Nevada County, California

Nevada County is one of diversified topography, gradually rising from the level of the upper Sacramento valley to the summit of the Sierra, on the eastern border of the state; its area is 1,125 square miles. In 1880 the population was 20,823, but it has now increased to 25,000. Nevada City, a city of about 7,000 inhabitants, is the county seat. Grass Valley, Colfax, and North San Juan are other important places. In the eastern or mountainous part of the county lumbering is the chief industry; in the central section gold-mining is prosecuted on an extensive scale, while the less elevated lands are devoted to grazing and the raising of grain and fruit. The quartz and drift mines of this county are steadily productive, though the suspension of hydraulic mining caused a period of dullness; the yield of the precious metal is now increasing, the quartz being worked with gratifying success. The many lumber-mills along the Truckee River send to market in the neighborhood of 35,000,000 feet annually. All kinds of fruit, including oranges, are grown in the county. It is a peculiarity of this county that it produces the finest Bartlett pears grown in the state, and the acreage in this fruit is very large. The assessed valuation in 1889 was $6,500,000.

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Source: California State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1890, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Company, 1890.