Monthly Archives: May 2021

Saturday Night at the Mines

A while back I wrote about one of my favorite paintings, Sunday Morning in the Mines, by Charles Christian Nahl. Here is a companion piece by the same artist, Saturday Night at the Mines. Who do we see in this … Continue reading

Posted in Charles C. Nahl | 2 Comments

The First Wagon Train to California

On this date one hundred and eighty years ago, the first emigrant wagon train to leave for California headed out on the Oregon Trail. Known today as the Bidwell-Bartleson Party, they teamed up with a group of Catholic missionaries and … Continue reading

Posted in Bidwell-Bartleson Party | Leave a comment

Ten Years and a Thousand Posts

I started this blog ten years ago to promote the book I wrote about John Bidwell, and to note any bits of Northern California history that caught my fancy. Now I have reached my one-thousandth post, and it’s time to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Jennie Carter on Equality

Jennie Carter, African American journalist in California, had some strong words when it came to issues of civil rights and equality. Her “Letter from Nevada County” in The Elevator on September 25, 1868 comes down hard on Southern Democrats, including … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

May 9, 1841 — Go West, Young Man

A pledge was drawn up in which every signer agreed to purchase a suitable outfit, and to rendezvous at Sapling Grove in what is now the state of Kansas, on the 9th of the following May, armed and equipped to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Mother’s Day 1915

On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing the second Sunday in May as a day for honoring mothers and calling on government officials to display the flag to show “love and reverence for the mothers of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Jennie Carter, African American Journalist

In June of 1867, Philip Bell, editor of The Elevator, received a letter from a correspondent named Ann J. Trask. She said that she lived at Mud Hill in Nevada County and offered to write short stories for children. The … Continue reading

Posted in Jennie Carter | Leave a comment

More about Alvin A. Coffey

Back in February I wrote about Alvin A. Coffey, African-American forty-niner. Thanks to Eaul Blansett, co-author of The Tortuous Road to Freedom, I now have more sources for his story. My favorite sources are always first person accounts. Alvin left … Continue reading

Posted in Alvin A. Coffey | Leave a comment