Johnsville Historical Society - JHS

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Johnsville Historical Society - JHS

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Johnsville Historical Society - JHS, Nonprofit Organization, 5578 Arastra Street, Johnsville, CA.

Johnsville Historical Society (JHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historical documents, photos, architectural legacy and historical artifacts that reflect the rich gold mining history of Johnsville, Ca.

04/22/2026

The Johnsville Historical Society is currently looking to re-home an early 1900s Steiger & Kerr wood stove from our collection. This turn-of-the-century piece would make a wonderful addition to a kitchen, provided it receives some restoration and a replacement for the sliding bread warmer door.

We are offering the stove for free in exchange for a donation to the Historical Society. Please be aware that the recipient will be responsible for all transportation arrangements. While the unit weighs approximately 300 pounds, many components can be removed to make hauling more manageable.

If you are interested in acquiring this historic stove, please contact Kathy at 909-226-5556 or via email at [email protected] to discuss the next steps.

Thank you for your interest and for supporting the Historical Society.

03/16/2026

Circus in Johnsville?

Yes, it's true according to the Feather River Bulletin on August, 27th 1903 there was a Circus in Johnsville and it was well attended.

Jamison Mine was employing the 'Usual number of Miners' and a few other bits of Johnsville community news from 123 years ago.

02/21/2026

Well, the recent snow storm is over so I thought I'd share some pictures of the recent snow fall in Johnsville. Back in January there was little snow in town and now Mother Nature has blessed us with a good helping of snow...about 6 feet of snow measured on the unofficial Johnsville Snow gauge!

Thank you to all those who sent us the wonderful pictures.

02/11/2026

I have seen a lot of photographs of Johnsville over the history of Johnsville but this one is one of my most favorites. There is so much going on in this photograph it makes me wish I'd have been there at the time.

It looks like this was a Johnsville 4th. of July celebration or some other patriotic celebration as you can see the massive American Flag that is suspended across Main Street. Judging by the makes and models of cars in the picture I think this photograph was taken sometime around 1928 to 1932? If you have a better guess than I do on the year of the photograph please let us know!

01/24/2026

Three years ago today Johnsville had a LOT of snow. Sadly not much snow up there today.

01/22/2026

Most folks familiar with Johnsville, Ca. know that Johnsville was named after William Johns who was Superintendent of the Eureka Mine in Eureka Mills. But, if you don't know who William Johns is here ya go. He was a very experience miner and businessman who worked in many different mines all across the western parts of the United States.

12/14/2025

Yesterday, December 13th. 2025 I had the occasion to make a day trip to Johnsville and help a neighbor with some out door chores. It was a beautifully sunny day to work outside a bit cool but working in the sunshine kept ya warm. Unfortunately there was no snow in town and just a few spots of snow here and their on Eureka Peak.

As we approach Christmas I thought I'd share this news clipping from Dec. 13th 1879 from the Feather River Bulletin that mentions a Christmas celebration in Jamison and note the news mentions no snow on the ground back in Dec. of 1879.

11/24/2025

Johnsville Historical Society wishes all our followers a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.

From the Feather River Bulletin, Nov. 16th 1867 the Governor of Ca. (Henry Haight) announces the state has dedicated Nov. 28th. as Thanksgiving Day.

11/11/2025

A picture story of two trees in Johnsville over the past 52 years.

I recently came across the first picture of two trees and a home in Johnsville taken in 1973. I am familiar with these two trees and took the second picture of them just a few days ago when I was in Johnsville.

The small tree on the left in the first picture has grown a LOT over the past 52 years ( I do not know the species of this tree ) The little tree in the first picture is now the huge tree on the right in the second picture. The other tree which is a apple tree has remained pretty much the same size over the past 52 years.

10/15/2025

I made a trip up to Johnsville this past week. I wanted to see the fall colors and enjoy a colder time of year as I shut the family home down for winter. As usual mother nature provided a great show. I got to see the fall colors, sense the cold air nipping at my nose and this morning I woke up to a snow blanket laying all over Eureka Peak.

10/04/2025

As fall sets in-in Johnsville and the apple trees in town begin to ripen for harvest. I bet many of you wonder what apple tree is growing in our yard?

I spent many years trying to track down the species of apple tree that grows on our family's home in Johnsville and this species seems to be the most prominent variety in town. Many of the apple trees in town are over 125 years old with some newer species like the Arkansas Black and Golden Delicious arriving in Johnsville in the 1940's and 1950's or later.

I have a apple orchard at our place in Grass Valley, Ca.. I have 13 different varieties of Heir loom apple trees for a total of 17 apple trees in my orchard. Okay, Okay I admit it I am a apple ju**ie and yes I am addicted to them!

My study of the origins of where the original apple trees in Johnsville came from led me to 'Barren Hill Nursery' in Nevada City, Ca. Barren Hill Nursery was started by Felix Gillet back in 1869. Today the 'Felix Gillet Institute" is still operating and they carry on Felix's mission of growing many varieties of fruit trees and they are a great source for obtaining heir loom apples.

After reviewing historical records from 'Barren Hill Nursery" ( notably Barren Hill Nursery catalogs from the 1890's though 1901) and from other sources such as news articles in various historical newspapers on line. I learned that Barren Hill Nursery shipped a lot of bare root trees up what today is Hwy 49 to Downieville, Sierra City, Bassets to Satley and to Sierraville.

I can say with 90% certainty that the majority of the very old apple trees in Johnsville probably did come from 'Barren Hill Nursery' and the specific species is: Winter White Pearmain. The characteristics of the Winter White Pearmain Apple, or White Pearmain match that of the apples trees on our family property in Johnsville.

If ya have any apple tree questions? Drop me a email at: [email protected] or post your question here on Fbook.

09/09/2025

Johnsville Historical Society is happy to announce that we have expanded the number of historical pictures and documents that are now available view on line. Over the past two years JHS has been working with California Revealed to make items/images from our historical collection available for public viewing.

By working with Ca. Revealed our historical items are available for anyone to view, download at any time. By digitizing our photographs and documents in our collection we are preserving an accurate copy of the original documents/items in our collection that the general public has generally not had access too.

This past year JHS digitized over 125 personal, hand written letters in our collection and they are now viewable online on California Revealed website. There is no need to create an account to view these letters. JHS has titled this letter collection as:

William Cheney Letter Collection 1891 - 1894

These letters reflect written documentation and conversation of the day to day mining operation of the Jamison Mine in Johnsville, California between the years of 1891 - 1894.
Waldron (William) Joseph Cheyney Jr. (father) was the General Manager of the Tombstone mining company in Philadelphia, PA. Samuel Williamson Cheyney (son) was the overseer of the Jamison Mine in Johnsville, CA.

JHS has a total of 250 digitized items in our collection with California Revealed. You can view the collection here:

https://californiarevealed.org/search?search_api_fulltext=johnsville%20Historical%20society or if that link does not work you can go to: https://californiarevealed.org/?check_logged_in=1 and type in the search bar: Johnsville Historical Society.

We hope you enjoy the collection !!! Below is a sample letter from the collection. Drop us a note if you take a look and let us know what you think of our collection so far.!!!

Address

5578 Arastra Street
Johnsville, CA
96103

Website

http://johnsville.org/

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