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Whew. Here’s my 15 minutes, it looks like. Indirectly.
Here’s the story… My uncle Tim and his pal Jerry own an old gold mining ghost town called Seneca. It’s in the heart of the Sierras, in a National Forest. It has a bar. And beautiful river runs right thru the property. If you think about it, it has to be one-of-a-kind in the nation.
Uncle Tim lives an hour away. He has been the bartender in recent years, but he’s getting too old to make the drive over the pass and down the scariest of scary narrow dirt roads along the gorge into the town. And so they want to sell. There’ve been no takers. Realtor projects haven’t gone anywhere. Who will promote such a piece of land? So last spring I had the wild idea to post an ad on Craigslist for them. (Tim has never used a computer.) We got a few interested queries. Then a couple days ago the ad went viral.
It’s everywhere online now.
[UPDATE 2/18/14: Best offer stands at $240k. Wrapping up any day now. Last call!)
[UPDATE 7/11/14: We have had a buyer for a few months now, who has made a couple payments. We are presently sorting through final paperwork.)
I just did an NPR interview and ABC just emailed me. Fox, Huffpost, the UK Daily Mail, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, the LA Times, NBC, CBC, Reuters are all in on it. (So far only the LA Times is sending someone to Seneca!)
Whups, how could I forget Pee-Wee Herman? He tweeted it early on.
And what about the 3 reality TV show producers and feature filmmakers? They all had big ideas.
On 11/23 the most in-depth report yet came out as a front-page story in the Sacramento Bee: www.sacbee.com/2013/11/23/5938950/plumas-ghost-town-gains-worldwide.html
Here is the link to the latest Craigslist ad. CL started the whole ruckus. The 11/16/13 version of the ad contains much relevant information regarding the property: goldcountry.craigslist.org/reo/4311274924.html. (The first ad expired so has been renewed and revised. The old ad is still up, but can’t be altered.) (NOTE: Ad is temporarily on hold. Revised ad will be posted shortly and link updated.)
Here’s more of the story of Seneca…
In 1975 my uncles Tim and Kent and their pals went hunting up in the mountains near Susanville where my uncle Tim lives. After a day afield Tim said he knew of a remote mountain bar where they could grab a drink. They went to Seneca and had a great time. They found out from Marie, the bartender, that it was for sale, so they bought it.
Tiny Marie Sabin tended the bar for 50 years. When I started visiting Seneca she still worked there, in her 80’s. There’s now a bronze plaque on a boulder outside the bar about Seneca and about her, the “angel of Seneca.”
It is a very remote place. When I’ve visited with my uncle and other people show up they always have bright eyes and seem very relieved and proud to have made it. Well, they usually say so right out loud. It’s certainly an adventure to get there. …A bar in the wilderness!
I’ve seen enduro motorcyclists come down from the mountain, all armored-up. Bikers in general like the place. It’s far away, yet not TOO far away. About 4 hours from the Bay. 2 hours from Chico, Redding or Reno.
Jerry Manpearl, the other owner, likes to tell about the “Woodstock of the West” that used to be held there for a few years in the 70’s. Thousands of people gathered to hear music. Even recently folks have had music fests that hundreds have shown up for.
And it’s all off the grid. (They have propane.)
Did I tell you that the gorgeous little Feather River runs right through the property and next to the bar? A pipe from it feeds water into the bar. The Feather River is a very important river in California history and for the Gold Rush.
Seneca was home to several big gold mines and hundreds of Chinese miners. It had an opium den. It had a hotel and dozens of buildings and amenities in its day. Now there’s just old mining junk strewn about under the tall pines.
And the town is just the bar and 3 hunter’s cabins and the river. 10 acres.
And Seneca is still miles from anywhere.
Mining is still done in the area, though not as much now compared even to 10-20 years ago. California banned the small river dredges. But I’ve been there when miners were in the bar. And after we closed one time a miner said “Hey you guys, I want to show you something that I couldn’t while others were around.” He pulls out a jelly-jar of gold dust. Did you know that gold is twice as heavy as lead?
Seneca attracts characters. You never know who might stop in. It’s always amazing that ANYONE does. But it has a word of mouth legacy of maybe 100 years. Marie was a character. So is my uncle Tim. So is Jerry Manpearl.
Tim is an old west type. Jack of all trades. Self-educated. A specialist in repairing European cars but knows all eras of American cars by heart, too. And tractors. He’s done plenty of haying and ranchwork. A literate old jazz buff. But wider-ranging than that — democratic in his tastes. Yet a fan of old Lucius Beebe. The first time I saw him was at the bar at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. He was wearing a Panama hat and Raybans, smoking. With his really big and tall older brother who was certainly just as snappily outfitted.
Jerry is a longtime progressive lawyer from LA, and an entrepreneur, and a part of the African American culture movement, among many cultural and social justice projects.
Uncle Tim has been a good barkeep. OK, the place could be kept up better, but we were talking about character.
I wonder what will happen to Seneca. There’s only one of them, you know.
My ad says it’s for sale for $225k. So far we’ve had about 50-100 emails from people who say they’re ready to buy. How to choose? I think we’ll try some sort of auction. Maybe one we set up via email and pre-qualifying. The Wild Ride isn’t over!
We found some newts in the woods.
The ford in the river to the island on the property.
The beautiful North Fork of the Feather River. The river in this region is good for all sorts of fun. It’s tiny by the bar but gets bigger as she goes. It’s a very electrified river, with many big municipal type power-dams along the way. It flows into the Sacramento River.
Corruption of a minor. (Really it’s candy.)
Hanging out on the porch with Uncle Tim and the family. There’s a tree growing up thru the porch, too. (Business cards line the walls inside and out.)
Old mining junk.
One of the cabins and the swimming hole.
Front of the bar.
