GEORGE MATHIS SIXTEEN-TO-ONE MINE REPRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL PRINT FRAMED 12 X 17 Condition issue: Frame needs touched-up. Minor nicks and scratched frame. SIXTEEN TO ONE MINE ALLEGANY SIERRA COUNTY GEORGE MATHIS LITHOGRAPH PRINT SIZE, 15? X 10.50?, SHEET SIZE 17.50? X 11.50?ON THE TYPICAL HEAVY WEIGHT PAPER STOCK. The Pictorial Historian of the Mother Lode Gold Country artist George Mathis is no longer with us, nor are many of the scenes and structures depicted in his artworks. On the positive side, he left us with a wonderful legacy of art, mainly pencil sketches, that lovingly portray many regional scenes of Nevada County life. Mathis once stated that he often captured history one step ahead of the bulldozer with the intent of keeping history alive. In 1936 he married his wife Jean in Oakland and they had one daughter, Carol. The family moved to Nevada City in 1948. In 1960 or so they moved to Coloma, site of Sutter?s Mill and Marshall?s Gold Discovery, where they renovated an original Gold Rush house they dubbed "Friday House" after Jean?s maiden name. George became a familiar figure around California mining towns for more than 40 years. He began graphically recording such abandoned mining digs as Old Kentucky, Sixteen-to-One, Brush Creek, Empire, and the Idaho Maryland. He also faithfully recorded and printed lithographs of Old Town Auburn, Nevada City, Grass Valley, Dutch Flat, Sierra City, and Downieville. Locals in those places all claimed him as a notable regional artist of note By 1953, The University of California?s Bancroft Library had started to collect Mathis sketches for future historians. George Mathis died in 1977, affectionately known as "The Pictorial Historian of the Mother Lode."