Auburn, the county seat of Placer County, was founded during the Gold Rush in 1848. Unlike many such towns in the Mother Lode, Auburn has remained a vibrant and growing town ever since. This city's relevance since the initial influx of gold seekers is due in part to its location at a nexus of transportation routes, both old and new. Halfway between San Francisco and Reno and at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet--above the fog and below the snow--Auburn is a very attractive place to live. Furthermore, it is a place with sincere respect for its roots, as evidenced by its restored old town,...

Placer County runs between the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains, against Sacramento County in the west and 100 miles east to Lake Tahoe. Along the present-day southern border, gold was discovered in 1848 by James Marshall at John Sutter's lumber mill, leading to the California Gold Rush. This relatively narrow county (only 10 to 15 miles across in some spots) has early immigrant trails, wagon roads, railways, and highways all passing through as they head across Donner Summit and across the Sierra Nevadas. Mining, agriculture, transportation, logging, and recreation made...