At the 5000 foot elevation in Plumas County, California is the little village of Johnsville. In 1849 it was a brawling, hard-working, gut-busting, gold miner's town bristling with activity brought by individual gold strikes at the Jamison Mine and the Eureka Mine just a half-mile downhill from the town. When I did this painting in 1973, the only business on the Main Street was an old weathered store that had been converted to a nice restaurant and hotel. An abandoned gas pump sat along the street out front. There were probably eight or ten occupied houses in town. This particular cottage, with its loosened shingles and warped boards, appeared to be one of those that was used by owners who vacationed there in the summer time.
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