Out of Downieville, Highway 49 continues its meandering by the toppling, boulder festooned north fork of the Yuba River. Highway 49 briefly enters Yuba County, one of eleven counties along the Mother Lode Highway. Twenty-one miles over the county boundary the road jogs quickly off to the left. This is the old highway and it leads into Camptonville. It is not unusual on today's Highway 49 to encounter the timeworn road off to the side. The original incarnation of the highway was simply too narrow to handle current traffic and, very frequently, bypasses and newer stretches have been built. The locals refer to these as the "new highway," even though the roadway may have been in existence for decades.

In 1850 or 1851, rich deposits of gold were found atop Gold Ridge, the geographic formation where Camptonville sits. Mining camps sprung from the ether seemingly overnight. The ridge sat atop an ancient riverbed called the Blue Lead. The Blue Lead was chock full of gold that was easily accessible after removing a thin layer of dirt and rock. Hundreds of argonauts swarmed to the site. One of these sojourners was the town blacksmith Robert Campton. By all accounts, Campton was an engaging fellow. In recognition of his popularity, the settlement was named Camptonville in 1854. As with most Gold Country towns, Camptonville suffered through fire, with the town being destroyed several times. Mining practices also devastated the town. At one point, rampant hydraulic mining forced the residents to move to higher ground.

Camptonville today is a slumbering mining and timber town most notable for a couple of structures. The first is its antique one-room schoolhouse that stands next to a more contemporary state-of-the-art elementary school. The second is the Camptonville monument to Lester Pelton, topped with a teeny-tiny Pelton Wheel, perhaps a replica of the original one he fabricated for his landlady's sewing machine.