were recorded. The town was producing about one hundred thousand dollars per week in gold in 1867. In 1901, the post office changed its name to Iowa Hill. In 1920 a fire took hold that virtually destroyed the town. What remains is an old Wells Fargo vault, the old fire house, a couple of other old buildings, and two cemeteries. Iowa Hill is now registered as California Historical Landmark #401. Telephone service In 1955, the first dial telephone service was installed running between Iowa Hill and Colfax, California, it was one line put in by local residents led by Robert F. Yonash. The single landline was in operation for over ten years, but eventually became nonoperational due to the lack of maintenance. The long line was suspended from the town of Colfax over the American River Canyon where it would occasionally snap apart. The community did not have landline telephone service again until 2011, relying instead on radio communications and spotty mobile/cell phones. In October 2011, landline service again became available, paid for in part by a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission. This service uses microwave towers to the Foresthill Telephone Company in Foresthill, California. Mining There are dozens of famous gold mines in the area, including "Big Dipper" and "Gleeson" Frank Norris wrote a short story in 1903 titled The Wife of Chino about local miners who went into town to use the Iowa Hill Post Office. Climate This region experiences significant variation in weather. Winter generally produces as much as 1–2 feet of snow with temperatures as low as 15 degrees. Summers vary between 87-104 degrees. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Iowa Hill has a hot summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csa" on climate maps. <div style="width:65%"> Further reading Iowa Hill Community Club (site includes some 200 photos, maps, and other images of historic and modern-day Iowa Hill) Schools of the Iowa Hill Divide: The Iowa Hill Divide Volume 1, 2nd Edition Towns and People of the Iowa Hill Divide: The Iowa Hill Divide Volume 2 Gold and Fire - A History of the Iowa Hill Divide: The Iowa Hill Divide Volume 3 References Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Placer County, California