Fall of 'Ten-Mile House' - Oakland Tribune - Sunday, February 25, 1945

Fall of "Ten-Mile House" Between Marysville and Downieville, the old 'Downieville Trail' Sun, Feb 25, 1945 – Page 17 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Alameda, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Fall of 'Ten-Mile House'

"While living at Marysville years ago," says John W. Winkley, "I had often noticed an old tavern on the Browns Valley Road. It stood stark and lone on the wide, treeless plain. It was known as 'The Ten-Mile House,' [see next article, below - MF] as I remember, though I may be mistaken as to the number of the mile posts. The old building in dilapidated condition, had a broad portico or 'port-cochere' extending over a roadway, where the old-time stages could stop and discharge passengers under cover. I seem to recollect that when first I saw the place someone was still living there, though I don't know how he could have made a living unless as a sheep-herder. Then came a great storm and the old structure collapsed. It lay prone upon the ground for some time, slowly vanishing, as I suppose people carried timbers and boards away. At length the spot was bare, and some weeks ago as I passed along that road I could not decide where the old tavern had stood. This road was once part of the old 'Downieville Trail' of the gold '50's, and multitudes of miners passed this way. The fall of the 'Ten-Mile House' was typical of the dissolution of hundreds of old California 'hotels,' 'inns' or 'taverns.' Only a few remain. On this stretch of the old road were: Galena House, Empire House, Peoria House, Sixteen-Mile House, Yuba County House, Stanfield House, Abbott House, Martin House, Phillips House, Zinc House, Bowers Place, Comstock Place, and by way of Indiana Ranch, Maple Springs and Greenville Village to Foster's Bar on the Yuba River. All prospered during the days of gold, but now have mostly disappeared."

Pioneer, 92 And 94, Tell of Argonaut Days Ten-Mile House Gus Wade and Thomas J. Byrd Tue, May 26, 1925 – Page 20 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Alameda, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Pioneers, 92 And 94, Tell of Argonaut Days 

Hardy Veteran of All Means of Transport Waits First Plane Ride. 

MARYSVILLE. May 26. 'The days of old, the days of gold." were lived again Sunday for a few brief moments, when, beneath the rude shelter of the historic, old Ten Mile House, two of Yuba county's most venerable pioneers met for the first time in twenty years, exchanged greetings and stories of the days that are gone.

Thomas J. Byrd, 92-year-old miner, of Camptonvillle, and Gus Wade, 94, keeper of the Ten Mile House since early days, made an interesting picture as they clasped hands in the ancient barroom of the rambling road house on the Browns Valley road east of Marysville. It was Byrd's first visit to the valley since 1905, and the two pioneers devoted a few delightful moments to recollections of episodes of the years when Yuba was a county of thriving mining communities, many of which are now gone to decay.

Byrd can paint a vivid word picture of San Francisco in 1850. He remembers with equal clearness the way Sacramento and Marysville looked in that early period. He claims to be the oldest producer of gold now alive, for at the age of six, more than 85 years ago, he helped his father mine for gold In the Smith River country, north of Atlanta, Georgia. Byrd has continued to follow mining as an occupation ever since. Though retired from active work, Byrd pans the streams of Yuba county for a few days each year, "Just to keep up my record," he explains.

Despite his advanced years, Byrd has yet many ambitions unfulfilled, and one is to take a trip in a "flying machine." "I've ridden in boats, I've traveled on trains, I've trudged the mountain trails and sat astride a horse, but I have yet to fly. If I ever have an opportunity," he declared Sunday, "I'll surely take advantage of it."