Located in Plumas County near the town of La Porte (which is not a ghost town), Port Wine had its beginnings in early 1850. Stories about the naming of the town include miners finding a barrel of Port hidden in the bushes and another story tells of finding a keg of cognac. No one knows now.
By 1851 surface mining had declined, but hydraulic mining instilled new life into the area. An 1863 newspaper article described Port Wine as a religious and sober town with a strong Welsh presence. However, there were still a number of saloons in town, so they couldn’t have been that uptight. That wasn’t all though – there were also boarding houses, barbers, hotels, livery stables, merchants, blacksmiths, a Wells Fargo Express office and even a post office. Port Wine even had an active ski racing club and competed against other mining towns in the area. It was a proper town in other words…
The images immediately below and another farther below are from an outstanding and exhaustively researched book on the ghost towns and mines of this area entitled Roar of the Monitors by Jann E. Garvis. I’ll discuss this book more in a future post, but know that I heartily endorse it. And if you’re interested in this area’s history, you’ll find a gold mine of information in here.
This was Port Wine in its prime:
And this is Port Wine today after the legacy of hydraulic mining:
In the hills in the background of this picture, you can see additional evidence of hydraulic mining activity:
Mines that operated in the area were American Hydraulic Mine, Bevan & Kingdon Placer (later Karch Claim, Old Prince and then Castilli), Big Gulch Placer, Canada Drift (later French Company), Evans, Lewis & Company, Flying Turtle (later Davis Motor Mine and then Motor Gravel Company), Hop Sing Placer Mining Claims (later Ah Tye & Company), Hustler Claim, Last Chance, Libertie & Company (later Port Wine Hydraulic & Water Company), Menifee Placer, Monumental, Mountain Boy (later Bunker Hill), Mountain View Consolidated, Pat’s Gulch Trailings, Penang Placer, Port Wine Consolidated, Quartz Point (later Quartz Hill), Slate Creek Debris Dam Company, St. Lawrence Company, Tregaskis Water Claim, Union Group and Vaughn & Company (later Never Sweat and then Jack Coyote).
Hydraulic mining eventually consumed (literally) the town of Port Wine. This site used to be a hill on which a portion of the town rested:
This is a view from above down onto the same site:
Not much exists up here now aside from some foundations:
Or the remains of hydraulic mining gear:
However, there is one structure that has held up better than the others (relatively speaking). At first we assumed this was the Wells Fargo building, but some later research on my part revealed this to be a former store owned by the Kleckner Brothers (Abraham and Amandes).
Here’s how the structure looked in better days:
Port Wine Cemetery
To the right of the hydraulic mining area pictured above, one can find the Port Wine Cemetery. A forest fire seems to have come through the area last year which has done no favors in preserving the cemetery:
Below are pictures of the Port Wine Cemetery that my father took as a journalist while visiting the area in the 1980s with Dick O’Rourke. Even though the grave markers are made of stone, you can see how much they’ve degraded just in twenty years or so by comparing these pictures with my 2010 pictures above:
For a detailed listing of the names in the cemetery and/or for directions on how to get to Port Wine Cemetery, click here.
Dearest Justin & Eleonora -
Just this last week end went on a tour of the old mining sites and cemetaries out of La Porte. Googled the author, Jann E. Garvis, and your photos of Port Wine came up. WOW – we were just there on Saturday, 8/21 – and while scolling down, I spy a profile of a very tall young man, and said to myself, HMMM he looks like Brandon. Kept scrolling, and low and behold IT WAS BRANDON!
Nice to recognize a few faces. Take care – both of you.
Lorraine
Hi, I would just like to thank you folks for doing your research. I was at the old store today and it appears as it did when the above photos were taken. It looks as if there is a portion on the east side that has a smaller foundation. Perhaps a storage area or a living quarters. It is approx. 15′ x 15′. Any ideas on what the smaller foundation represents?
Hi Richard –
Thanks for your comment. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, but I was deep in the jungle without internet access.
I’m afraid I don’t know what that smaller area is either. Your guess of a storage area or living quarters is what we came up with as well.
Thank you for this site and for posting these pictures. Many of my ancestors are buried in the cemetery, and there are a lot of familiar names on the headstones in your pictures. I am grateful to all who have taken care of the cemetery and who keep the memory of Port Wine alive.
My grandmother always referred to the stone building as the Wells Fargo building, so I’m wondering if maybe the caption on the photo above got mixed up. I think she would have told my Dad if any of her family (which included Farren and Liberte) had lived there.
The story of the naming of the town that came down to us was that a cask of port fell off of a wagon at that location and burst open. We have some old picture of the town, but it’s hard to make sense our of them since the ridge was washed away.
Thanks again for posting this.
Hi Terry -
I really appreciate your comment and the information you left. It’s great to hear from people such as yourself.
My initial assumption was that the stone building in Port Wine was an old Wells Fargo building as well (such as the one in Howland Flat). However, when I was looking through the Jann Garvis book, Roar of the Monitors, she clearly identifies it as I outlined in my post. Perhaps it was both at different times in its existence? Or Jann could be wrong, but in my experience her information has been rock solid. Haha, so, in short, I don’t know… It is good to have your comment on record though since there is obviously some question about the building. Hopefully, someone else will be able to help clear things up for us.
My uncle, Bob Cross (father of Tery Cross, whose comment is above) informed me of this site. Though my crummy old computer can’t access most of the photos, I’ve seen some of them already in a book which my mother (Bob’s sister, Aleta Miller) compiled for the family: GOLD IN THE SNOW. Her mother, Rilla Cross (nee Farren, with links to the Caya family) was born in Port Wine and grew up there. In addition to what you have, we have many family photos from the place, and other pictures of people from both Port Wine and surrounding towns. Mom’s book deals with family history, as well as that of the general area, from the 1860s to the early 1890s.
At present we do not have it in a downloadable format, and some portions draw from printed sources without express permission, but I thought you and the people who read this post might be interested to know that this historic record exits. I think Bob Cross has a copy, and Terry may as well.
Thank you for your comment, Faren. I am very glad to know that the book you described exists. I sometimes find it depressing to visit the remains of these old towns such as Port Wine that are disappearing so quickly and think about how much history is being lost. So, it is nice to know that records and information such as you described are out there.
Port Wine-I have a picture taken of a group in front of the Union Hotel (by Caya). It must be in the 1880′s. My grandfather is about 12 yrs old in it.
Jim Downey
I am really excited to see this site! I have been trying to track down my grandfather’s roots. His name was Frank Lyon Iseman and he was born in Port Wine sometime around 1877. His father (my great-grandfather- name unknown) had a successful claim but was shot to death by his partner (name unknown) so he could have all the gold to himself. My great-grandmother, whose name I do not know either, strapped what she had of his gold to her legs, hidden under her long skirt, and crossed the country with her four boys, back to Pennsylvania. I have my grandmothers wedding ring and locket which were part of my grandfather’s share of the remaining gold. I do not know if she brought his body home by train or where he is buried.
Thank you to everyone who posted photos and gave me some of the history of this place.
Mary Rodgers
we visited Port Wine for the 1st time on Labor Day, September 5, 2011. It was a beautiful pristine day, nice breeze, no people, fresh bear tracks. Amazing!
here’s a link to may pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonfranz/sets/72157627496526507/
Sharon F.
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hi, i am interested in this area as one of my ancestors is recorded here in a 1865 tax assessment. he was in a place called Sloperville CA in an 1864 tax asessment, but i cannot find any info on this place. i am interested in any information regarding both of these areas. my ancestor was a coal miner from Wales, and would have seen Hydraulic mining on a small scale in his home area, we called it scouring over here.
Hello Mike -
I am afraid that I have not heard of Sloperville either. There were many, many towns that sprang up during this era and lasted just a few years before fading away completely. Unfortunately, it can be almost impossible to find any information on them.
Your ancestor’s mining experience would have been much in demand and the old cemeteries around the remnants of these towns are filled with many Welsh and Cornish miners.
Good luck with your search. Sorry I can’t give you more…
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