You Bet, California Gold Fever by Jerry Brady

You Bet, California Gold Fever by Jerry Brady

This story is the history of an old gold mining town in the foothills of Northern California’s Mother Lode Country, You Bet, California. It tells of some of the prominent characters involved in the interplay of drift and hydraulic mining in the You Bet area. Our story extends from the mighty gold-rush-days of the gallant forty-niners, through the great depression of the 1930’s and to the advent of the Second World War. Bringing into play the lives and loves of many people, the story narrows down to a gold mine legend and a search for one of the greatest single lodes of placer-gold ever to escape men’s greedy clutches.

A native of You Bet, Jerry Brady attended his first four years of grammar school there and the remainder through grade twelve in Nevada City. Several of his teenage summers were spent in You Bet, either hiking to Chalk Bluff to cut wood on his grandparents’ old homestead or working with his father on the county road.

One of his most memorable times accompanied the gathering of the winter’s wood, when his father would spin many a childhood yarn, and the entire You Bet Mine seemed to come alive with his vivid descriptions of his own youthful adventures.

A History of the “You Bet” families and their Gold Fever.

Chinese and Irish Migration in the Gold Country.

Over 200 Pages of Historical Documentation.

More than 100 Actual Photos from the Gold Fever Era.

An Expanded Edition of the book You Bet Gold Fever, originally published in 1982.

If you select local pickup please message us to arrange pickup at our History Center located in Nevada City, CA.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Thanks for looking!