Category Archives: Uncategorized

Anyone interested in the Russian presence in early California can do no better than to read California through Russian Eyes, 1806-1848, compiled translated, and edited by James R. Gibson (Arthur H. Clark Company, 2013), the second volume in a series … Continue reading →

Sorry that it’s taken me so long to get around to the end of the story. But it is no where near as long as Conchita had to wait to learn the fate of her lover, Nikolai Rezanov. Rezanov left … Continue reading →

In 1805-06 Nikolai Rezanov spent a miserable winter in the Russian outpost at Sitka. Life in the Russian colony was beyond wretched: the log cabins were cold and damp, the food stores were dwindling, the clothing was infested with vermin, … Continue reading →

A few paragraphs from an Address by Major John Bidwell to the California State Agricultural Society, 1860: There is no reason why we cannot supply ourselves with the thousands of barrels, boxes, hogsheads, and casks, of dried apples, peaches, nuts, … Continue reading →

The Annual Meeting of the Bidwell Mansion Association is coming up on Sunday January 26, and John Rudderow and I will be speaking on our book The Miner Poet: Poems of Pres Longley. There is a reception at 5:30 (cookies, … Continue reading →

It’s a little tricky to trace the movements of the Sutter Gun during the Mexican War in California. When John Sutter returned to his home on the American River after the Micheltorena incident, his Russian 4-pound bronze cannon was left … Continue reading →