I went on another educational hiking trip with EBMUD again this past weekend, this time to the Wildermuth house. This is the homestead of an early pioneer family and the house was built out of local sandstone in 1861. The house has a basement and a 2nd story but it wasn't big.. there were only 2 bedrooms for 8 people. Really tight living quarters! But they had "running" water because of a nearby stream where Mr. Wildermuth installed a "spring box" and ran a pipe to the front of the house where a cistern was... this was a luxury in that time period!
 |
| Front of the house |
 |
| Front from the "road" |
 |
| Side view - you can see the basement and the top story windows |
 |
| Picture of the boys and the house |
 |
| Just a beautiful location! |
 |
| The stones are so big - I can't imagine cutting them by hand! |
 |
| Cactus flower out in front of the house |
 |
| Nice view of Pardee - it wasn't there when they lived there but still a nice view! |
The house was taken over when the Pardee dam was being built, and then it burned in a fire in the 1940s. Only the stone walls were left.. EDMUD took it over in the 70's and then a local group starting rebuilding in the 90's. It is something to see this kind of homestead and how they lived, just not an easy life at all!
Julie
