Spanish Ranch and Meadow Valley

The miners' roads divided at Spanish Ranch, started in July 1850 by two men the register calls Spaniards and a painted sign calls Mexicans; from there the trails ran to the East Branch, Middle Fork and North Fork of the Feather, with Meadow Valley two and a half miles on. Meadow Valley's settlers then built something rarer: a public school on land deeded by Richard Jacks, and across the road the Philomathean Hall, for a library, debates and theatricals. The 1971 Clampers bronze calls theirs a splendid isolation.

What the plaque says

Meadow Valley Historical Site Here early residents of what was then an isolated valley created their own cultural center. On land deeded by Richard Jacks, through subscription and donated labor, they constructed the first public school of the area. Across the way shortly thereafter, again by community effort, they built "The Philomathean Hall" to house a library and to be the scene of debates, theatricals, concerts and other forms of creative expression. Theirs was indeed a splendid isolation. Dedicated by Las Plumas del Oro Chapter E Clampus Vitus September 18, 1971

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of Plumas House — 6.0 mi
• Elizabethtown — 6.0 mi
• Site of American Ranch and Hotel — 6.2 mi
• Buck's Lake — 7.1 mi