Category Archives: Uncategorized

Our celebrations of Independence Day are pretty tame compared to the way they enjoyed the Fourth in Chico in 1876. Here’s the July 4th entry from Bidwell’s diary in 1876: Tues. July 4Warm, very – no wind. = Bells rang … Continue reading →

This well-known photograph shows a black miner in the California goldfields. It was taken at Auburn Ravine in 1852, but the man’s name is unknown. Was he free or was he enslaved? Did he strike it rich? Was the gold … Continue reading →

Comic books have been around longer than you might think, and the California Gold Rush of 1849 proved to be a gold mine (so to speak) for satiric artists. One of the most entertaining is called Outline History of an … Continue reading →

This random one-off letter from G.W. Lawson to Charles L. Hansicker is in the Sutter’s Fort Pioneer Collection at the California State Library, along with papers from John Bidwell, John Sutter, and George McKinstry. It’s a glimpse of the news … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

If you are a history buff, if you’ve wondered what it would be like to be a pioneer, if you want to trace the trail that brought your great-grandpa to California, then you will enjoy the videos produced by the … Continue reading →

California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state. Nevertheless, slaves were brought to California by slave-owning southerners both before and after statehood, and the slave owners usually got away with it. Slaves made the effort to … Continue reading →