One room with a queen and a full bed, and the only clawfoot tub on the row. The kitchen is the smaller one here — a dorm fridge rather than a full one, with the stove, oven, microwave and toaster all still in it — and the backyard has the same firepit, picnic table and charcoal grill as its neighbours. The name winks at "Lord" Lewis Chalmers, the Scot who spent nearly twenty years of London's money chasing Alpine silver, and at Nettie, who married him, and who, after he sailed for London and never returned, walked down to the stage road every day for nineteen years, waiting.
One room with a queen and a full bed, and the only clawfoot tub on the row. The kitchen is the smaller one here — a dorm fridge rather than a full one, with the stove, oven, microwave and toaster all still in it — and the backyard has the same firepit, picnic table and charcoal grill as its neighbours. The name winks at "Lord" Lewis Chalmers, the Scot who spent nearly twenty years of London's money chasing Alpine silver, and at Nettie, who married him, and who, after he sailed for London and never returned, walked down to the stage road every day for nineteen years, waiting.
Lewis Chalmers, born 1825 in Fraserburgh, Scotland, was sent out by London
investors around 1866 to make Alpine County pay. He drove the Imperial tunnel
1,406 feet into Mount America without finding pay ore. He bought and renamed
the Exchequer. He acquired the IXL with $171,000 raised in London. For nearly
two decades he kept British capital flowing into mines whose stubborn,
refractory ore never paid — and the locals dubbed him "Lord" Chalmers.
He built a brick mansion by his Exchequer mill around 1870 — it still stands,
private, along Highway 4 — and in 1880 he married his housekeeper, Antoinette
"Nettie" Laughton. Around 1884 he sailed for London "to raise fresh capital."
He died there in January 1904. He never came back.
The story the county kept is Nettie's: they say she walked down the road
every day to the big tree where the stage used to stop, waiting for a husband
who never returned — nineteen years of it.
The little sign on the porch says it plain — Lord & Lady Chalmers, his name
and hers on the same board, which is more than the mines ever gave either of
them. The rest of the story is in Silver Fever, in The Story.
The essentials
On the East Fork
Dogs welcome
Open year-round
Smaller kitchen — dorm fridge, stove and oven, microwave, coffee pot, toaster, pots, pans and utensils · fan for summer, propane heat for winter · backyard and a small front porch with chairs · firepit, picnic table and charcoal grill · room for an extra tent ($10 for the stay)
We stayed in cabin 6. Walking in was like walking back in time and magical! We stayed two nights with family who also had cabin 3. Kids had an amazing time and it was money well spent!
Dog fee — $30 for the visit, declared at booking, priced in the receiptCheck‑in 2pm · Check‑out 11amNo limit on how many dogs, or how bigSleeps 4 · one room · 2 beds (1 queen, 1 full) · 1 bath
The plain terms.
Deposit & balance — tonight’s deposit is half the lodging, plus Alpine County’s tax on that half; the balance is charged automatically about a week before arrival, to the same card.
Dogs — $30 for the whole visit, declared at booking. Dogs camp free at the riverside sites.
Times — check-in from 2pm, check-out by 11am. Campsites and RV slots turn over at noon.
Cancellation — Cancelling: a $25 cancellation fee applies to any cancelled reservation, and the rest of what you paid goes back to the card it came from — or keep the whole of it as an open credit toward a future stay, with no fee. Either way, call (530) 694-2229 and talk to us — we are a family resort and we would rather hear from you than not.
The stretch running past the cabins is stocked and fished under general regulations. Below Hangman’s Bridge, two minutes down the highway, the canyon runs wild and unstocked under special regulations.
