NEVADA CITY Uncle Frank Thomas

UNCLE FRANK THOMAS

lithograph 1973

Created in Howard and Peggy Levine Studio

Sparky in the 1970's lived on the Thomas Ranch which was located on Banner Mountain. For current reference Forrest Knoll 3 has been built on a portion of the old ranch. Sparky from his cottage in the woods could look down to Wolf Creek and the drainage it created and see across the valley to the Coast Range. You could also see the original Thomas Ranch house and out buildings that included a large barn. The Thomas Ranch had been on Banner since the late 1800's and they had orchards of apples and pears. Being one of the first ranches on the mountain they still had water rights in the 1970's. The Thomas family was large and they all lived to a ripe old age. Frank Thomas was known to all of us as Uncle Frank. In 1973 he was 93. And every day you could find him out by or in the barn doing his chores. One which was splitting wood, which a young Sparky found amazing. Here was Frank now bent over from age wielding a splitting mall and producing fire wood. He did that everyday until he died at 98. He was walking history of Nevada County. One of Sparky's favorite Uncle Frank stories was an huge adventure for Frank. Frank tells the story how he rode a wagon to Town Talk. Town Talk was located where now the Banner over crossing is over the Golden Center Freeway. When the Nevada County Narrow Gauge trains came out of the tunnel on the Glennbrook side there was a train stop. The spot was were the Thomas Ranch brought their goods to be shipped East and other parts of the country. The NCNGRR ran from Nevada City to Grass Valley and then on to Colfax. At Colfax you would board the Southern Pacific line which is the modern day Union Pacific Line. It went through Chicago Park and crossed the Bear River on a huge trestle there. Today when you cross the Bear River on State Highway 174 you can see the Rollins Dam, that dam at it's height is the exact height of the old trestle. It was up there ! So Frank rides the horse driven wagon to Town Talk gets on the train goes to Colfax. Gets on the train there and goes to Chicago. His purpose to go to Chicago was to see the Heavy Weight Champion of the World fight, that being the great John L. Sullivan. The champ won and Uncle Frank returned to Nevada County. What journey that had to be for a young man from the Sierra Foothills. Times were different in Nevada County then but as today our county was still attached to the " outside " world. And our early pioneers were a very hardy bunch.