Ione...formerly Bedbug or Freeze Out...is another of those Gold Rush era towns that didn't dig for gold. The city existed to be a supply and transportation center for those other towns up the hill that did the mining. It's gold came from the pockets of those miners buying supplies at precious prices from the town's merchants.
Founded on the banks of Sutter Creek down the hill from the city of Sutter Creek, the modern town of Ione got its name in 1848 and its configuration in 1853 when Thomas Rickey subdivided his land into lots around the creek.
After a few fires, the original wooden buildings were reconstructed with brick, which conveniently was mined and fired right here in town. One of the products that the town supplied was the eponymous Ione brick which rebuilt many a burned-out Gold Rush town.
While the city didn't engage in large-scale gold mining, other minerals were abundantly mined here. Copper, coal, sand, clay, aggreagates, and silica provided a big boost to the local economy. In fact, the only real large scale mining done in Amador County today is in Ione.
Cattle ranching took hold in the area and thousands of head still graze in the hills and ranches around town.
In the late 1800's, the city embarked on a new industry, corrections. A large reform school was built here in 1894 on 230 acres. The school, envisioned to be a place of reform for errant boys, would take the juvenile offenders from state prisons and teach them new careers to steer them from a life of crime.
Proposed by State Senator Edward Preston, the new school was named after him...the Preston School of Industry.
A massive, gothic redstone building was built on top of the hill with supporting structures and houses for the staff below. This imposing structure was nicknamed "Preston Castle."
Abandoned in 1960, it sat deteriorating for several years until a foundation created to preserve it was formed. They bought the castle and a few acres around it.
The foundation now gives tours on Saturdays during spring and summer. Reservations are required and can be booked online at Prestoncastle.org.
While not a gold mining town, Ione has a classic Gold Rush era downtown with several buildings dating back to the 1850's. Daniel Stewart built what is considered the oldest building in town for his general store in 1854. It now houses Salon Envy across the street from the Native Sons of the Golden West hall and the IOOF which both date from the same time.
A quick walk down the three blocks of Main Street yield more nuggets of history. It's also nice that Ione is the most wheelchair friendly downtown we've found in California's Gold Country.
The old Commercial Hotel, built in 1964, is now the City Hall. Still serving as a hotel, the Ione Hotel (no accessible rooms) has been in business since the 1850s but the current building dates to 1910. Another fire almost destroyed it in 1988 but it has been fully restored with a nice restaurant on the first floor (ask to see the haunted well that still exists in the middle of the dining room).
The old 1850s flour mill now serves as a charter school at the west end of Main Street. The original cabin from the 1840s has been expanded into a building shared by a real estate office and hair salon. You can still make out the diagonal swinging doors on the old saloon on the corner of Buena Vista Street but it is now a very fine butcher shop. A modern saloon, Tilly's, sits two doors down if you fancy a drink.
The old movie theater now houses another beauty salon and the town's ice cream parlor and candy shop. Another pub, Grumpy Jeff's, rounds out the block on the next corner (check our our Ione Pub Crawl).
Look behind City Hall and you'll see Iron Ivan, the last steam locomotive of the old Amador Central Railrod. A couple of blocks away sits the old derelict train depot, along with the last locomotive of what was then called Amador Foothills Railroad, an old switching engine, next to the junior high.
That junior high was the original high school of the county with the oldest building dating to 1903. Around the corner, the tall brick spire of the United Methodist Church tops a building that dates back to 1864.
On the hill behind sits the original Catholic Church in the midst of its cemetery. Across the street, the Public Cemetery dates to 1850. Behind that, Howard park...formerly the racetrack of Charles Howard, owner of Seabiscuit...provides ample room for recreation.
The park is also the center of a three-day party and festival held each May called Homecoming.
Ione is not easy to find. It's not on the major highways...49, 88, or 16...of Amador County (you have to detour a few miles off of 88 on 104 or 124) and does not attract the crowds of tourists that other towns in the region do but it is truly an underrated and undiscovered historic gem.
Definitely worth it to spend a day or more on your Gold Country explorations.
Darryl Musick
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