Miwok Grinding Rock, between Pinecrest and Volcano, Amador County, Postcards

Good morning, Tina here again. I am continuing my little series of sharing some of my collection of postcards.

These postcards are of the place I have always known as "Indian Grinding Rock" State Park, which is located near Volcano in Amador County.  From Placerville it is a beautiful drive to the South through rolling hills and into tall pines and back to rolling hills and black oaks. 

We Gold Country Girls grew up with grinding rocks all around us.  We swam at a rather secluded place on the Cosumnes River when we were young which had a large boulder towering over even the adults' heads, and when you climbed up on it there were the grinding holes, filled with pine needles and remnants of acorns.  It was fun to clean them out and see how deep they were carved.

When I lived in Diamond Springs, we were very near a creek with a hidden and little known grinding stone.  It was located under a large oak, and it was so soothing to sit there and listen to the bubbling water and imagine the lives the people led centuries before.

One of our mother's best friends lived on the edge of a meadow which had a grinding rock, and there were many more than I visited as I was growing up and later in adulthood.  We are lucky to live in an area which the Native Americans enjoyed for centuries, and their traces remain.

The Real Photo Postcard above is amusing because of its misspelling of "Granite". It reads "Indian Grinding Grounds. A granit rock 150 ft long and 60 ft wide with over 1500 grinding holes. Between Pinegrove and Volcano.  Copyright Garibaldi Studio."

This postcard above, which is No. 20 and has no photographer listed, reads: "Miwok Grinding Rock. Limestone slab - 150' X 60', over 1500 mortars. Indians used rock pestles - ground manzanita berries, acorns, wild grains.  Largest in U.S. Situated in Oak Meadow, Volcano, Calif. Area in State Park Program."

I apologize for the out-of-focus shot above.  The postcard itself is not blurry.  This is a Frasher's postcard, No. 8523, which reads: "Indian Grinding Rock.  Said to be largest in America, 150 feet long and 60 feet wide, over 1500 holes in solid granite, worn by indians in grinding acorns before the coming of the white man.  Located between Pinegrove and Volcano, Amador County, California.  Southern Mines Section of the Mother Lode.

Last is a color chrome sixties-era postcard, published by Lindholm Photography, Stockton, California. The information reads: "Tco'-Se (Cho-Say) Indian Grinding Rock State Historical Monument. Two miles from Volcano, California.  Tco'-Se means "Grinding Rock". Miwok Indian women made about 1200 holes in this rock while grinding acorns and manzanita berries for flour.  Many pictographs also.  Largest grinding rock in the U. S. - Overnight camping and picnic facilities. 

Well, I don't know about you, but I am ready to make a visit to this lovely historic spot and try to count the holes again myself. They now have a museum and native american shelters to check out also. 

Enjoy your Wednesday!