Category Archives: Uncategorized

How Indians saved the life of Gen. Bidwell

Posted on February 1, 2016 by nancyleek

I was looking through a carton of Annie Bidwell’s papers at the Bancroft Library and came across the following story. It is a typewritten sheet, not dated. I assume it was dictated by Annie, since she always referred to her … Continue reading →

Posted in Indians, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Kanakas in California

Posted on January 26, 2016 by nancyleek

When John Sutter came to California it could hardly have been by a more roundabout route. Born in Switzerland, he migrated to America in 1834, leaving behind his considerable debts (thousands of francs) and his considerable family (wife and five … Continue reading →

Posted in John Sutter, Kanaka, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Early Photos of Bidwell Mansion

Posted on January 17, 2016 by nancyleek

The California State Library has several stereo views of Bidwell Mansion and Chico, designed to be viewed in a stereoscope. The photos depict right-eye and left-eye views of the same scene, and when viewed through the stereoscope appear three dimensional. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidwell Mansion, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

More on the Chinese in Butte County

Posted on January 7, 2016 by nancyleek

Liz Stewart of Chico Heritage Association alerted me to the website Butte County California Chinese Immigrants. This project is the work of Bill Jones, former Special Collections librarian at CSUChico, and Paul Johnson. The focus is on a collection of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

A Bachelor’s Hope for Leap Year

Posted on January 3, 2016 by nancyleek

You may wrangle and rave of your Marysville girls, Of the girls of the Capital City, Of the ‘Frisco girls, with their fads and their curls, But the Butte Creek girls are most pretty. Their smiles are far dearer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Pres Longley, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Murder at Sutter’s Fort

Posted on December 30, 2015 by nancyleek

In the last post I published a letter from the Themis of December 21, 1889, in which John Bidwell writes “You ask if I can throw any light on the killing of “The White Horse?”” So, who or what was … Continue reading →

Posted in Sutter's Fort, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sutter’s Fort as John Bidwell Saw It

Posted on December 29, 2015 by nancyleek

The following letter appeared in the December 21, 1889 issue of Themis, a weekly compendium of political and cultural news published in Sacramento. The paper ran a series about early days at Sutter’s Fort, which drew this comment from General … Continue reading →

Posted in Sutter's Fort, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pres Longley’s Christmas Poem

Posted on December 24, 2015 by nancyleek

Pres Longley, the “Bard of Butte,” wrote many, many poems for the newspapers. This one appeared in the Oroville Daily Register on December 24th, 1908. A Poem for Christmas About two thousand years ago The Earth was filled with saddest … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Who was the town of Nicolaus named for?

Posted on December 8, 2015 by nancyleek

If you are driving on Highway 99, you will see a sign pointing to the small town of Nicolaus. It is situated just to the east of the highway on the south side of the Feather River. In the days … Continue reading →

Posted in Nicolaus Allgeier, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Holiday Happenings

Posted on November 24, 2015 by nancyleek

I’ll get back to writing about northern California history soon, I promise. You might get tired of hearing about my new book, and we don’t want that. But here’s one more tidbit of book news: Yesterday I was interviewed by … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment