Coulterville

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Coulterville and Whistling Billy

On my Spring Break Gold Country sketch list was an eight ton wood burning narrow gauge steam locomotive that was shipped around the Horn and delivered to Coulterville in 1887.

The locomotive operated on a four mile line hauling car loads of gold quartz ore from the Mary Harrison Mine just south of Coulterville to a stamp mill. Billy was abandoned in 1904 but was later refurbished and put on static display in the 1930s, where it remains today.

This is the pride and joy of Coulterville. Whistling Billy is displayed across Highway 49 from the Hotel Jeffery under the shade of the town’s hanging tree.

The Hotel Jeffery. While the building still stands the business is closed. Notable lodgers include: President Theodore Roosevelt (on his way to tour Yosemite), John Muir, and Mark Twain. Like most historic hotels in the Gold Country, this one is supposedly haunted.
Whistling Billy in beautiful Gold Country Spring sunshine.

I did two sketches of the diminutive locomotive each featuring the hanging tree.

Sketch number one.