HISTORY

The French Gulch Hotel was born in the roaring days of California's gold rush. French Gulch was named for the French Canadians who mined gold here in 1849. This was the largest gold producing area of the northern mines and was located on the California Oregon Trail. In its prime, French Gulch supported 4 saloons, 2 hotels, a post office, 2 mercantile stores, an assayers office and various livery stables and blacksmith shops. After the gold played out and the mines closed, and new highways were built, French Gulch became a tranquil hamlet with only one hotel, one saloon, a post office and a small store.

The French Gulch Hotel orginated as the Feeny Hotel and was built in 1885 by Richard Feeny. It was operated by the Feeny's for about 60 years. Orginally the hotel had a capacity of 34 rooms. Each room was designed to accommodate a single male boarder and were 10 x 10 with a single bed, a wash basin and one tall window. There were no indoor bathroom facilities and no running water in the hotel as it was first built.

The Hotel also has the Empire Bar (once housed in the Empire Hotel, now gone). England claims the birthplace of this bar where it was made by hand by the brunswick Company. A square rigged sailing schooner braved storms around South America's Cape Horn to bring it to San Francisco. Then still in crates and disassembled, it made its way by horse-drawn wagon to French Gulch.

The French Gulch Hotel has had several different owners and gone through many changes, through the test of time the hotel stands as monument to Western hospitality and a reminder of the unique culture of the people who settled in mining towns.