Monthly Archives: August 2015

The Sight of a Pretty Woman

A story told by D. F. Crowder in the Chico Enterprise, December 29, 1917— Of women in those days there were very few. In fact, women were somewhat of a curiosity. Men would go many miles just to look at … Continue reading

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Casaba Melons

I found in the California State Library the original letters that accompanied the shipment of melon seeds to John Bidwell. There are two letters, one form letter addressed to John Kennedy (Annie’s brother) and a hand-written one to General Bidwell. … Continue reading

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How NOT to Treat Historical Materials, or, The Librarian’s Despair

Here are four pages labeled Farm Account from Rancho Chico for 1849 and 1850. The paper is very brittle and fragile, and I am grateful to George Thompson for allowing me to handle the originals. The second image here is … Continue reading

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The Rubbish of Spiders No Mortal Supposes

I was vacuuming up cobwebs around the windows this morning, and it recalled to mind this phrase: The rubbish of spiders no mortal supposes which is a line from The Housewife’s Lament, also known as the The Housekeeper’s Tragedy. or … Continue reading

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The Wimmer Nugget

In this post, I wrote that the first gold nugget found by James Marshall is now in the Smithsonian Institution. Certainly they have one of the first pieces of gold found at Coloma. But another piece of gold has an … Continue reading

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