An emergency dig over the weekend on the grounds of the 128-year-old Hawver House site in Auburn revealed several finds, including Gold Rush artifacts and fossils that Dr. J.C. Hawver had found in the cave near Cool he explored early last century.

Just kidding.

These pictures show what’s happening to the Hawver House this morning (Monday, Oct. 7).

There has been no excavation to discover any historical or archaeological artifacts. Just a lot of destruction. And ultimately, a parking lot for a fast-food eatery.

Auburn historian Loreley Hodkin said this weekend that Hawver likely moved into the house when he moved to the city in 1880 and established a dental practice. He likely lived there until his death in 1914.

Hodkins said she and others are concerned that sites like the Hawver house, which potentially could yield all sorts of historical artifacts, are being ignored as development occurs. Truckers are removing topsoil and – in at least one instance – are sifting through the soil offsite for their own benefit. Two sources have told Media Life that soil from underneath the Auburn Ale House yielded several finds for a resourceful truck driver.

The Hawver House is to make way for a parking lot extension for the adjacent In-N-Out Burgers. The privately held business will be erecting a plaque on a boulder to commemorate the site, said Gene Lorance, who has worked with the State Parks Department to study the Hawver Cave in the Auburn State Recreation Area.

But the ground itself will be left unexplored, leaving some people wondering what history would have been taken away in each truckful of topsoil.