SHINGLE SPRINGS

1870 SS
1870 Shingle Springs

After the discovery of gold in 1848, communities sprang up around the many mines.  Small towns grew up to provide stores and public services such as blacksmithing, but then became sleepy little communities or ghost towns as the mines played out and people moved away.  In 1865, with the arrival of the Pleasant Valley and Sacramento Valley Railroad, Shingle Springs became a booming railroad town with an 800' loading dock and traffic along the road to Placerville and the Comstock was so heavy that they said that if a wagon had trouble and pulled out of line, it was almost impossible to get back in line.  

Upon completion of the transcontinental railroad, shipping was routed north along the new line and Shingle Springs once again became a small county town, but being located on the road between Sacramento and Placerville, it continued to exist.  The road continued to be used and improved and became US Highway 50. When the Buckeye Class of 1956 entered school, the highway paralleled the front of the store, about 40-50 feet away, with enough space to park at right angles to the store and back out without getting hit by a car on the highway.  From there it continued downhill past the school and then swung north to the railroad right-of-way, rounded the end of the hill across from Ferris' farm and wound its way past the current location of the new school and on toward Placerville.  

In the early 1950s, the State straightened Highway 50, moving it further away from the school and the store.  Some things such as the store and the school continued to be located on the main highway, but most were located on the series of loops that were created.  Later in the 1990s the state changed the alignment again and the Highway now bypasses town.  

This is a look at various aspects of the town during the school's existence.     

Andre's Store    Store and snow
        Andre's Store                                                                                                        Contrbuted by Linda (Wandell) Brown
1965 Store   
1965 Store                        Contributed by Ruth (Teague) Kugler   

1890 RR Depot    2004 Depot
                RR Depot about 1890                                                                      RR Depot 2004        Contributed by Frances (Ward) Shenefield

SS S    Stone Mill
                        Old Shingle Mill                                                                                                            Contributed by Ruth (Teague) Kugler


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