“When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'.” – Groucho Marx



LOWER LAKE, Calif. – One of Lake County's most distinctive landmarks is the Lower Lake Stone Jail.



It is listed as California Historical Landmark No. 429, and became such in October 1962.



The jail is located at 16118 Main St., Lower Lake, one-tenth of a mile south of Highways 29 and 53.



To become designated as a California Historical Landmark, a site or structure needs to meet specific criteria associated with California history.



This process began back in 1895 in Los Angeles, when a group of citizens from the Landmarks Club sought to preserve California's Spanish missions.



The Lower Lake Stone Jail – built in 1876 by Stephen Nicolai, who was a stonemason with a local business – garnered materials from a nearby quarry. His construction partners were Theodore and John Copsey.



According to notes from Henry K. Mauldin, Lake County's first official historian, the Copsey brothers, being proud of finishing their hard work on the jail, decided to celebrate their achievement in a local saloon.



Soon they became so boisterous that they were admitted as the jail's very first lodgers!



Then, it dawned on the Copsey brothers that they had forgotten one key element of the jail's construction – that of securing the roof to the structure, hence, they were able to raise the roof and make their escape.



The need for a jail in Lower Lake was felt, even though the town's population was only 1,000 people.



This was when quicksilver, or mercury mining was booming across Lake County. With the advent of the Sulphur Bank Mine, Lake County was gaining in popularity, and drew a great workforce.



After a hard day at the mines, the men would feel the need to blow off steam by patronizing the local saloons, and the rowdiest were thrown in the little clinker.



Since there was no outhouse in the jail, it must have been quite the rustic adventure to find yourself locked up in the Lower Lake Stone Jail.



The plaque on California Historical Landmark No. 429 reads: “This jail, claimed to be the smallest in the United States, was erected in 1876 of stone locally quarried and reinforced with iron. During the stirring days of the first quicksilver operations of the Sulphur Bank Mine, lasting from 1873 to 1883, obvious need for a jail led to its construction.”



Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.