Learning: Taking it outside

North state youngsters have a distinct advantage when it comes to studying the California Gold Rush of 1849. They actually live in serious gold panning country.

On Thursday, May 28, fourth graders from Stella Prudhomme's classroom at North Cottonwood Elementary School set out to the Tower House Historic District near Whiskeytown Lake - not by horse, but by big yellow bus.

"I'll probably find gold," said student Savannah Garcia. "If we find it, we get to keep it."

There hasn't been much gold in the streams for many years, though Park Ranger Susan Weaver has been known to find a few little pieces in the Tower House area.

Weaver showed students how to dig down with a shovel about six inches into the creek bottom, put any sand found there into a gold pan, then gently slosh some water around to wash out the silt and gravel.

For realism, Weaver placed a small piece of actual gold in the bottom of her pan to show the students how real gold looks in the pan.

"Real gold will fall to the bottom and fool's gold will rinse out," said Weaver.

Students tested their new-found skills in Clear Creek with traditional gold pans and shovels. On this day, however, no nuggets of precious metal were uncovered, just some knowledge.

Students learned that much of the wealth from the Gold Rush was generated by those entrepreneurs such as Levi Tower who provided lodging for miners at the famous Tower House Hotel.

"At (the Tower House) you can always find pleasant and agreeable society, attracted by the known comforts and pleasantness of the place," reads an 1885 edition of the Shasta Courier.

Levi Towers purchased 119 acres for $575 near Highway 299 and built The Tower House hotel in 1852-53. It stood three stories and had 21 rooms.

There, Towers would greet weary travelers and welcome them in - once they paid the toll to cross his bridge. The hotel was also known widely for its abundant gardens and orchards.

"The hotel was the social center of Shasta County," says volunteer Judy Bush. "Levi was known far and wide as a very gracious host."

Towers would eventually end up bankrupt and dead at 45 years of typhoid fever in 1865.

Students were also introduced to historical landmarks such as the Camden House, the Tenant House (still occupied today) and the El Dorado Mine. The youngsters were also taught what poison oak looks like and told that rattlesnakes and ticks frequent the Tower House District as well.

Visitors to the Tower House District can pick up gold pans at the park's Visitor's Center and test out their luck, as well as arrange for a tour of the Tower House Historic District area.