Category Archives: Uncategorized

More on The Esplanade

Posted on May 2, 2016 by nancyleek

In 1979 Helen Sommer Gage was interviewed in an oral history project about her memories of early Chico. The interview is called Chico Changes: The Bidwells, the Park, First Street, the Esplanade, 1888 to 1979, and the interviewer was Insu … Continue reading →

Posted in Esplanade, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

May Garden Journal

Posted on April 30, 2016 by nancyleek

May Mon 2:  Transplanted Cabage Sowed Onion Seed rain storm     slight Shower Tues 3:  Made Beds    drived home Mr. Bidwell Sowed Onion Seed Sowed Buck Wheat Weed peas.  passed  Stage passed up The note “drived home Mr. Bidwell” is an … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Esplanades and Boulevards

Posted on April 29, 2016 by nancyleek

Paris! Barcelona! New York City! Chico!  Chico? What puts Chico in the same class as these world-renowned cities? It is Chico’s own Esplanade, a boulevard noted for its beauty and charm. In The Boulevard Book, authors Allan B. Jacobs, Elizabeth … Continue reading →

Posted in Esplanade, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Book News

Posted on April 29, 2016 by nancyleek

John and Annie Bidwell: The Long and the Short of It is now available at Costco! If you are a Costco customer, it’s a good place to pick up my book. Otherwise, I still recommend that you buy it from … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Chico’s Esplanade

Posted on April 26, 2016 by nancyleek

I was glad to see this article in today’s Chico Enterprise-Record about the historic significance of the Esplanade. Amy Huberland, an archeologist and the assistant coordinator for the Northeast Information Center at Chico State, is calling attention to the need … Continue reading →

Posted in Esplanade, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Garden Journal continued

Posted on April 24, 2016 by nancyleek

1853     Garden Journal   Rio Chico [April] Mon 25:  Sowed Onion Seed Tues 26:  Sowed Onion Seed Planted Corn Wen 27:  Manured the Garden Weed Onions Thurs 28:  Frequent showers Plowed and harrowed Sowed Onion seed Transplanted Beets Frid 29:  Rain … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

McIlhany, Mules, Major Bidwell, and Murder

Posted on April 23, 2016 by nancyleek

Business was good for Edward McIlhany in 1851, with a store in Onion Valley and a ranch near Marysville where he could rest and feed his mules, and assemble pack-trains to carry goods to the miners in Onion Valley. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Edward McIlhany, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

More Mule-Packing Marvels

Posted on April 22, 2016 by nancyleek

In another story in Recollections of a ’49er ( 2006, edited by Scott Lawson), Ed McIlhany (who was not the modest or retiring type) tells another tale of derring-do on the trail: The winter was nearly over and I got … Continue reading →

Posted in Edward McIlhany, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Getting a Billiard Table to Rich Bar

Posted on April 20, 2016 by nancyleek

Ed McIlhany packed plenty of flour, bacon, beans, and whisky in his day, but he also occasionally carried some very unusual items, as in the following story: A man came to me in Marysville and wanted a large billiard table … Continue reading →

Posted in Edward McIlhany, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Ed McIlhany Gets a Bear

Posted on April 18, 2016 by nancyleek

When Edward Washington McIlhany went home to his family in the East in December 1856, he took with him a pack of stories to tell. From his Recollections it’s not hard to tell that he enjoyed recounting his adventures. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Edward McIlhany, Uncategorized | Leave a comment