dotted with ghost towns from the era of the Gold Rush. The winding roads must have been treacherous in those early days, but…