Sitting around our small news planning table, with only a few weeks under my belt at the helm of the Telegraph, Philip Wood mentioned that he heard of some old ruins coming out of Folsom Lake because of the drought. “That sounds interesting,” I said. “Let’s look into it.”

Little did I know those ruins, along with researching the history of Mormon Island, Salmon Falls and the Natoma Company, would consume my life for more than a month.

Our first order of business was to locate the ruins. Philip thought he had a pretty good idea where they’d be, so we set out the following week with a video camera, two still cameras and a tripod. Driving to Folsom Point (more commonly known to locals as Dike 8), we used an old map of Mormon Island to see what we could uncover.

We walked around for about an hour and finally discovered some old rusted metal, square nails and what looked like something that could have been the location of a structure. It wasn’t the ruins we thought we’d find and there were no foundations. But, there were a lot of tree stumps.

That Saturday I returned to the lake, this time parking in the picnic area and walking to the Mormon Island Auxiliary Dam. With my three kids in tow, we scoured the shoreline, finally reaching the spot Philip and I had already searched. We were unsuccessful and my kids were none to happy with me for dragging them out on a very cold, windy day.

Indiana Jones I’m not, so I turned my attention to lining up the research sources I’d need. I phoned the Folsom Historical Society (which is part of the Folsom History Museum). Museum Director Karen Mehring said they had plenty of information for me and I was welcome to use whatever they had.

I also contacted the Heritage Preservation League of Folsom and connected with Nancy Percy, who had plenty of info for me on the water supply system of the area.

The Historical Society’s Deborah Grassl proved most helpful when she gave me directions to get to the site of the ruins and said she could help me connect with Artie Davies, who was raised in Mormon Island. She said the ruins everyone sees are the remains of Artie’s old dairy ranch, flooded after the construction of Folsom Dam.

Philip and I regrouped and set out once again, this time beginning at the Mormon Island Dam in a state park parking lot off of Green Valley Road.

I was told that it was a short walk from the dam and that once I found the Natoma Ditch, an old water-supply canal, that I should follow that and we’d end up at Artie’s former home.

We found the ditch easy enough, but following it was impossible as it seemed to disappear after a short distance. There was an old foundation (very small) near the water’s edge, but it looked nothing like some of the photos we had seen of the ruins.

Around a hill, following what appeared to be an old road, we found lots of artifacts such as an old rusty knife, nails and a rusted metal cable tied around a tree stump.

Over the next rise, Philip found what we were looking for -- a large foundation, paved roadway and more of the ditch. The area was known as Red Bank and was a mine, winery and eventually a dairy.

We spent an hour or so walking the site, taking photos and video, and then went to our interview with Artie at her Folsom home (see the video report on our Web site).

The story was filed, published and posted online as the first of a three-part series on the history of the Mormon Island area. The online version of the story has generated a ton of traffic (about 1,300 at the time of this writing).

The second in the series focused on the water supply system that allowed all these ranches, communities and towns to flourish in an otherwise dry environment.

Melinda Peak, an archaeological researcher with Peak and Associates, credits the Natoma Ditch with making permanent settlement of the area possible so it was worthy of its own story. To learn about the source of the water, Salmon Falls, we headed to the old town site. It is also coming to the surface again due to the low lake levels.

We found a bridge, remnants of the old canal system (concrete along hillsides), stairs that lead to nowhere, the dam at Sweetwater Creek (now in ruins), and plenty more. This site, compared to that of Red Bank, had been picked clean of artifacts. Only rubble and a few foundations remain.

In our search to find the original dam on the South Fork of the American River (reportedly knocked down by the US Bureau of Reclamation in 1959 for boater safety on the lake), we forded the river twice, soaking our boots and shoes. Boy, what we go through to get a story!

In all, I spent seven hours on research, five hours or more in the field, and four hours conducting interviews, all before I even put finger to keyboard to actually write the series (or handling the digital video editing on the video reports). I had more material than I could use, but there were some interesting historical tidbits that I believe should be read and available for all.

Think about this the next time you’re out boating on the lake this summer, Peak said there are still bodies under the waters of Folsom Lake.

“There are people under the lake, certainly,” she said when I asked about the pioneer cemetery at Salmon Falls and whether it had been relocated like the one at Mormon Island. “There were people left behind.”

Here are a few other items that I hope you enjoy …

Source: Paolo Siolis, “History of El Dorado County, California,” published 1883.

Law in Salmon Falls: “Jim, and Jim Patterson, Indians, indicted for the murder of Charles Gray, on June 26th, 1861, near Salmon Falls, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty of the law. Their execution took place Nov. 1st, in the jail yard. Their bodies were permitted to hang twenty minutes, when they were cut down, placed in coffins and delivered to some Indians, who conveyed them to Gold Hill to Captain John, Chief of the tribe, who burnt them in due form.”

Cost of the Natoma ditch: “The Natoma ditch drawing its supply from the South Fork of the American River, two miles above Salmon Falls, its cost was $300,000 … Negro Hill ditch, $20,000.”

Hotels in Salmon Falls township: “One wing of Mrs. Perry’s hotel at Salmon Falls … came around Cape Horn.”

Ferries in the American River: “At Murderer’s Bar, a ferry was carrying the travel from Sacramento by the road to Salmon Falls and Pilot Hill, through Cave Valley, into Placer County.”

The telegraph and Mormon Island: The Alta California Telegraph Company was incorporated on Sept. 1, 1853. The telegraph line ran through Mormon Island and was part of 75 miles of telegraph line laid in El Dorado County.

Source: John Wilson, “These Lonely Hills” (published prior to 1951).

Salmon Falls: “(It) served as a trading center for all of the smaller mining camps in the surrounding area. … There is nothing remaining today to indicate the site of this once prosperous town. Its main street is now a little-traveled country road. A few of the descendants of the early pioneers continue to farm the property established by their forefathers, but the location of the early town may be identified only by the bridge across the river near that point.”

Red Bank Winery: Salmon Falls Business Directory, 1884-1885; Mette, Henry; Vineyard and Distillery.

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Links to the full series:

Part 1 - From the Depths: History resurfaces as lake level falls

Part 2 - From the Depths: Pioneer Spirit

Part 3 - From the Depths: A bridge across time

Mormon Island remnants Photo Gallery

Natoma Ditch near Mormon Island Photo Gallery

More Mormon Island artifacts Photo Gallery

Salmon Falls Photo Gallery

Salmon Falls Revisited Photo Gallery

Red Bank and Mormon Island video

Salmon Falls video

Uncovering Mormon Island and Salmon Falls, an editor's journey