175th Anniversary Heritage Quilt: Essential Services
- Kathy Brown
- Jul 22
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 24
By Kathy Brown, Groveland Yosemite Gateway Museum/Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society
What other stories does the Heritage Quilt to be auctioned at the 49er Festival have to share?
Big Oak Flat, once a thriving Gold Rush town, is represented in the quilt by Irene Clark drawings that depict some of the best preserved Gold Rush structures in the Motherlode. These were a few of the most important buildings “on the hill,” providing much needed services to the early pioneers of the area.
This Wells Fargo building sits prominently on the edge of the highway in Big Oak Flat. It is one
of the only structures that survived the devastating fire of 1863 which destroyed that once
incorporated and bustling town. The exact year of its construction is unknown. In 1852, when
the first tax records were kept for this area of Tuolumne county, it was listed at $5,000, the most valuable property in Big Oak Flat. Owned by Alexander Gamble, an early mining investor, it was referred to as “The Gamble Block” in early records.
The impressive stone building is made up of three separate suites which housed many different businesses through the years. Each has a front retailing section and a smaller rear storage or living area, which was probably added at a later date. Three sets of iron doors, two per suite, secured the building when closed and protected it from fire. Behind each are glass paned wooden doors which helped provide illumination in the stores. Within the building, access between businesses was provided by ceiling-high archways which were later walled up. Each suite has a stone cellar area for storage. Abutting the west side of the building is a smaller stone structure, perhaps used as an early living space. It presumably became a jail cell when the nearby jail burned in the 1863 fire.
Originally, Gamble owned all three suites, leasing them to different businessmen. Wells Fargo Express held the longest lease in the eastern section from the mid-1850s until 1893. Miners brought their gold to them to be assayed and weighed. They received a receipt for their gold sent by Wells Fargo Wagon to large city banks for safe keeping. In the 1860s Gamble experienced financial problems and began selling off suites to their business owners. A variety of merchants occupied the chambers - grocers, shoemakers, tin smith, apothecary, bakers, general merchandisers, and post master. The last building occupant, a meat market,
closed in 1934 and the building went unoccupied.
Following the deaths of the Marconi and Raggio family owners, the property including the
Cobden House (the adjacent family home), was passed down to Harry Cobden. He was the
grandson of both families. After Harry’s death in 2007, in accordance with his wishes, his family gifted the buildings to STCHS, the local historical society, for historic preservation.
The IOOF building seen in this 1970s Clark print is a two-story structure, looking much the same as it does today. But this early 1850s building existed without an upper story for the first 70 years of its life. It was constructed as two separate but abutting stores. First, Thomas Kent and Philander Grant built a one-story schist and mortar building to house their mercantile, originally located in a tent. In 1854 Grant bought out Kent and ran the new supply store with his wife.
Later the same year another merchant, Michael Gilbert, bought the lot next door to Grant’s. He
constructed a grocery store with its east wall built directly against the west wall of Grant’s store. In a close look at photos, a line can be seen where the separate walls of each establishment abut. It can also be noted that the west side building has two iron doors and the east has three.
IOOF’s Yo Semite Lodge #97 was established in Big Oak Flat in 1860. IOOF stands for
Independent Order of the Odd Fellows. Odd Fellows began in England as a philanthropic order whose purpose was to “visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan.” The organization was established in the United States independent from England - thus the addition of “Independent” to its name. It provided “insurance” in time of need for early miner and worker “fellows” and their families, as well as social activities for members and the community.
Once again, the tragic fire on Oct. 20, 1863 took its toll when wooden hall where the Odd
Fellows met was destroyed along with almost the entire town. Since both Grant’s and Gilbert’s
stores were built of stone with iron doors, they survived the fire. But the owners found
themselves with almost no customers when both the fire and the depletion placer gold in the
area caused most folks to leave. Years later Opal Segale summed up the situation, “The Odd
Fellows had a lodge but no building in which to meet. Philander Grant had a store but no
customers. It did not take long for the two to strike a bargain. The Yo Semite Lodge acquired
Grant’s building, which was stone and fireproof, for the total sum of $600.00!”
25 years later the IOOF acquired the abutting Gilbert store owned by their lodge member
John Wooten. A door was cut through the structures’ adjoining walls and a kitchen and dining
room was added in the newly acquired section. The current tin-sided second story, along with
an outside stairway to reach it, was added in 1924 during the Hetch Hetchy construction boom. The IOOF was well known for the many social events it sponsored through the years - whist games, balls, breakfasts and dinners were frequent and well loved. The building was offered for sale in 2017 when only a few the women of the Rebekah Lodge remained members and the IOOF could no longer afford to support it. The building’s ownership and proposed use has changed several times since, but the hope remains that the structure and its long history will be respected and preserved.
The religious needs of the heavily Italian population of Big Oak Flat area and beyond were met in 1860 when Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, seen in this print, was built by its parishioners. A small church, befitting a small town, it sat on a hill overlooking Big Oak Flat to the west. This position explains why it is one of the only wooden buildings that survived the
ruinous fire of 1863. The church did not escape another fire that badly damaged it in about
1900. Stories passed down through early families tell of a delicious ravioli dinner that was held
for volunteers who worked so hard to repair the damage done by that fire.
Since the parish was a mission church, an officiating priest made the long trek up the hill from
St. Patrick’s in Sonora to say Mass on Sundays. He usually stayed overnight, perhaps
somewhat appropriately, at Priest Station, making the trek back to Sonora after Mass. Early
parishioners walked, or rode horseback or in wagons to attend services. Church members later reminisced about families who faithfully walked up the Old Grade from their homes in the
Moccasin area. In hard times, such as when mining petered out, parish numbers decreased. In
boom times, such as the Hetch Hetchy construction era in the 1920s, the congregation grew.
Michael O’Shaughnessy, head of the project, encouraged church attendance by his crews.
The church cemetery stair-steps down the hill in front of its entrance. Its graves, dated from
1860s onward, hold the names of many recognizable area pioneer families. From the church’s
position on a hill, Big Oak Flat, to the west, can still be viewed. At 165 years of age, the church
still serves the entire area and retains its very simple beauty and peaceful atmosphere.
