Colfax Area Historical Society (CAHS) and Colfax Heritage Museum (CHM)

(When John B. Hobson bought the town of Iowa Hill)

This article appears in the July-August 2026 issue of the Colfax Cobblestones newsletter. Download the newsletter to read additional stories about the difference between a mining patent and a mining claim, mining laws, the life of John B. Hobson, and more.

By Robin Yonash

Thus screamed a San Francisco Chronicle headline on February 8, 1889 when John B. Hobson’s application for a mineral patent the Excelsior Mine was approved by the Sacramento Land Office. The patent[1] included the core of the town of Iowa Hill, as shown in the photo, and would have potentially allowed Hobson, et al to hydraulic mine the townsite. How could this happen?

The Excelsior Mine, also known as “Lot 95, Section 33, Township 15 North, Range 10 East, MDBM,” appears to have included a drift mine claim, while the aboveground property was called a placer mine. The mine was first established in 1854 or 1855. The map shows the drift mine tunnels and shaft as of 1880.

John B. Hobson purchased rights to the Excelsior Mine placer claim in two transactions in 1885. An official survey of the mine was completed by E. C. Uren, US Deputy Mineral Surveyor, on July 20, 1885.

On April 16, 1887, Hobson, et al, (Hobson had two partners: Mike Gleeson and J. S. Lakin) filed M. A. [Mineral Application] 1,623 for a mineral patent of the Excelsior placer mine under the General Mining Act of 1872.

Since this property underlaid the bulk of the town of Iowa Hill. Judge B. F. Myers presented a pre-emptive application on June 21, 1887 for  where the Iowa Hill townsite was located.

The Sacramento Bee stated that “Judge Myers represents, as trustee, the inhabitants of Iowa Hill. If Hobson wins it will be in his power to evict every person in the town of Iowa Hill or compel them to pay such tribute for exemption as his generosity might dictate.” However, Myers’ application was refused filing as it conflicted with Hobson’s. Initially, the matter was referred to Washington, DC, but was sent back to the Sacramento office.

On September 29, 1889 Selden Hetzel, Register[2] of the Sacramento Land Office, visited the site at the request of Counsel for both sides. He reported in a Statement by the Register issued on January 9, 1890 that “The slope of the country to the north and east of the tract in controversy, along … Main Street and Stevens Trails, afford abundant facilities for the maintenance of a business community much larger than that of the town of Iowa Hill as it at present exists.” In other words, Iowa Hill could easily move itself to the northeast! This doesn’t sound very unbiased.

The initial decision in Hobson’s favor was issued on February 6, 1890 by Seldon Hetzel, Register and J. G. Linthicum, Receiver of the Sacramento General Land Office (GLO).[3] The decision considered three factors:

1. The agricultural value of the tract
2. The value for municipal or residential purposes or as a site for a town
3. The value of the tract for mineral uses

The supposed mineral value won out. The decision stated: “As to its mineral character, the great weight of evidence is direct and positive. A few of the contestants’ witnesses testify that the land possesses no value for mineral purposes, but their opinion is mostly based upon the results obtained in former years. Failure to obtain remunerative remunerative returns from hydraulic works thirty years ago is no criterion of the present value of land for mineral purposes. With improved machinery, with a lower rate of waste, with cheapened supplies, and with increased knowledge, land which, in 1857 and 1858 could have been worked only at a loss, may, perhaps, today be worked at a great profit. Some years ago all hydraulic mining in this vicinity, the debris whereof was carried into the North Fork of the American River, was enjoined by the Courts…” [italics added] The decision also dismissed Judge Myers’ application.

The map above was extracted from the 1890 Geological Map of the Iowa Hill Mining District, by John B. Hobson, and illustrates how much of the town was covered by the Excelsior Mine (red lines show the survey). This included the location of Colgan’s store, built in 1854 (and known as the “old store” in modern times until it burned in 1968), and the Macy store and home.

(Note that the map also shows the isthmus on the west side of town, where the Orion Mine Company almost hydrauliced away the road into Colfax before Charles Rice, owner of the road, sued in 1880 to stop them.)

The Iowa Hill residents appealed the ruling, and on June 21, 1890 the Commissioner reversed it. The Placer Herald reported that, “The two principal questions involved were: first, whether the attempted dismissal of the Townsite application by Judge Myers was effectual; and second, whether the land in contest is mineral or non-mineral.”

Now it was Hobson’s turn to appeal, and he went directly to the Secretary [of the Interior, bypassing the Sacramento GLO. On June 28, 1890, the Placer Herald reported that “Hobson now claims that the case was steamboated through at Washington, that a fair hearing could not possibly have been had, and he cites as evidence that the briefs on his side which were forwarded from here on the 2nd of June could not have reached Washington and been considered by the 9th, the day the case was decided against him.”

On January 28, 1892 Secretary of the Interior John F. Nobel reversed the decision yet again, in favor of Hobson.

At this point, the residents and business owners of Iowa Hill abandoned the GLO and sought contracts with Hobson which allowed them to continue to use the ground owned by Hobson in return for rent. Further, Hobson agreed that should he decide to hydraulic mine the property, he would compensate the townfolk for their improvements with the values to be agreed by arbitration. Eventually the rent was cancelled after the issue was taken to court.

In any case, the 1884 Sawyer Decision made hydraulic mining very difficult, so on March 18, 1892 Hobson testified before the House Committee on Mines and Mining in  Washington in support of The Law to Regulate Hydraulic Mining in the State of California. His testimony was a major factor in the passage of the Caminetti Act of 1893, which allowed hydraulic mining operations to continue if the operators built and maintained impound dams to contain the tailings.

However, also in 1892, Hobson had transferred his mining interests to British Columbia, Canada where there were no restrictions on hydraulicing.

On January 19, 1906, the Sacramento Bee reported that  “A suit has been filed in the Superior Court here by John B. Hobson to quiet the title[4] to certain land, which embraces the entire business portion of Iowa Hill, one of the pioneer mining communities of Placer County, and the action has revived an old controversy over the land in question.”

Nothing happened, however, until January 1910 when the Placer Herald reported that Hobson was considering building a dam in Indian Canyon so that he could start hydraulicing. Then on February 19, 1910 the Herald said, “[Hobson] has concluded not to hydraulic the gravel under that town as the amount of gravel is not sufficient the building of a retaining dam.”

Hobson died January 10, 1912 in British Columbia, but the patent stands. Theoretically, the current owner could still hydraulic the town. However, due to the 1897 and 1920 fires plus the burning of the old store in 1968, there are no longer any residents or business owners to protest.

The property appears, intact, in the Placer County Assessor’s map Book 64 Page 21as parcel #47. It has an assessed value of $20,576. The “pink house” property (parcel 21) is adjacent on the north side along Iowa Hill Road, and the “new” store (parcel 27) is located just north of that property. An extract of the page is shown here.

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[1] A patent, unlike a mining claim, conveys full fee title (surface and mineral rights) of that land by the government to the holder, and converts it into private property.

[2] Each General Land Office had a Register and a Receiver. The Register handled all the administrative tasks, while the Receiver had fiscal responsibilities.

[3] Independent of Hobson but a necessary step, in December 1886 the Commissioner of the Sacramento GLO cancelled Section 33 from the list of odd-numbered sections granted to the Central Pacific Railroad under the 1862 Pacific Railway Act. This made Section 33 available for purchase or patenting.

[4] A quiet title action is a lawsuit designed to establish legal ownership of real property and eliminate any “clouds” (competing claims, errors, or liens) on the title.

Ninety-five years ago, a morning fire in downtown Colfax, California destroyed a café and a barber shop before it was put out. The Lobner Building caught fire twice but was saved. The fire train that Southern Pacific quickly brought to the Grass Valley Street crossing to help the Colfax fire department was crucial to saving downtown.

The July 2025 issue of the Colfax Cobblestones newsletter includes the story as originally reported in the Colfax Record and Sentinel, on June 20, 1930. The fire itself occurred on June 18, 1930.

Roger Staab transcribed the article from the original publication. This story also appeared in the June 2025 issue of the Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society newsletter.

Updated location: Mike Ray’s presentation will now be at Colfax City Hall, 33 S Main St, Colfax, California.

Join us Saturday, April 5, 2025, at 4 p.m. for stories, photos, memorabilia, and a film about the Colfax Fireballs, a baseball team that represented Colfax, California, from 1947-1993.

There is no charge to attend. Everyone is welcome.

Mike Ray, former sports editor of the Grass Valley Union and the Colfax Record, will display memorabilia and tell stories about the Colfax Fireballs. The team began as a hardball team in 1947 and switched to fast-pitch softball in 1956. The Fireballs competed against teams from Reno, Tahoe City, Grass Valley, Santa Rosa, Chico, Monterey, Pacific Grove, and other Northern California cities.

Beginning in 1966, the Colfax Fireballs hosted an annual fast-pitch tournament that continued until 2014. It began small, as part of a Recreation Day sponsored by the Colfax Recreation Department, which included activities at the swimming pool, games, softball, and a Saturday night dance.

The annual tournament would begin on Thursday or Friday and continue through Sunday. Over the years the number of teams in the tournament ranged from four to as many as 22.

The April 2025 Colfax Cobblestones newsletter contains a short article about the letters that Myrtle Findley received from servicemen during WW II. During the war, Myrtle wrote letters to U. S. servicemen throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and North Africa. She donated a scrapbook of the letters that she received from them to the Colfax Area Historical Society. It contains letters that she received from 1943-1944. The scrapbook is in the Archives Room of the historical society.

Read some of Myrtle Findley’s collection of letters from WW II servicemen

Its delicious food became famous after the Benhards began publishing the Benhard Road Information Bulletin, which they distributed through service stations.

Benhard’s restaurant in Colfax was famous in the 1940s for two things: its delicious food and its mimeographed Road Information Bulletins that were distributed throughout the western states. The bulletins provided road information about U.S. Routes 40 and 30, describing road conditions across the United States from California to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

Each issue of the bulletin “gave the motorist what he wanted and needed first,” according to an article about Benhard’s that was published in the American Restaurant Magazine, December 1949.

Each issue began with a short overview of the cross-country driving conditions, and then it went “into great detail telling exactly what road conditions” were, identifying detours and possible rough spots, and calling attention to road stops that had “most of the facilities of civilization.”

For example, the bulletin for October 20, 1949, contained

“…a report on highway deaths and the causes for the fatal accidents; correct information on the exact amount of snow in the Sierra Nevadas; a detailed report on the conditions of the highway; a list of service stations operating 24 hours a day; traffic comparisons on various highways to California; a warning of a speed limit reduction on the Golden Gate bridge; news of a safer entrance into San Francisco; an ‘editorial’ on courteous driving; a few other items of motorist interest; … and then, and not till them, a message about some of the foods people drive miles to Benhard’s to enjoy.”

In 1945, Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Benhard opened their restaurant two blocks from Highway 40. They had to compete with three restaurants located next to the highway. Mr. Benhard told the American Restaurant Magazine that “the motorists felt our competitors served good food, too, and they did.

“That left us with one dream and one restaurant and about one customer.” One of their competitors had received “considerable publicity from a newspaper column” and some of the competitors been recognized by one of the eating guides. At the same time, the Benhards saw that there was

“considerable room for improvement of road information on Route 40; road information that was up to the minute; road information that would tell the motorist exactly what to look for as he wheeled through the mountains eastward or toward San Francisco. The Benhards made an experiment—did a little prospecting, and they struck gold. They began the series of Benhard Road Information Bulletins—simple, mimeographed sheets, which they distributed through dependable service stations on the Overland Route (30 and 40) in the states of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Nevada.”

Grateful drivers visited the restaurant “by the thousands.” The bulletin’s success brought so many people to Benhard’s restaurant that the couple who owned it were able to move to a new location on highway 40.

Note: So far, we haven’t been able to figure out where either of Benhard’s two locations were in Colfax. The first was several blocks away from Route 40; the second was on Route 40. If you know anything about Benhard’s history or where it was located, please leave a comment below or send us an email at museum@colfaxhistory.org

Where is U.S. Route 40?

U.S. Route 40 is a major east-west highway connecting Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Originally its western terminus was San Francisco, California, but the construction if I-80 replaced the California to Utah section of Route 40. Route 40 itself replaced two older highways: the eastern National Road that was created by Congress in 1806 and ran from Maryland to Illinois, and the Victory Highway that was a memorial to WWI veterans and ran from Kansas City to San Francisco. (See “U.S. Route 40,” Wikipedia.)

Three photos of downtown Colfax, California, from the 1950s got some attention on our Facebook page this week. The nighttime photos were taken by L. R. Farrell, Grass Valley, California. Copies of the photos were donated to the historical society in 1999.

Read about each photo and download high-resolution copies.