Sierra County: Established 1852
Sierra County is divided by the Pacific Crest at the midpoint, is comprised of two quite different regions. On the west side of the crest of the Sierra it is mountainous and heavily forested, therefore supporting miners and loggers-- the western side of the county is made up of steep canyons and forested ridges. On the east side of the county is the 5,000-foot-high Sierra Valley, which is said to have been an ancient lake bed that was once part of the great inland ocean of Lake Lahontan. It is the largest sub-alpine valleys in the Sierra Nevada range.
The county was home to both Maidu and Washoe Indians, but its modern history is tied to the California gold rush. The discovery of gold, and subsequent gold rush, resulted in some 16,000 miners settling within the county between 1848 and 1860.
The Maidu and Washoe Indians
The Maidu and Washoe Indians were the first residents of this area of the Sierra Nevada. During summers they came into the mountains to hunt and fish. During the fall and winter, they returned to the foothills and valleys below. Artifacts such as spears and arrowheads, beads, mortars, pestles and grinding rocks have been found, particularly along Henness Pass Road. James Marshall's discovery of the yellow metal at Coloma signaled the ending of their peaceful way of life.
Downieville 1854—almost the California Capital
Gold in the mountains and valleys slashed by the forks of the North and Middle Yuba Rivers and their tributaries was so plentiful that by April 1852 the area was teeming with people. Sierra County was formed from the then-much larger Yuba County. By the mid-1850's, Downieville, the county seat, was one of the largest towns in California--surpassed only by San Francisco, Sacramento, Grass Valley, and Nevada City. It missed becoming the state capital by only one vote!A very visible relic of the history of those years is the 1885 Sheriff’s Gallows that remain standing adjacent to the County courthouse. Built for the specific execution of a young murderer, James O’Neill, the structure was used only once.