Alpine County Points of Interest
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5 November 2012
(Click Photos to Zoom)
State Route 4
Lake Alpine
The plaque reads:
Point of Historic Interest
About 200 yards offshore, in what was once Silver Valley lies the Reynold's House.
This house appears on an 1878 General Land Office map and was probably one of the many road houses along the route that catered to tourists and travelers. Reynold's House was located near the crossroads of the Old Emigrant Trail (1849) and Big Trees-Carson Valley Road which replaced this section of the trail in 1866.
Silver Valley was prematurely named in 1855 after a nearby "silver mine." Unfortunately the ore deposit turned out to be what the "old timers" called plumbago, or lead.
The lake was first created in 1892.
Forest Service
Department of Agriculture
The damming of rivers and creeks inundated many 19th century cemeteries, buildings and entire towns.
Bagby (Merced River)
Bidwell's Bar (Feather River)
Camanche (Mokelumne River)
Condemned Bar (American River)
Jacksonville (Tuolumne River)
Middle Bar (Pardee River)
Mormon Island, (American River)
Negro Hill (American River)
Poverty Bar (Mokelumne River)
Reynold's House (Silver Creek)
Salmon Falls (American River)
Searsville (Corte Madera Creek)
Whiskeytown (Clear Creek)
The town of Volcano in Amador County had a close call in 1934 but was granted a reprieve and survives today.