If _that_ isn't a Gold Rush name-- Yes, Sierra City started as a gold rush camp, but the economy is now based on tourism. It's at the base of the Sierra Buttes on the south side, toward the northern end of the Sierra Nevada. Looking west along Main Street, California State Route 49--the haze is from the wildfires in California last summer. CA 49 (the highway number is not accidental!) winds thru the Mother Lode country along the Sierra foothills. Parts of it get too much traffic to qualify as a "scenic route," however!