You are here: Start > Our towns > Gold Hill, CA

Tree Service in Gold Hill

Yep, this neck of the woods is on our map. Pick up the phone, call (530) 764-5890, and we'll go find a local tree pro who'll come out and look.

A big limb in the orchard, a tree leaning at the barn, a storm mess on the lane. We start with a phone call and go from there.

Farm country with old trees

From Coloma, head south about 2.5 miles and you're in Gold Hill. Elevation's 1,621 feet. Its first name was Granite Hill, back when miners ran the place.

Things changed when a canal was dug from Hangtown Creek, near Placerville. The water turned Gold Hill into good farm ground. You'll still spot a handful of farms out there.

Farms mean old trees. Shade trees by the house. Rows along a ditch. Big oaks left standing at a field edge for a hundred years because nobody had a reason to bother them. Those old ones are the ones to keep an eye on.

The oldest story out here

Gold Hill holds the Wakamatsu farm. A group of Japanese settlers ran a tea and silk colony there from 1869 to 1871. Okei Ito has her grave on that land. She's the first known Japanese woman buried on American soil.

The farm is California Historical Landmark No. 815. The American River Conservancy bought it in November 2010. If you live near it, you know how much folks care about the trees and ground there. Any work close by deserves a careful hand.

How old farm trees fail

An old tree rarely falls for one reason. It's usually a few things stacking up.

• Rot inside the trunk, often near an old pruning wound.
• Heavy side limbs that grew long because nothing was crowding them.
• Roots cut years ago by a ditch, a fence line or a pipe.
• A wet winter that softens the dirt, then a windy night.

Orchard trees are their own story. Old fruit trees get brittle, and a heavy crop on a long limb can snap it clean off. Prop the big ones or thin the fruit, or plan on losing a limb now and then.

You can't see most of that from the porch. That's why a hazard look is worth it on a tree that could hit the house, the shop or the drive.

What a look costs

Homeyou's national guide puts a tree health inspection at $88 to $478. That buys you a trained set of eyes on the tree and a plain answer. It's a lot cheaper than a new roof, as anyone who's priced one knows.

If the tree does need to come down, your pro gives you that price on the spot or soon after. Nothing gets done until you say yes.

Neighbors who watch for this

There's a local outfit too, called the Gold Hill Estates Fire Safe Council. You'll find it on the county Fire Safe Council's list of local groups. Good folks to know when dead trees stand near homes.

How soon can a pro come? Most weeks, not long. After a storm that hits the whole west slope, pros get swamped. We'll give you a straight read on the wait.

Close by

• Tree service in Coloma, north a couple miles
• Tree service in Lotus, down by the river
• Tree service in Rescue, out west
• Hazard tree inspection
• Every town on our list
• Back home: tree service in Placerville