The Port Wine Cemetery, Sierra County, California.

Port Wine had its beginnings in early 1850. Stories about the naming of the town include miners finding a barrel of Port hidden in the bushes and another story tells of finding a keg of cognac. By 1851 surface mining had declined, but hydraulic mining instilled new life into the area. An 1863 newspaper article described Port Wine as a religious and sober town with a strong Welsh presence. However, there were still a number of saloons in town, so they couldn’t have been that uptight. That wasn’t all though – there were also boarding houses, barbers, hotels, livery stables, merchants, blacksmiths, a Wells Fargo Express office and even a post office. Port Wine even had an active ski racing club and competed against other mining towns in the area.