When I was younger, there used to be a phrase that was quite common that was used to describe a nearly impossible task, a very arduous journey, or something that was almost impossibly distant. That phrase was “from here to Timbuktu”; Timbuktu being a nearly mythical city somewhere across the Sahara Desert, almost impossible to reach. During the Middle Ages, Timbuktu was an immensely wealthy city and a center of learning. Once home to one of the oldest universities in the world and three great mosques, Timbuktu commanded the salt and gold trade routes in sub-Saharan Africa. It was a city that at its height boasted a population of 100,000. Today the population has diminished to less than 15,000. The loss of trans-Saharan trade, desertification, war, internal strife and a decreasing water supply have all taken a toll on this once fabled Malian city. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Timbuktu is still a difficult destination to reach. A flight from San Francisco takes nearly 23 hours.
Once though, Timbuctoo was much easier to reach. Not the storied city in Mali, but one much closer; here in California. With the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill and President Polk’s announcement of it in his December 5,1848 State of the Union message to Congress began one of the greatest human migrations in history. Surprisingly Polk’s announcement was brief:
“It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation.”
These three sentences both announced and confirmed the presence and abundance of gold in California and changed the history of California, the United States and the world. Tens of thousands of gold seekers would flood into California from all over the world and life here would never be the same.
One of the places that the early Argonauts began to search for gold was the Yuba River. In 1848, Jonas Specht, following the advice of an indigenous guide began prospecting on a sandbar and “washed some dirt and found three lumps of gold worth about seven dollars”. Soon placer miners came and worked the river. In 1855, hydraulic mining had taken over and the town of Timbuctoo was founded. There was a hotel, a Wells Fargo office, a store, and the first houses. In 1857, Timbuctoo’s theatre was built, an event that made the newspapers in San Francisco.
By the middle of the 1860s and into the 1870s, Timbuctoo was at its peak. The town had a population of around 1200, there was a second general store, a second hotel, a post office, a church, a blacksmith’s shop, a livery stable, three bakeries, three shoe shops, three clothing shops and dry goods stores, eight boarding houses, six saloons, and many other businesses. Timbuctoo was the largest town in eastern Yuba county. However, like many other Gold Rush towns, Timbuctoo’s heyday was going to come to an end.
In 1878 a severe fire destroyed many of the town’s buildings including the post office and one of the hotels. But a couple of other events further led to the decline of Timbuctoo. The first was the 1884 Sawyer Decision in Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co., 18 F. 753 (9th Cir, 1884); one of the first environmental cases which effectively shut down hydraulic mining in California because the results were a “public nuisance”. The second was when State Route 20 bypassed the town in 1937. As mining was no longer and potential customers drove right past the town, Timbctoo faded into obscurity. Today, the town has 12 inhabitants and only one original structure still stands, the first house built in 1855 and it is a private residence. The only other remainders of the town are the cemetery, which is still active, but on private property, and the ruins of the Wells Fargo office, also on private property.
I wish to thank Brother Lane Parker of Yuba Parlor #55 for his knowledge and expertise.
GETTING THERE: From 414 Masons Street: Get on Interstate 80 East to CA 99 North. Take CA 99 North to CA 70 North. Take CA 70 North to CA 20 East. Take CA 20 East to Timbuctoo Place, turn left onto Timbucktoo Place. It turns into Timbuctoo Road. Continue past the large gate with the sign that says “Timbuctoo”; it is the entrance to a private hunting and fishing club. Further on you will see the ruins of a brick building to your right, the ruins are what is left of the Wells Fargo office. Timbuctoo is 143 miles from San Fancisc and the trip takes 2 ½ hours
