Farewell, Kelsey: An Historical Overview and Oral Histories of a Disappearing Gold Rush Town
Kelsey, California, a Gold Rush town located in El Dorado County in the Sierra Nevada Range, survived for 146 years. After the Gold Rush of 1848 - 1868, the mining camp first known as "Kelsey's Diggins" settled into a rugged, self-reliant community whose economy depended on mining, timbering, and farming. Through the years, the regional decline of these industries proved fatal to Kelsey's economy and, ultimately, to the town itself. Today, Kelsey has all but disappeared. Little formal documentation exists of Kelsey's history after 1930. Following a historical overview of Kelsey’s origins and early years, this study records Kelsey’s undocumented history after 1930 primarily through the oral histories of three families who lived in Kelsey from the 1920s to the 1950s, and the oral history of former teacher who taught at the Kelsey School from 1944 to 1957 Also included is a discussion of the presence and role of Kelsey’s only church and a women’s organization, the Kelsey Neighborly Circle, both founded in the 1930s. Through the details of personal experience as revealed in the oral histories, this study documents the shifting cultural socioeconomic influences in Kelsey from the 1930s to the 1950s.
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