Onion Valley, California is a former California gold rush mining settlement and supply stationPotter, Theodore Edgar (1913) The Autobiography of Theodore Edgar Potter Rumford Press page 99 in Plumas County, California, United States.
Geography Onion Valley was located on Onion Valley Creek northeast of La Porte, California at the foot of Pilot Peak.
Note that the California counties of Inyo, Sierra, Placer, Amador and Calaveras have other locations with the same name.
History Onion Valley was named for the wild onion plants native to the area. As a Gold Rush community,McIlhany, Edward Washington (1908) Recollections of a '49er Hailman Printing Company pp49–53, 69–70 population may have peaked at 1,500 in 1851Rensch & Hoover (1966) Historic Spots in California Stanford University Press p281 with six hotels, a few stores and saloons, gambling parlor and a bowling alley.Gilbert, Frank & Whiting, Fenton (1882) Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties Fariss & Smith p290 Business started to decline at the end of 1851, and by 1853 only 120 settlers are noted.Hutchings (1856) Onion Valley and Pilot Peak Hutchings' Illustrated California Magazine v1 #5 p194
Organized ski club downhill speed races were held at Onion Valley starting in 1861,"Snow Shoeing" Daily National Democrat Vol 6 #50:3 (10 Apr 1861) with Sierra longboard skis referred to as "Norwegian snow-shoes". California Historical Landmarks No. 723 and 724 reference Onion Valley as a pioneer organized ski club in America.Pioneer Ski Area of America Historical Landmark California State Parks
The 1880 population was listed as 23. A hotelHerson House Hotel, 1880 Calisphere and the Eclipse mine was in the area.Gudde, E. (2009) California Gold Camps University of California Press pp106, 251–252
Photographs capture the decline of the area's human structures from 1905 Snowy View of Onion Valley, 1905 Calisphere to 1953.Onion Valley, 1953 Calisphere
See also Plumas National Forest Pacific Crest Trail Lost Sierra List of ghost towns in California
References