-
Recent Posts
-
Buy the Books!
Books are available by contacting me at goldfieldsbooksca@gmail.com. See the Books tab for more information. Shipping for one book is $4.00.
-
Join 144 other subscribers
Archives
- October 2026
- September 2026
- August 2026
- July 2026
- June 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
Categories
- "Lord" Romaine
- 4th of July
- Abraham Lincoln
- Admission Day
- agriculture
- Albert G. Toomes
- Alexander Rotchev
- Alvin A. Coffey
- Amos Frye
- ANCHR
- Annie Kennedy Bidwell
- astronomy book
- B.M. Evoy
- Bancroft Library
- Barney Cussick
- bear flag
- Bidwell Book
- Bidwell Mansion
- Bidwell's Bar
- Bidwell-Bartleson Party
- Billy Simpson
- Black Bart
- Black History Month
- Book Reviews
- bridges
- buffalo
- Bumpass Hell
- Casaba melon
- Charles C. Nahl
- cherry orchard
- Chico
- Chico State College
- Chinese
- Christmas
- Columbia
- comics
- Dame Shirley
- David C. Broderick
- Days of '49
- diamonds
- Dmitry Zavalishin
- Donner Party
- Dr. Israel Lord
- Education
- Edward Darlington
- Edward Farwell
- Edward Kemble
- Edward McIlhany
- Elijah Barker
- Elisha O. Crosby
- Entewa
- Esplanade
- Fort Laramie
- Fort Ross
- Fremont
- fruit trees
- Gardening
- George McKinstry
- Gold
- grasshoppers
- Great Salt Lake
- Gregson Family
- grizzly bears
- H.H. Bancroft
- Horace Snow
- Humboldt River
- hydrulic mining
- Indians
- J. R. Poynter
- James John
- James O'Brien
- Jennie Carter
- Jennie Wimmer
- John Bartleson
- John Brown
- John Marsh
- John Muir
- John Steele
- John Sutter
- John Townsend
- Joseph B. Chiles
- Josiah Belden
- Kanaka
- Kelsey
- Kit Carson
- Lincoln
- Livermore
- Lola Montez
- Luzena Stanley Wilson
- Manjiro
- Maps
- Mary Helen Crosby
- Mary Jane Megquier
- Mary Murphy Covillaud
- Michael Nye
- Missions
- Mormon Battalion
- Nan Aspinwall
- Nancy Kelsey
- Nataqua
- Nelson Blake
- New Helvetia
- Nicholas "Cheyenne" Dawson
- Nicholas Russel
- Nicolaus Allgeier
- Nikolai Rezanov
- Ohmura
- Olompali
- Oregon Trail
- Pablo Gutierrez
- People's Independent Party
- Peter Burnett
- Peter Lassen
- Phoebe Colburn
- politics
- Pres Longley
- Prohibition Party
- rafael
- Rancho Chico
- Rev. Joseph Williams
- Robert Livermore
- Robert Thomes
- rock walls
- Rough and Ready
- Russian American Company
- Rutherford B. Hayes
- Samuel J. Hensley
- Sarah Montgomery Green Wallis
- Sarah Pellet
- Sharon v. Hill
- Shotwell
- slavery
- Society of California Pioneers
- Stagecoaches
- Steamboat Belle
- Sutter Gun
- Sutter's Fort
- Talbot H. Green
- Tehama County
- Theodore Cordua
- Thomas Bidwell
- Thomas Fitzpatrick
- Titus Hale
- Ulysses S. Grant
- Uncategorized
- Vallejo
- Vallombrosa
- Wasp
- Western Emigration Society
- Will S. Green
- William B. Ide
- William B. Lorton
- William Dickey
- William F. Swasey
- William Johnson
- William M. Gwin
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Author Archives: nancyleek
StoryWalk at Ide Adobe
Alvin Coffey is getting some attention during Black History Month! The Red Bluff Daily News announced that my book, Alvin Coffey: The True Story of an African American Forty-Niner, will be the featured book at a StoryWalk activity at Ide … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Reverend Mr. Obadiah Summers
Obadiah Summers served as pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chico in 1885, before moving on to serve congregations and build up churches in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Oakland. Summers was born a slave in Missouri in 1844. … Continue reading
Posted in Black History Month, Uncategorized
Leave a comment
February Is Black History Month
Get ready for Black History Month! Alvin Coffey is the ideal book to highlight black history in California. As 4th grade students study the Gold Rush, they learn about the prospectors who came seeking gold in the rivers and hills … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
It’s Gold Discovery Day!
A cold, clear morning in January 1848. Jim Marshall goes out early to check the tailrace of the sawmill that he is building for John Sutter on the American River. The night before he had turned the water from the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (or Afternoon)
. . . as John Bidwell traveled toward Oroville on Friday, January 1, 1869. He drove a buggy and intended to take “the cars” (the railroad) to Marysville and then go by steamboat to San Francisco on business. But the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
A New Year’s Poem
This is not my usual history of Northern California post. Instead I am sharing a bit of family history for the New Year. My father, Alfred R. Norris, was a Chief Warrant Officer in the U.S. Navy. From 1958 to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
Christmas with the Bidwells — 2023
John and Annie Bidwell hosted a pair of distinguished guests at their Chico home this Christmas season. Invited to the festivities were local doctor Oscar Stansbury (Mrs. Stansbury sent her regrets) and General William Tecumseh Sherman. General Sherman’s visit had … Continue reading
Posted in Christmas
Leave a comment
A Butte County Christmas, 1865
The folks of yesteryear knew how to keep Christmas merry and bright. Here from the Weekly Butte Record and the Chico Courant are reports on community Christmas celebrations. You could dance all night at a Christmas or New Year’s Ball, … Continue reading
General Sherman at Cherokee
John Bidwell found a unique way to entertain General William T. Sherman on his visit to Chico. The public was delighted to watch the general as he inspected the workings of the hydraulic mine at Cherokee. In September 1880, Sherman … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, William Tecumseh Sherman
Leave a comment
Christmas with the Bidwells — 2023
A distinguished guest will be visiting Bidwell Mansion for the holidays this year. “Christmas with the Bidwells” will feature a great (and controversial) American and one of history’s most famous military men. General William Tecumseh Sherman was an old friend … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
