In its heyday, Eureka Mills high up on the mountainside was primarily a family town, while Jamison City down near the creek was a place for single miners to live. The mountainside had quite a village appearance, with two stores, a hotel with a saloon, two other saloons, a bootmaker’s shop, a livery stable, and a few dwellings. People often rode empty ore carts back up the mountain to the townsite. After completion of the Mohawk Mill in 1878, Johnsville became the primary town for miners and their families. Life during the winter months in this area was difficult, and in the 1870’s people endured many months of deep, heavy snow, traveling through untracked, waist-deep snow on eight-foot-long, 15-pound wooden skis while wearing formal attire.