Wentworth Springs California

This mineral springs and hotel was originally developed, built and owned by Nathan Wentworth and James M. Winslow, both of Georgetown, Ca in about 1880 (Sioli, 1883). According to the 1880 Census, Nathan was married to Mary E. Wentworth and had three children, Lillie. N. Wentworth, Frank Wentworth and Guy E. Wentworth. Nathan Wentworth's brothers Thomas and Charles also lived with them in Georgetown. Nathan was born in Maine while his wife Mary was born in Michigan, a native of Ann Harbor. Mary died in late March, 1910 at age 77. Their children were all born in California. James M. Winslow and his wife Sarah A Winslow were boarders of the Wentworths. James was born in Vermont and was a retired merchant, while his wife was born in Vermont. It was a significant way point between Georgetown and Lake Tahoe via McKinney's on the West side of Lake Tahoe, although not as famous for its mineral water as it's more famous neighbor to the East, Rubicon Springs.

As local newspapers have always done, the Georgetown Gazette did a wonderful job of periodically sharing/advertising for the many businesses which were local and aligned with the local population. Many of the published pieces were also picked up by the Mountain Democrat. These two publications have the majority of information written on people and places on the Georgetown Divide, including Wentworth Springs. In the August 4, 1882 Georgetown Gazette, the editor wrote......."Since dieting a few days on bottled water from Wentworth's soda Springs, we feel like a new man. If you feel out of rig, take a trip to Wentworth's Springs. the time is not many years distant when thousand's of health seekers will flock to Wentworth's Springs."(Gernes; Deibert, 1999)

In the September 8, 1882 edition of the Georgetown Gazette, the editor went out of his way to write a detailed article or advertisement for Wentworth Springs which is informative and a wonderful return to the origins of Wentworth Springs........."Our distant readers undoubtedly wondered what had become of the little Gazette during the last three weeks. In the last issue we stated our illness, but did not conclude to suspend paper for a period and go to the Springs until the following Monday. the income of the paper did not justify hiring a printer, so we just let it rest and went up to see what virtue there was in the waters of Wentworth's Soda Spring. We went up with Charlie Nagler, the Greenwood merchant, and a more jolly, sociable and entertaining gentleman we never traveled with. A man can't travel with Charlie Nagler and shake with ague; it is impossible. We arrived at Wentworth's Springs Wednesday evening, and was surprised to find so many people there- ten camps besides 12 or 15 boarders which Mr. W. and his energetic wife were accommodating. We counted more than fifty people there the following day. Quite a number were from Sacramento, City and County, and Georgetown, Greenwood and vicinity were largely were largely represented. We found this health and pleasure resort a much better place than we had expected. The water is very palatable, sparkling and health giving to all who drink it, and 49 out of 50 prefer it to the coldest and purest fresh water. We are highly pleased with its health restoring properties, and in common with many others, feel determined to visit the Spring next season.....Mr. Wentworth is building a fine two and a half story frame house 24x34, which will be completed this fall....A number of small houses will also be put up for the convenience of familys who come up to camp. Board and Bed are $8per week, and $7 with out bed."(Gernes; Deibert, 1999)

As reported by the newspaper above during September 1882, Wentworth was going about the business of selling soda water while building the resort building which would become the centerpiece of the resort. This main building would stand up year after year to the snow loads till finally going away in the 1980s, in spite of the steel cables installed in the upper part of the building to strengthen it.

The following is a report from the Mt Democrat on the fine lakes in the area of Wentworth Springs from the September 23, 1882 issue of the newspaper. "Our Lake Region-Within a radius of one and one half miles of Wentworth's Springs are five beautiful little lakes, varying from 15 to 80 acres in size. The altitude of the Springs is about 6,200 feet, or about the same as Lake Tahoe, and those little lakes are from 300 to 500 feet higher than the Springs. Groves of Tamarack surround these lakes, and a beautiful little meadow usually found adjoining. We learn that one of these lakes has been stocked with trout, and that Mr. Wentworth intends to stock the others next Spring. Loon Lake, two miles Southeast, and nearly 200 feet higher than Lake Tahoe, is a natural body of pure fresh water of some 1300 acres of surface, and in places 40 to 60 feet in depth; but since the construction of the dam, its size has been greatly increased, and will, when the monster granite dam now being built by the California W. & M. Co. is completed, embrace an area of about 7 square miles. Strange to say, until of late years this lake contained no fish. A few years ago some trout were put in, but until recently, it was supposed the fish did not live; now it is known that they have done well, and with the new supply added, it is believed that Loon Lake will become a favorite fishing resort in the near future-Georgetown Gazette"

In an advertisement in the June 13, 1884 Georgetown Gazette, "Wentworth springs. These well and favorably known Springs will be open for health and pleasure seekers July. 1st 1884. In our new and commodious House all can be accommodated at reasonable terms. Soda water in bottles or kegs to be had at any time. Tables furnished with the best market affords. Passengers carried from Georgetown to the Soda Springs at reasonable rates."

The continuing condition of the Georgetown to Lake Tahoe Road via Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs was in yearly need of work to keep it in passable condition. the attraction of Lake Tahoe and its resorts as well as Wentworth and Rubicon Springs made it necessary to keep the pressure on the county supervisors for road maintenance. The following letter was, I am sure, a sincere request for support for the county infrastructure but it should also be noted that Judge Bennett was running for re-election at the time of this letter. This letter may have also been a means of reminding the citizens of Georgetown of his name and his obvious civic interest in the county. He was subsequently re-elected shortly here after. In a letter to the editor of the Georgetown Gazette of September 14, 1896 by Judge M.P. Bennett of Georgetown, he wrote......"Most residents of the county are familiar with the natural advantages of the Placerville road, the liberal hospitality of the Inns along the way, and the climax of scenic grandure, when from the western summit of the Sierras, Lake Tahoe, fifteen hundred feet below, breaks into view....there has been for many years a road from Georgetown to Wentworth Springs and despite some pretty steep hills, it is a good mountain road. I first traveled it in the summer of 1877 and it was a most delightful renewal of my early impression through the mighty timber....Wentworth Springs....owned by Nathan Wentworth whose well built hotel is in a beautiful valley, in which a number of sparkling, health-giving springs are an attraction that annually bring thither numerous tourists from this county as well as Sacramento and Placer counties. Many stop here and venture no further because the wonderful beyond, like all the fabled wonders of antiquity, is approachable through only the most perilous way. From Wentworth Springs to the Rubicon Springs, is not exceeding ten miles, measured in feet and inches, but a mile of good road is a mile, and how far a mile of this is, I do not dare to state. Some portions of it are called "Sluicebox" and one of our party designated it "Devil's Sluice Box" to go with "Hell Hole", not far off. To make this road passable, from three to five hundred dollars should be spent on it and the investment would be a most judicious business proposition for El Dorado county.....As McKinney's stands for progress on the western shore, so does Tallac with its beautiful new hotel building, at the south end of the Lake, but there is woeful want of land communication between the two places. A good road is constructed from Tahoe City to McKinney's, and from Tallac to Brigham's, and a wagon has been through from McKinney's to Mr. Frost's Rubican Park, but from that place to Dr. Brigham's, a distance , I think, of probably five or six miles, there is no wagon road....We have in Lake Tahoe one of the greatest natural wonders and beauties of the world....does not fairness to the North Divide...demand that the approach to the Lake over the Georgetown road be made safe and comfortable?....(signed) M.P. Bennett"(Gernes, Deibert, 1999)

“A post office will be established at Wentworth Springs, this county, during the summer months. It will be known as Hulfish Post Office.” Georgetown Gazette April 4, 1901

“J.M. Monohon of Negro Hill was in town Monday en route to Wentworth Springs. Mr. Monohon will carry mail between Georgetown and Hulfish(Post Office at Wentworth Springs) during the summer season. He will make one trip each week arriving here Saturday and leaving for the Springs on Sunday. He will run a two horse wagon and will be prepared to carry light packages. Heavy freight and tanks will not be carried.” Georgetown Gazette July 3, 1902

“A petition has been in circulation here this week, which will be presented to the Board of Supervisors asking that august body to repair the wagon road between Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs in a substantial manner and to put it in a safe and good condition for travel. This is the nearest and most accessible road to Lake Tahoe, living on the north side, and it is also extensively traveled by Sacramento and Placer Counties, notwithstanding the road by one route and return another, without going into Nevada, and it will be a great benefit to the county if the road is put in good condition so as to attract more tourist travel this way.” Georgetown Gazette March 10, 1910

The following article appeared in the Touring Edition of the Sunday May 27, 1923 Automotive Section of the Oakland Tribune. The article offered a wonderful map of the entire California Central Valley but focused on potential road trips for the intrepid motorist to Wentworth Springs from Georgetown as well as suggested side trips including Robbs Peak, Pino Grande Logging operations and the Pino Grande Lumber Mill. The article reports the road to be impassable to automobiles from Wentworth Springs to Lake Tahoe, but that Wentworth Springs had gasoline ,oil and supplies for any motorist making the trip to the best hunting and fishing area in Eldorado National Forest. Imagine, driving your Ford Model T to Wentworth Springs in 1923.

The Wentworths and the Winslows eventually sold Wentworth Springs to Robert S. Jerrett of Georgetown, Ca, son of Daniel Jerrett, a Georgetown Grocer and 49er.Robert's brother, Herman Daniel Jerrett, an attorney and manager of of the Loon Lake Water and Power Company in Georgetown from 1910 wrote two books...."California's El Dorado, Yesterday and Today," 1915 and a later book entitled "Hills of Gold," 1963.

Wentworth Springs Resort.....wonderful photograph contributed by Jonni Hill . She is a noted artist of people and early places in El Dorado County. Many of her works are displayed in Robb's Resort. Our family personally owns one of her wonderful Native American paintings. You can find out more about her art work at High Country Sketches. Jonni Hill's photograph looks to be a late 1950s or very early 1960s photograph.

June 9, 2003.........We are just getting started with the considerable historical data and wonderful pictures of Wentworth Springs and some of the areas to the East including the significant people involved with Wentworth Springs and Buck Island Lake......contributed by Superior Court Judge Wilbur Johnson and based on his memories up there from the 1930s and after......lots more to come......just getting started.....will be adding and amending to this page....He is working on a combination oral and written history of the old "Stage Stop" and the Summers spent in this area of the Eldorado National Forest............

In the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson..........."Picture 6 Vic Wikander and his wife, Alice.

"Victor Hugo Wikander

Victor was born in Finland of a Finnish father and an Irish mother in June 9, 1881. He immigrated to the United States in 1902. He was naturalized a citizen in 1909. His early occupation was as a civil engineer. At some point he became a snow cruiser in the Georgetown Divide area and became acquainted with Rubicon Springs, Rockbound Lake, Buck Island Lake, Loon Lake and Wentworth Springs.

At a time before 1920 he became acquainted with a young school teacher at Oakland High School, Oakland, CA. They married and honeymooned at Rubicon Springs in one of the small cabins adjacent to the Inn and available for rent in those days. Victor's wife was known as Alice, however the 1920 census records give her name as Cecila. Her middle initial is given as "B" at one point and as "A" at another. I suspect the "A" is correct, indicating the origin of her being known as Alice.

While honeymooning they visited Buck Island, over the hill from Rubicon to the west. Victor worked out a 99 year lease of the smaller island at Buck Island, I presume with the U S Dept. of the Interior.

In the 1920's Rubicon Springs continued to be accessible by motor car and Victor began to take in the materials needed to improve the leased island. He carried everything over the hill to Buck Island by back pack, a little over a mile but up quite a grade. (NB: The last motor vehicle into Rubicon (until the Jeep) was a Cadillac touring car operated by an enterprising fellow from The Lake (Tahoe). On the way out the Caddy slid off the road at one of the switchbacks and was abandoned. This occurred around 1928-1930 and the vehicle remained, somewhat intact, for quite a few years. From this, the current name, "Cadillac Hill", was coined.)

As time passed, Victor built a rowboat, first of all, and then 3 cabins. A main cabin and 2 smaller cabins as guest houses. He flew 3 flags; The Stars and Stripes at the main cabin and the flags of Finland and Ireland at the guest cabins.

He laid out paths cabin to cabin and other points of interest on the island. He gathered stones, 4 - 6 inches in diameter. and lined the paths. Using the rowboat, he gathered sand from the far west side of the lake and sanded the paths.

He also built a catch-all storage shed near the main cabin and a boat house with skids to house the rowboat over the winters. Sometime, during later years, he stopped using the boat house. He just pulled the boat out of the water and left it in the open. One time, I asked, "Why?" He said that, in the boat house, the boat dried and seeped leakage by the next season.

He spent all summer every year at the island. His wife joined him when school was out. He also went in regularly in winter. His wife never joined him on the winter trek. He put a door high in the gable of the main cabin to avoid digging snow down to the front door. Each summer season he would provision the cabin for the winter trek, food and fuel. One year he fell and broke a bone in the ankle area, possibly the lower end of the fibula. He crawled into the cabin and set the break as best as possible and bound it with strips of cloth. He spent the next few weeks holed up in the cabin waiting for the break to knit. What a guy!

His island was close to the north shore of Buck Island Lake, about 50 yards or so. The water there was shallow and in winter it froze enough for him to ski/snow shoe across. In the spring he could wade . At most, the water depth was about 5 feet at one point. Thus, he never really had to "swim" to the island.

He spent many idyllic years at the lake until the 1950's when age began to take its toll. He passed away in Oakland, Alameda Co. CA, on August 7, 1958. His wife, Alice, survived another few years until the early 1960's. End of an era! (no children)."

Nevada State Journal Sept 24, 950 Article on Wikander

In the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson......Jeeps and Buck Island Lake.......

"Sometime in 1948, I spent the summer taking at least 4 trips into the Divide. I was shortly home from service in the Far East with Uncle Sam and decided to spend the Spring, Summer and part of the Fall in my favorite stomping grounds. From all of this come great memories!

THE FIRST JEEP!!!

In 1948, I was with Vic Wikander at Buck Island; just the 2 of us! Unusual but true. We were enjoying a peaceful week, or so, and an incident happened that is forever imprinted. A JEEP came by. We heard the noise and stepped out to see what was going on. A lone Jeep with no more than a driver had managed to come eastward and got to the lake (Buck Island). We watched in wonder as this "crazy guy" passed on toward Rubicon. I assume that the he made it out OK. (No person today, does the trip alone, I'm led to believe.

My reaction was "there goes the neighborhood!". Interestingly enough, Vic was not disturbed. I thought it was an invasion into our peaceful back county. I was prescient; 250 or more Jeeps go through these days. The solitude is no more!

To add to the trauma, mine, I encountered another Jeeper coming the the other way (Westward) on the following day. I had walked down toward the Rubicon and came upon a Jeeper stalled in the sluice box out of the Rubicon. I actually helped this "nut" get some traction, moving rocks, boulders, etc. He continued on and was never seen again.

Victor, later that summer, told me he had laid out out a path on the granite to by-pass the sluice box from the West down to Buck Island. I was crushed! I guess that by then Vic had spent so many years in there that company, of whatever ilk, was welcome.

4-5 years later the Jamboree came into being. Downtown Manhattan had come to Valhalla. A "slain warrior" to this day! (Look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls. (Valhalla, that is!)"

More from the Judge Johnson on Vic Wilkander and events at Buck Island lake......in his words......

In the late 40's I spent a week with Vic Wikander at Buck Island, just the 2 of us.

Vic mentioned that he was seeing non native fish and certainly nothing planted by Fish and Game. He identified them as sucker fish. At first glance, while in the water, they look rather pretty. Once out, they are ugly with a turned-down mouth that looks like a sucker. Ugh.

We decided that someone, sometime had fished Buck Island with live bait and dumped the bucket. God only knows when!

Vic and I rowed around the shore and came upon a spring rivulet coming down into the west end of the lake. We observed suckers running up the stream like salmon. There were hundreds! Going to spawn!

We mounted the rise and found that the stream could be diverted.

We returned to the island and fastened about 6-7 feet of chicken wire, that Vic, for some reason had, to two 6 foot stakes with sharpened ends. We went back to the stream and noted that the last 80-100 yards were rather level and that the fish seemed to be gathering in the slower water to lay their eggs.

We lay back for a day or so watching, every few hours, the fish activity and when it looked as though the migration was less, we placed the wire screen across the stream, a few yards from the lake proper, and drove the stakes in so that the wire mesh created a complete obstacle to any fish, in or out.

We then went up the slope and with sand, gravel, dirt, etc., blocked the flow of water over to an adjacent path, thus stranding the hundreds of suckers in a fast reducing water supply.

We were armed with a rake and a shovel. When the flow was virtually stopped we started raking and shoveling the ugly things out of the little creek bed. We piled them far enough from the stream that they could not flop back in. We left until the next day. Not a dead fish in sight! They were eaten overnight by the wildlife.

I cannot believe that we eradicated the suckers, but what the heck, the lake is now just a reservoir, as are Fox, Rockbound and Loon. The virgin days are gone forever!

I recently came across this local Georgetown-Placerville Liddicoat Family history showing their early involvement with using Jeeps on the road from Georgetown to Lake Tahoe via Wentworth Springs and Rubicon Springs with wonderful pictures of Wentworth Springs in 1946 along with detailed pictures of their Jeep travel on the road including historic pictures of Rubicon Springs and the bridge before the steel bridge and after..........This website is a must review for a look back 60 years plus at Rubicon Springs and road to Lake Tahoe. So the Judge and Vic Wikander missed a few of the early local folks who put Jeeps across the road...........

Picture 6...Wentworth Springs.....30's family and friends in group photos...in the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson....."Vic is to the left and Alice Wikander is the lady in the middle"..........More names on this photo to come....

Picture 7...Wentworth Springs....in the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson..........

"The persons shown in the photo of whom you inquire are, from the left"

Victor Wikander (vital stats in the mail)

Superior Court Judge Wilbur Johnson,

Wife of the tall man in topee, first name Don. (the man I mean) I do not remember their last name. I do remember that they were not perennial visitors to the Springs.

Alice Wikander. You have her real name in the mail enroute.

Don ???

My paternal grandfather, Wilbur Marshall Johnson (another jack of all trades0

My mother, Ada Larue Johnson, nee Green.

This photo dates from around 1935."

Wentworth Springs US Forest Service Ranger Station....East of Wentworth Springs on the Georgetown-Lake Tahoe Road at the Wentworth Springs Forest Service Campground........

In the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson on the Ranger Station at Wentworth Springs........

"Mike, I cannot wait! It is late but I am not sleepy so I'll spin a yarn about the Ranger Station at the Government camp ground above Wentworth Springs.

The station was a rather small cabin; room for a wood stove and a bed. It was only manned when the Ranger from G Town went up to check on the camp ground, etc. It was the eastern end of the Forest Service telephone line. The phone was the old hand crank type, magneto, with a one wire transmission. (phantom circuit?)

About 1939, or so, I was with Rob Jerrett when he used it to call G Town Ranger Station for some reason.

Now that I think of it, there was no phone at the main building at the Springs. I do not know where the wire was at that location. I'm sure it must have had Bunker Hill lookout on the line; maybe the line was further to the north at the Springs, up on the hill to the north.

That's about all I can say about the Ranger Station at Wentworth Camp Ground. I do know that it was there. I saw it!!!"

Rubicon Springs Bridge Replacement.......in the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson.............a great story as well..............

"One incident I cannot leave to later. I said in Chap. 1 that the Cadillac of hill fame was the last until the jeep. I mis-spoke! Sometime in the early 1940's the U S Forest Service decided that the bridge over the Rubicon, just up-stream from the springs should be replaced. The old bridge was wooden and had weathered many tough winters.

Anyway, I was wandering around in the valley, downstream from the springs, and came upon a Model T flat-bed truck, loaded with a great pile of duffel aboard. The Model T was manned by 4 of the largest characters I had even seen. A father and 3 sons; I believe that their name was Farmer. They were out of either Placerville or Auburn, I cannot remember which.

They were stopped at a ditch about 4-5 feet deep and about 8 feet rim to rim. I asked, "How are you going to get across that?" The father said, "Watch!"

They unloaded the duffel and carried the bags, boxes, etc., to the far side.

The 4 then proceeded to PICK UP the Model T and carry it across the obstacle.

Wow!

They re-loaded and continued on. I do not remember seeing them again. I think that they went back out and carried in the makings of the steel girder bridge that may exist to this day.

The point here is that a Model T preceded the Jeep!! I asked if they had a

Ruckel Transmission. The dad said you are too young to know such things but yes they had such a transmission in the truck. The transmission, if spelled correctly, gave the Model T a low gear similar to the Jeep of years later.

It was not as agile as a jeep for it was, yet, a 2 wheel drive. But, by golly, it came in and went out of the Rubicon!"

Sheep Herding and a wandering young boy.....Wentworth Springs Campground and to the East....another wonderful story of the times........

In the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson............

"I know very well why Rob Jerrett used the old crank phone. It was because of me and my mother.

Earlier, in the day of the phone call, a flock of sheep were herded through the Springs campground, about a mile, or less, from the Ranger Station.

I took off with the flock having a wonderful time herding sheep. I did so about 2 miles east. The sheepherders were amused at my interest and zeal. They tolerated my joining in.

After about 2 miles I broke off and started back to The Springs. I encountered Rob Jerrett at the Ranger Station. He took one look at me and said (expletive deleted) get in the truck. He then went to the Forest Service phone and called in a "cancel search" message. My mother, Ada, had hit the panic button. She was convinced that I had been kidnapped by the sheep herders. (they were noted in legend to carry off little boys)

Jerrett thought the incident was funny. Ada, to the contrary chewed me out for taking off with no advance warning. I was quite contrite, but still think it was a great adventure.

I have often wondered where they were taking the sheep. I suspect they were headed for the meadows upstream from Rubicon Springs where there was plenty of new grass for the sheep.

Another fond memory!"

Judge Wilbur Johnson Retired......1945

In the words of Judge Wilbur Johnson......"One year later, 1945, just before I enlisted in the U.S. Army. Funk met me just east of Miller Lake and I took the two pack horses in by myself. My God, what a kid won't do. If my horse had spooked or stumbled on the steep trail I would be bleached bones along the trail. My dad is not in the picture for he is loading the al forjas bags. We had fashioned our gear to "pack". We made thin plywood boxes just the size to slip into the al forjas bags. We packed the boxes full and when ready just lifted them into the bags. We also made a stove out of sheet metal. About 3-4 feet long, 16 in. wide and about 10 in. high. A hinged door on the front. A 4 in. stove pipe hole in the top rear. 2 sections of stove pipe fit inside the stove for transporting. Also there was room for a trenching shovel and an axe. I almost forgot, there was room for 4 angle iron legs for the stove. The stove had 1/4-20 bolts with wing nuts to fasten the legs. My mother cooked some darned good meals on that stove. Pancakes were cooked of the surface, no pan needed."

Richard Wentworth made his first trip to Wentworth Springs in 1951. He provides the following memory of that trip and many others over the next 25 years.........Anyone who ever made a trip to anyplace along the Wentworth Springs Road from Riverton on Highway 50 before the current modern highway of the mid 1960s, remembers the difficulties and time necessary which Richard mentions in his memories below.........Enjoy

"We were returning from Detroit with a new 1951 Olds that my father picked up at the factory. Dad saw the sign at Riverton that said Wentworth Springs Resort 30 miles. Mom said lets go and see, 30 miles isn't that far. It took the rest of the day to get there. We spent 3 days that first trip, staying in the hotel on the second floor. We only had baby food for my sister, candy bars and other snacks were available at the hotel and dad caught fish. It was also fortunate that gasoline was available. The next year we stayed in a cabin and dad rode down to Rubicon Springs in that old jeep seen by the hotel . He brought back a LOT of fish and Wentworth Springs became our vacation place of choice. We were there every year until my fathers death in 75. My father became quite good friends with Orin Ellingson and helped him build the A frame that still stands today. I still have a letter signed by Orin giving dad permission to use the property.
I have many fond memories of the camp fire by the hotel and the stories Mr. Schuler, Mr. Vercamp and Mr. Wickander told. There was also an old gentleman that reminded me of Gaby Hays, I don't remember his name, he played the guitar at the campfire as we all roasted marsh mellows. It was at that campfire that I kissed a girl for the first time.
Mr. Wickander gave my dog and I a ride to Buck Island once and I walked back to Wentworth. I was quite young at the time but since I had the dog with me mom thought it was OK.
One year some fellas came through on horse back to round up some cattle and they offered me a job. Mom said no because I would miss too much school.
We were at Buck Island one year when some sailors came through with a 49 Ford convertible. They had made a $30,000 bet with a casino that they could take it all the way through. They won, they were VERY big sailors and were able to do a lot of lifting.
Mom has found many arrow heads there and several sites where they may have been made.
I have found some rock carvings that I assume were made by the herders of the day. Over by the sweet water spring to the left of the hotel there are tree carvings but I imagine they are grown over by now.
I have seen pictures of Jack London at the mineral spring, and at the upper mineral spring there used to be game blinds built by the Indians of the area to ambush deer and other game."

Richard Wentworth has kindly provided five pictures of Wentworth Springs from the Spring-Early Summer of 1963 after the failure of the coffer dam on Gerle Creek which was installed after the original 1882 Loon Lake Granite Block Dam was disassembled in October 1963 to make way for the construction of the current dam finished by Spring-Summer of 1964. This flooding of Wentworth Springs was a kind of demarcation point in it's history. After the flooding damage, the owners were never able to recover back to their traditional resort offerings. Many of the wooden cabins were damaged and moved around. The store, gasoline sales, and hotel services were over. Even the old poker games which I remember seeing in the front part of the store were gone as well. I remember these events first hand as do a number of other Gerle Creek Tract Cabin Owners. Many thanks to Richard Wentworth for providing these historic pictures of Wentworth Springs, helping us document the history of this very key recreational element of the Georgetown Divide, El Dorado County and Eldorado National Forest.

1965-66 picture of Wentworth Springs taken by Gordon A. Brattland

Hello Michael,

I ran across this old copy of the original letter (below) mailed to my family in 1966 by Miles Curran. The original was done on thin paper - still have that too. He is the retired Marine I wrote about a couple years ago. When he died in his 90s, he had been the oldest living Marine for some time. Anyway, I have gathered from the little Judge Johnson was able to tell me that he was a friend of Baltz Schuler who the judge recalled arriving in the 1930s to do some odd jobs and such. He must have been allowed to stay on, since he had his own nice little cabin in 1966. He died in that cabin that autumn during hunting season and I was part of the effort to get him out to Riverton where the Placerville ambulance met us. That covers the reference in the letter to Baltz's property. But I thought that you might enjoy the references to the cowboys from Lawyers cow camp and so on. If you can make the type out!

Anyway, here it is.

Dr. Mark La Rue June 1, 2006

WENTWORTH SPRINGS CALIFORNIA