The remains of a jail in a 1866 boom town, Historic Silver Mountain City.

An excerpt from Up and Down California in 1860-1864; The Journal of William H. Brewer

"Silver Mountain (town) is a good illustration of a new mining town. We arrive by trail, for the wagon road is left many miles back. As we descend the canyon from the summit, suddenly a bright new town bursts into view. There are perhaps forty houses, all new (but a few weeks old) and as bright as new, fresh lumber, which but a month or two ago was in the trees, can make them. This log shanty has a sign up, "Variety Store"; the next, a board shanty the size of a hogpen, is "Wholesale & Retail Grocery"; that shanty without a window, with a canvas door, has a large sign of "Law Office"; and so on to the end. The best hotel has not yet got up its sign, and the "Restaurant and Lodgings" are without a roof as yet, but shingles are fast being made.

On the south of the town rises the bold, rugged Silver Mountain, over eleven thousand feet altitude; on the north a rugged mountain over ten thousand feet. Over three hundred claims are being "prospected." "Tunnels" and "drifts" are being run, shafts being sunk, and every few minutes the booming sound of a blast comes on the ear like a distant leisurely bombardment.

Founded by Scandinavian miners as Kongsberg in 1858. Silver City was the Alpine County seat from 1864 to 1875.In 1878 news of a silver strike in Bodie emptied the town of most residents. Silver City turned into a ghost town as businesses closed. Buildings like the old log jail were relocated to the new county seat in Markleeville. The Isabella boarding house remained a landmark along highway 4 for many years."