French Lake, California

French Lake, California (39°25′14″N 120°32′27″W / 39.420556°N 120.540833°W / 39.420556; -120.540833Coordinates: 39°25′14″N 120°32′27″W / 39.420556°N 120.540833°W / 39.420556; -120.540833),^[1] located in Nevada County, was a California Gold Rush community, now uninhabited. It was located by a lake of the same name.

Reservoir

French Lake
Location	Nevada County, California
Coordinates	39°25′14″N 120°32′31″W / 39.42056°N 120.54194°W / 39.42056; -120.54194 (French Lake (lake))
Basin countries	United States
Surface elevation	6,676 ft (2,035 m)

French Lake Reservoir, at an elevation of 7500’-6680’,^[2] is part of a string of lakes, including Bowman Lake, Sawmill Lake, and Faucherie Lake to the northwest, as well as Meadow Lake and Fordyce Lake to the southeast. French Lake Road, used by the Nevada Irrigation District and not available for public use, skirts the lake's northwest perimeter before heading east to Meadow Lake Road. An unsigned road near the lake's southeastern banks veers northeast to Meadow Lake Road above English Mountain's now uninhabited Baltimore Town and Summit City in unincorporated Nevada County.^[3][4]

History

Prior to the Maidu, French Lake was inhabited by the Martis people, a now extinct Native American tribe. The Martis' Meadow Lake Petroglyphs (also known as 4-Nev-3) are a historical landmark.^[5]

In 1878, the world's first long-distance telephone line operated between French Lake and French Corral, California, 58 miles to the west, including the towns of North San Juan, and North Bloomfield on the phone route.^[6][7] The phone line was used to pass information regarding water flow from French Lake for post-California Gold Rush hydraulic mining.

References

External links

• Society of California Pioneers photo, ca. 1860-1870 at University of California Libraries

Municipalities and communities of Nevada County, California, United States County seat: Nevada City Cities and towns Grass Valley Nevada City Truckee CDPs Alta Sierra Floriston Graniteville Kingvale‡ Lake of the Pines Lake Wildwood North San Juan Penn Valley Rough and Ready Soda Springs Washington Unincorporated communities Alta Hill Bitney Corner Carpenter Valley Casey Corner Cedar Ridge Chicago Park Coleman Crystal Lake Dew Drop French Corral Forest Knolls Gaston Gateway Gold Flat Higgins Corner Hills Flat Hinton Hirschdale Junction House Kres Lake City Marsh Mill Mooney Flat Mystic Newtown Norden North Bloomfield North Columbia Peardale Pinecrest Polaris Relief Scotts Flat Sebastopol Spring Hill The Oaks Town Talk Union Mills Willow Valley Wolf You Bet Yuba Pass Ghost towns Alpha Badger Hill Balaklava Bald Eagle Baltimore Town Bear River Pines Bear Valley Beckmans Flat Birchville Blue Tent Boca Boston Ravine Brass Wire Bar Bridgeport Brighton House Bronco Buena Vista Burckhalter Burks Bar Camp Spaulding Cascade Diggings Cedar Kress Chalk Bluff Champion Cherokee Coyoteville Crystal Springs Democrat Diamond Creek Diggers Bar Dillon Drum Eagle Bird Elida Eureka Farad Fernley Flood Forest Spring French Lake Frenchmans Bar Gelatt Glenbrook Gold Hill Hacketville Hobart Mills Hunt's Hill Iceland Indian Springs Jericho Jones Bar Kentucky Flat La Barr Meadows Lafayette Hill Langs Little York Louisa Lowell Hill Malakoff Maybert Meadow Lake Melburn Hill Missouri Flat Moores Flat Mount Zion Mountain Well Mountain View Negro Flat Ohm Omega Orleans Flat Pittsburg Pleasant Flat Prosser Prosser Creek Providence Randolph House Rays Flat Red Diamond Red Dog Remington Hill Rose's Corral Shands Shelby Flat Shellback Six Mile House Snow Point Snow Tent Spenceville Spiritsville Stockings Flat Sunset View Sweetland Tsekankan Union Hill Ustoma Virginia House Waloupa White Cloud Wickes Wilsonville Wokodot Woolsey Flat Yamako Zinc House Footnotes ‡This CDP also has portions in an adjacent county or counties