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Jones Bar, California

Former populated places in CaliforniaFormer settlements in Nevada County, CaliforniaNevada County, California geography stubsYuba River

Jones Bar is a former settlement in Nevada County, California. It is located at an elevation of 1073 feet (327 m). Jones Bar is located on the South Yuba River, 5.25 miles (8.4 km) west-northwest of Nevada City.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Jones Bar, California (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Jones Bar, California
Jones Bar Road,

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Wikipedia: Jones Bar, CaliforniaContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 39.293888888889 ° E -121.10972222222 °
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Jones Bar Road

Jones Bar Road

California, United States
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Independence Trail
Independence Trail

The Independence Trail is located approximately 7 miles from downtown Nevada City within the South Yuba River State Park in the Sierra Nevada foothills within Nevada County, in Northern California. The trail is the former Excelsior Ditch, which was found and repaired by John Olmsted and a large group of local volunteers. It is notable for being the first ADA approved wheelchair nature trail. It topped the list of "favorite trails for 2013" in The Sacramento Bee newspaper.Founded by Olmsted and Sally Cates, and built with help from countless locals, the Independence Trail transformed the historic Excelsior gold mining ditch into the nation's first identified handicapped-accessible wilderness trail. It was one of the most popular trails in the area, contouring along wooded hillsides, passing live streams, and crossing deep gorges on restored wooden flumes that once transported water for hydraulic mining. Due to safety hazards caused by landslides from heavy storms in 2017 and the Jones Fire of 2020 destroying the wooden walkways, the trail is closed until further notice. It is in the process of being rebuilt.The trail has two separate sections—West and East—that extend from one main trailhead on California State Route 49. Independence Trail West is oriented for most of its length around the canyon of Rush Creek, a large tributary stream that enters the South Yuba River at Jones Bar. The West trail features several wooden flumes, a large covered viewpoint, picnic tables and benches. Flume 28, over 500' in length, crosses above a waterfall on Rush Creek 1.1 miles west of the trailhead. It is a "must see" piece of mining history. The Independence Trail utilizes the old Excelsior Canal, built between 1854 and 1859 by hundreds of Chinese laborers. To bring high pressure water for hydraulic mining. The ditch tapped the South Yuba river more than 2 miles upstream from here, and ran all the way to what is now the dam at Lake Wildwood, then by the China Ditch to the Smartsville mining district, 15 miles west of Grass Valley. After hydraulic mining was outlawed in the 1880s the "Excelsior Ditch" was used for agricultural irrigation until it was abandoned in 1963. In 1969, John Olmsted rediscovered the rock-lined ditches, adjacent paths for ditch tenders, and wooden flumes that provided access over ravines. It is a gold country gem and part of the South Yuba River State Park.

49er Fire
49er Fire

The 49er Fire was a large and destructive wildfire in September 1988 in the U.S. state of California's Nevada County and Yuba County. After igniting on the morning of September 11, when a homeless schizophrenic man accidentally set brush alight by burning toilet paper, the fire burned 33,700 acres throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, impinging on the communities of Lake Wildwood, Rough and Ready, and Smartsville, before being declared contained on September 16. Driven by severe drought conditions and strong, dry winds, firefighting crews were hard-pressed to stop the fire's advance until winds calmed and humidity levels recovered. The 49er Fire destroyed 312 structures, including more than 140 homes, making it the most destructive wildfire in Nevada County's history and—at the time—one of the five most destructive wildfires in recorded California history. It was also the seventh most expensive California wildfire in terms of losses, which amounted to approximately $23 million. The fire highlighted the rapid pace and potential consequences of development in the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, along with several other fires in that time period, such as the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and the Fountain Fire in 1992. The 49er Fire was sometimes called the "wildfire of the 1990s" by officials in attempts to raise awareness of the growing challenges of firefighting in areas where human structures are intermingled with wildland fuels.