Rose Bar
Region’s first town was here
Gold was first discovered on the Yuba River in 1848 at Rose Bar. John Rose arrived in July, and by fall he’d started a store, hence the name of the town, which by 1850 had grown to 2000 men. High water in 1849 forced the miners farther back into the ravines, which they came to realize held more gold than did the river. As the miners worked the ravines behind Rose Bar the town began to be buried beneath the tons of rock and gravel from the hydraulic mines, and by the 1870s the town had been abandoned and lay under many feet of gravel. Today, a few timbers sticking out of the banks of the Yuba River are all that remain of the region’s first town.