Shaw's Flat

The bronze is careful about the folklore and wrong about the man. It calls him James D. Fair. He was James Graham Fair, who left this flat for the Comstock, became one of the silver kings and a senator from Nevada, and whose daughters put his name on the Fairmont in San Francisco. The state register copies the wrong initial straight off the plaque. The bartender who panned gold dust off his own muddy boots is introduced, properly, as tradition.

What the plaque says

MARK TWAIN BRET HARTE TRAIL SHAW'S FLAT IN 1850 THIS COMMUNITY WAS ALIVE WITH GOLD MINERS. JAMES D. FAIR, AFTER WHOM THE FAIRMONT HOTEL IN SAN FRANCISCO IS NAMED, WAS ONE OF THE MOST NOTABLE. THE MISSISSIPPI HOUSE, BUILT IN 1850, CONTAINS MANY RELICS INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL BAR AND POSTOFFICE WITH ITS GRILL AND MAIL BOXES. ON A NEARBY HILL STANDS THE OLD BELL GIVEN BY MINERS WHICH SUMMONED MEN TO WORK AND ANNOUNCED THE CONVENING OF VARIOUS COURTS. ACCORDING TO TRADITION, A LOCAL BARTENDER ADDED TO HIS INCOME BY PANNING GOLD DUST DROPPED ON HIS MUDDY BOOTS WHILE SERVING CUSTOMERS. TABLET PLACED BY HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMITTEE AND TUOLUMNE PARLOR NO. 144, NATIVE SONS OF THE GOLDEN WEST, OCTOBER 5, 1947.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Columbia State Historic Park — 3.2 mi
  The Gem of the Southern Mines, still open for business on a car-free Gold Rush main street.

More markers nearby

• Springfield — 1.4 mi
• St. James Episcopal Church — 1.4 mi
• Sawmill Flat — 1.8 mi
• Columbia — 2.0 mi