As we were working to close out the census in California, many of the cases were considered 'the most difficult'. This could be because of multiple refusals from the occupants of a certain address or because the place was remote or difficult to locate.
On my next to the last day, I received an address that just said, "Iowa Hill Road" with no number or other information. Other people had found it, but the occupant refused to answer any questions. When this happens, the address just keeps coming up until someone is lucky or charming enough to get at least a count of how many live there. So I plugged "Iowa Hill Road" into my GPS and set off. I knew about the multiple refusals but I didn't know just how remote and difficult to locate this address actually was. Definitely qualified as the 'most difficult' of cases!
First it was yet another trip over Donner Pass towards Roseville. Once I got off the freeway, the little road followed a stream bed and actually reminded me of Maui's famous Road to Hana. It was green and lush vegetation along the edges of a twisty road.
When I came to a State Park, I stopped and asked the park ranger if anyone lived further up the road on Iowa Hill. He told me that there was a whole community up there. When I asked him if it were safe for me to go up there as a census worker, he said that it was pretty off the grid but that if I went to the general store I should be fine so off I went. I thought the road before was narrow and twisty, well this next section was really narrow with switchback curves. I prayed that I wouldn't meet anyone coming down as I was going up. I honked my horn on each curve. I wish I could have gotten a photo of the road but I decided that concentrating on the road was more important that a photo!
Here's one description I read of the road
Be prepared to blare your horn as you encounter the unknown in tight twisting turns that will literally have you on the edge of death defying cliffs that plunge over 100 stories below. We took the ride in an SUV (not wise) and continuously worried what we’d do if we encountered traffic in the other direction. There’s little room to navigate and passengers looking out their windows see little to no pavement.
The road 'in' is over the more gentle slope and the road 'up' is on that steep side. And yes the address I was seeking, was at the very top of Iowa Hill! That sign does say a 15% grade! Crazy!
During the gold rush days of the 1850's Iowa Hill was a boom town since there was gold in those hills! By 1856 the mines were producing $100,000 of gold per week. The town had over 140 buildings with a population of close to 10,000, one of the largest towns in California by the 1870s. Some say it was even considered as the site of the California state capitol! Unfortunately several fires destroyed the town and then hydraulic mining was made illegal. With all that and the difficult location, Iowa Hill's population declined. Today there are about 200 who live there.
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