Coarsegold Store

In the Southeast corner of room two of the Barn you will find a typical country store from the from the late 1800’s.  The cashier wearing a red gingham dress and white apron with bonnet is typical of that era.  Some of the items she’s selling would include Flour, Beans, and various canned and dry goods. She would often weigh out the bulk dry goods and put them in a tin, sack, or jar for transport.  She would write down the sale in a ledger or ring up the sale on a manual cash register such as the one displayed here. Notice the old wall telephone in the store.  Also the old Tin’s which used to contain supplies such as coffee, cocoa, and saltine crackers.

The Coarsegold Market and Supply

During the 1849 gold rush, many men hoping to hit pay dirt headed to the Sierras, many arriving in what was then called Gold Gulch (now Coarsegold!). In 1850, a Mr. Roan (or Rohan) bought a store along Oak Creek, now the site of an adult retirement community. He soon realized that he had chosen a poor location, as most men had staked their claims along the larger Coarsegold Creek. He put his store up for sale.

In San Francisco, a gentleman from Germany, Charles Michaelitske (anglicized to Michaels), had a prosperous shop – some say he was a tobacconist – and when he heard of the gold rush, he decided to try his luck in the gold fields, too. Michaels wound up in Gold Gulch (Coarsegold) in 1851. Seeing the Roan store for sale, he decided to purchase it and, after realizing it was in the wrong place, purchased land in the approximate location of the present medical office in “downtown” Coarsegold. There he prospered, selling supplies to the miners. (This store burned in 1924, and the market was moved across the street to the two-story.)

Milk Separator

Some of the items you might see in the store might be milk/cream separator circa 1950 that came from Montgomery Wards.  It also has an old milk or cream can beneath it.