Downieville, one of the most important towns in the Northern Mines region during the California Gold Rush, was founded in late 1849 and was first known as The Forks because it stood at the confluence of the now-named North Yuba and Downie Rivers. In 1850, the settlement was renamed for Major William Downie (1819-1893), a Scotsman who in October 1849 led a party from Bullard's Bar to the North Yuba region that included two white men, seven African Americans, and an Irish boy. After the white men left and were replaced by a Kanaka man known only as Jim Crow and a Native American man, the party headed to The Forks and settled there in November 1849. As winter storms approached, eight of the men, including Jim Crow, went down below for provisions, while Downie and the remaining men built a log cabin at the present townsite in December 1849. News of rich gold discoveries spread quickly, and by 1850 Downieville had fifteen hotels and gambling houses, four bakeries, four butcher shops, and numerous saloons. The town reached a peak population of over 5,000 miners by 1851, but fires and floods destroyed large portions of it and the gold mines played out, causing a major population decline, although many of its historic buildings remain.