CALIFORNIA STORE.

(AKA FRANCO CABIN.)

The story of two lots.

© private collection of web master.
Corner of Main & Jackson Streets looking south. - 1860s

The California Store is on the north side of the south section of the lot, which started out as 2 lots:

The north part of the lot, which is now empty.

1854 July - B. W. Perkins sells the vacant lot to M. B. Brooks.

1854 July 29 - Brooks sells the lot to Martha Carlos who opens the Lone Star Saloon & Coffee House.

1855 In October - the saloon is the scene of the shooting of John H. Smith by John S. Barclay (husband of Martha Carlos), and his "trial". After her husband was hung, Mrs. Barclay leases the building to Samuel Mitchell.

1856 October - Barclay sells the building to Mitchell.

1857 After the August fire, Mitchell rebuilds the structure of wood and calls the new saloon "Long Tom".

1858 March - Sam Mitchell sells to Jerry Mitchell, who also buys the next lot south which has a wooden building and joins the 2 structures. He now has a two story building and advertises 8 bedrooms on the top floor as well as the saloon.

1865 June - the building burns, and the empty lot is purchased by Labetoure and D. McLean of Sonora. They in turn sell it to J. J. Griffoz (Greffoz) of San Francisco.

1866 July - the building on the lot burns.

1870 The lot is vacant and being mined.

1871 The lot is assessed to Chee Chung and Co. who are mining it.

1871 August - Chu (Chee) Chung. Block 15, Lot 203 - Deputy County Surveyor map by John P. Dart

1875 Oct 16 - Chee sold to Fred Zwickert, bootmaker.

1879 In December - Ludwig Schwartz buys the lot joins it to the south lot.

The south part of the lot.

c1852 owned by DuBois, Jackson, Deaton and Nelson.

1853 Daniel Alexander owned the lot.

1856 July - Ann Alexander advertised "Hanson's Saloon" for sale.

1857 Four days after the fire, Alexander sells to George Peck from Shaw's Flat. Peck leased the lot to Weyant, Cara and Cyrus Matice. They put up a 2 story frame building and opened a saloon.

1858 June 24 - They sold the building to Peck.

1858 August 4 - George Peck sold to Jerry Mitchell. The building has 8 bedrooms on the upper floor and a gallery across the front. There is a private apartment on the lower floor entered from the street and enough room for a dozen to twenty card tables on the lower floor, which now opens into the single story frame building the "Long Tom Saloon" One of the largest saloons in the county also boasting a superior billiard table.

1865 Structure burns.

1870 vacant.

1871 August - Shine owns Block 15, Lot 204.- Deputy County Surveyor map by John P. Dart

1875 June 25 - town trustees grants 17 feet of the lot to Fred Zwickert, who has also purchased the lot on the north. Louis Brunet owns the rest of the lot.

During this time the current building was moved onto the lot.

Franco Cabin as it looked in the 1960s.
1879 Ludwig Schwartz leases the space for a shoe store.

1879 December - Judge Kluber sells the lot to Schwartz who joins the 2 lots together.

1911 Schwartz dies, and the property goes to George H. Cornish.

1919 January - F.A.Wenzel owns the property November, Wenzel sold to Fred Van Reed.

1930s the cabin is lived in by Carlo Franco, who runs the St. Charles saloon.

1947 State purchases from Carlo Franco for $1000, he continues to live in the building.

Carlo's parents were Giovanni B. Franco & Maddelana Neno of Italy.
Carlo Franco - 1950s.

1961 May 19 - Carlo Franco dies of a stroke.

The Miner's Cabin for HO Scale RR.

1962? Building converted to display of a "miner's cabin".

2000 Cabin restored by park staff.

2004 The cabin is modified into the "California Store" and becomes a static display used by docents to interpret an old dry goods merchant of the early 1850s.

This page is created for the benefit of the public by
Floyd D. P. Øydegaard.

Email contact:
fdpoyde3 (at) yahoo (dot) com

A WORK IN PROGRESS,
created for the visitors to the Columbia State Historic park.
© Columbia State Historic Park & Floyd D. P. Øydegaard.