Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

A statue commemorating the heroic life of a Viking postman who was the Godfather of California skiing.

This trailside hut was built in the late 1930s as a memorial to a young hiker.

A Native American petroglyph, the site of an emigrants' waystation, and the ruins of an early 20th-century sheep camp are all found at this crossroads.

A little-known, but surprisingly large waterfall on the Little Truckee River in the northern Sierra Nevada.

The only remaining hotel on the 1860s Henness Pass route over the Sierra Nevada is being restored.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

A watering hole where the options for seating include a bar, patio, or subterranean cave.

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

Hidden in a hotel parking lot is a strange historical plaque erected by an obscure fraternal society.

California's oldest existing theater building hosted an impressive cast of celebrities, including hosting Mark Twain's first lecture.

"You don't need a rocket scientist to build a steam engine, but we've got one." -Museum docent on the credentials of a restoration volunteer.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

An abandoned lot littered with concrete debris was once the home of the world's first female railroad president.

A fine mixture of the old and the new topped with an art deco neon spire.

The modest home of the very immodest dancer who cost a king his crown.

Built in 1895, this bed and breakfast was once a hospital that served an early 1900s Gold Rush boomtown.

A rich history stashed behind an unassuming door in the heart of Gold Country.

The oldest continuously operating Catholic school west of the Mississippi.

Established in 1853, this crumbling cemetery sits forgotten on the corner of Church and Chapel in Gold Country.

A middle school sports field that many believe was the true location of the first successful powered flight - and not by the Wright Brothers.

The first U.S. town to secede from the Union, only to vote themselves right back in.

Built to hold Gold Rush wealth, this building has withstood the test of time.