Colfax Area History

The first occupants in this region were California Indian tribes, the Miwok and the Nisenan Maidu. They were peaceful tribes that hunted, fished and ground acorns for food.

Next came the gold miners.  Small trading posts were established to service the miners who swarmed the Bear and American Rivers.  The ore-rich Rising Sun gold mine was located on Ben Taylor Road and Hubley House stands on part of its acreage.  At one time there was a small settlement here and we are still finding artifacts when we dig in the grounds.

Colfax was originally named “Illinoistown”.    Hank Meals’ Yuba Trails 2 book quotes the Placer Herald, Sept. 18, 1852 as describing Colfax’s original naming as follows: 

“The settlement at first had as many names as the heroine of a modern romance; but in the month of October ’49 the miners had a grand dinner in the town of four houses, and as the residents and miners were mostly Illinoisans, they by acclimation and a bottle of whisky, named the place Illinoistown.”

California Governor Leland Stanford re-named the town Colfax in honor of Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax who was instrumental in the creation of the first Transcontinental Railroad.

That railroad played a prominent part in the area. Colfax was the western terminus and supply depot of the first Transcontinental Railroad for many years. It was the point from which they launched their laborious construction assault to cross the Sierras. There was a large Chinese population living here during these years along with other railroad workers.

The wellness industry played an important part in Colfax history too. During the years when tuberculosis was deadlier than heart disease or cancer, recovery centers sprang up around Colfax to treat people. At the time, a combination of fresh air, rest and good food was the only known treatment of the disease and ailing patients moved out West to recover. Long-time Colfax mayor Dr. Robert Peers started a tuberculosis hospital in Colfax in 1901, and many Colfax residents entered into the business of health care as well. They put beds on their screened porches and rented them to patients, who then could sleep surrounded by fresh air. Their friends and relatives traveled by train to visit them.

Fruit is the main crop in the region and the fruit and wine industry thrived here for over a century.  During the 1940’s and 50’s, the area was the leader of agriculture production in the western United States and Colfax was known as the fruit shipping capital of America. Historic fruit packing sheds still line the railway in downtown Colfax, some now housing restaurants and shops.

Colfax had 3 agricultural advantages: (1) the Transcontinental Railroad gave access to distant markets; (2) Sierra snow provided ice-houses and refrigeration for shipping; and (3) gold-rush era water canals provided excellent irrigation.

The area’s three main industries were devastated during the 1950’s. The pear trees were attacked by a disease. A cure for TB was found. And the railroad replaced its nostalgic steam engines – which had been maintained in a roundhouse here – with diesel engines, maintained in Roseville.

Colfax became a little “lost in time” which – like historic towns such as Savannah, Georgia who suffered similar economic fates – ended up in the long run being a good thing. With little money to tear down and modernize the town’s buildings and homes, it retained its charm of an earlier era. Today, a sympathetic approach to historic preservation by its residents and community leaders allows Colfax to continue to preserve its small town (pop. 1,800) charm and historic heritage.