In 1963, Norman Clark officially opened Roaring Camp to the public.
Since then, it has become a popular and well-known destination for
tourists and rail buffs from around the world who wish to visit and ride
on its 100-year-old steam trains. Isaac Graham, who constructed the
first powered sawmill and the first whiskey distillery in the American
West, settled the area in the 1840s. Graham was notorious for his
boisterous antics, and his settlement became known as a wild and roaring
camp. Clark arrived in the area in the mid-1950s with $25 in his pocket
and the dream of preserving a piece of early California. Clark's dream
included a plan to construct an 1880s railroad town, complete with an
authentic narrow-gauge logging railway. Over the last 50 years, Clark's
dream has been continued and expanded, now incorporating two railroads,
one of which dates to 1875.