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A History of Paxton, California
by Scott J. Lawson
History of an iconic turn-of-the-century Feather River recreation lodge and gold country it stands on
Born February 18, 1957, Scott J. Lawson is a fifth-generation native of Plumas County, his Swiss ancestors settling in Indian Valley in the 1850s. Local and regional history is a passion he has held for as long as he can remember, and it fits well with his position as director of the Plumas County Museum, in Quincy, California. He oversaw the restoration of the 1878 Variel Home in Quincy, now a museum, is currently working on the restoration of the 1864 Taylorsville School, and has assisted in the restoration and preservation of a number of historic structures and sites in Plumas County and Sierra County. He is an avid hiker and has spent countless hours and days tracing out forgotten trails, water ditches, wagon roads, emigrant routes, abandoned railroads, mining sites and homesteads, and more. He has worked closely with Oregon-California Trails Association, Trails West and the U.S. Forest Service on pinpointing the location and mapping of the Beckwourth Emigrant Trail, the Jamison Emigrant Trail, various forgotten cemeteries, and many other historic features and sites on public lands. Lawson enjoys reading, researching, gold mining and just getting out in the great outdoors.
Books authored:
The Giant’s Roar, A History of the Badger Hill Mine, 1994; Quincy (Arcadia Publishing), 2003;
Trails of the Feather and Yuba Rivers Region, a hiking guide to over 220 single-tread trails, 2004; History of the Feather River Region (edited for author Jim Young), 2005;
Recollections of a 49er (edited original and added biographical section), 2006;
Saga of a Mountain Meadow, A History of Bucks Ranch and Bucks Lake, 2008;
Logging in Plumas County (Arcadia Publishing, coauthored with Daniel Elliott), 2008, and is currently working on several books on the history of Sierra Valley, the southern mining region of Plumas County, Hispanics in Plumas County, and mule and donkey packing in the northern Sierra, among others.
Memoir Books is an imprint of Heidelberg Graphics
