Rich Bar

The bronze calls her letters a classic of the gold rush and says nothing of what is in them. Louise Clappe came to Rich Bar in September 1851 as a doctor's wife and wrote twenty-three letters to her sister, many of them from Indian Bar, a short way upriver. One from August 1852 counts twenty-four days that held murders, a mob, whippings, a hanging and a fatal duel; others are about the camp's Spanish-speaking and Native neighbours. Published as Dame Shirley in 1854 and 1855, they fed Bret Harte. The Dixie Fire burned through in 2021.

What the plaque says

Rich Bar Gold first found here July 1850 by miners coming over mountains from the Yuba Diggins. Much production during early 'fifties along this east branch of the Feather River's north fork. Here "Dame Shirley" (Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe) wrote her "Letters from the California Mines," one of the foremost classics of the gold rush. Registered Historical Landmark No. 337 Plaque placed by California State Park Commission in cooperation with Las Plumas de Oro Chapter of E Clampus Vitus, September 13, 1957.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Spanish Ranch and Meadow Valley — 8.8 mi
• Buck's Lake — 9.0 mi
• Pioneer Grave (Grizzly Creek) — 10 mi
• Elizabethtown — 13 mi