Alice Dutton

gold mines

The Los Burros Mining District and the Lost Town of Manchester

Organized 1876, transformed by Willey Cruikshank's Last Chance strike in 1887 — and gone by 1897, burned and grown over. The rise and fall of the coast's gold district, and the lost town of Manchester.

mabel article

Jolon Remembered as Thriving Community on Camino Real

Portolá camped there in 1769; a century later Jolon was the thriving crossroads of the Camino Real — saloons, hotels, and fiestas three days long.

mabel article

Parishioners’ Labor Has Built St. Luke’s

In 1884 three Plaskett brothers rode horseback from Pacific Valley to Jolon to raise a church — St. Luke's, built by its parishioners, standing yet.

mabel article

Willey Cruikshank - Mining Was His Life

The boy who watched Chinese miners pan Salmon Creek struck the Last Chance mine — and vanished into the Lucias in 1937. His life, told by a woman who knew him.

story

Building St. Lukes Church

Three Plaskett brothers built St. Luke's at Jolon in 1884 — and it still stands.

story

Willey Cruikshank Jilted Twice

Willey Cruikshank bought the ring twice. He never married.