History of Johnsville & The Iron Door

 

     Johnsville was founded in 1876 and named after William Johns who was the general manager of the Plumas Eureka Mine.  The mine complex was started much earlier, in 1851, when a rich ledge of gold-bearing quartz was discovered midway up the mountain.  The mine, a consolidation of four original claims was from 1872 owned and operated by a British firm, the Sierra Buttes Gold Mining Company Ltd., of London. 

     Johnsville continued to grow and became the population center distributing goods and services to the miners; it was the third town on the mountain, after Jamison City and Eureka Mills.  Approximately a year after fire destroyed Johnsville. In 1906, the present building housing the Iron Door was built.

     After producing an estimated $18,000,000, the mine slowed to a trickle in the 1890’s; under a variety of ownership it was operated into the early 1940’s.  The nearby Jamison Mine produced about 2,000,000 more from the late 1890’s until about 1919.

In 1961 the Iron Door Restaurant was established in the building which had housed a general store and post office.  It is the only business establishment in Johnsville today. 

     Population estimates vary widely; the mining payroll in the peak years was from 340 to 400, at least half of them being single men.  The present population of Johnsville varies depending on the time of the year from 30 in the winter to 75 in the summer.

Although Plumas Eureka State Park, part of the California State Park system, is an immediate neighbor, the historic community of Johnsville is all privately-owned property.