goldfields

John and Annie Bidwell: The Long and the Short of It is now available! It will be in the General’s Store (the gift shop) at Bidwell Mansion starting next weekend. Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park is open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Other places that will be carrying it are Made in Chico and The Bookstore on Main Street.

If you want to get a copy into your eager little hands, and you live in Chico, you can contact me at goldfieldsbooksca@gmail.com. I will arrange for me to deliver, or you to pick up, your very own copy.

The cover price of the book is $16.95. Direct sales are $17 a copy, sales tax included.

This has been a fun project. It was a pleasure to work with Steve Ferchaud, who is not only a fine illustrator, but also a delightful human being. He had plenty of imaginative ideas for extending the text and enhancing the appeal of the book. Wait till you see his two-page spread on Bidwell Park!

From John Bidwell’s trail journal:

November. Monday, 1st. The Company tarried to kill game; an abundance of wild fowl and 13 deer and antelopes were brought in. My breakfast, this morning, formed a striking contrast with that of yesterday which was the lights of a wolf.

The “lights of a wolf” is described in other recollections as the windpipe of a coyote. Another member of the party had shot the coyote on the morning of October 31st. By the time Bidwell caught up with the rest of the men, the only thing left to eat was the lungs (lights) and the windpipe.

Got to be about the worst breakfast ever!

But their situation changed literally overnight. On the afternoon of the 31st they sighted the valley, “joyful sight to us poor famished wretches!!!” Antelope! Elk! Wild ducks and geese! On November 1st they spent the day hunting and feasting on wild game.

Bidwell tells it this way in his 1877 Dictation:

The eve of the next day found us surrounded by abundance. . . . It was about the first of November, and there was no time to delay if we were going to reach California that fall. Most of the party were ready and anxious to press forward. Captain Bartleson and his men though otherwise. They said we hadn’t yet reached California, we probably still had a long distance to travel, that such a place as we were in could not be found everywhere and they were going to stop and lay in meat for the balance of the journey.

Leaving them in camp and crossing the Stanislaus River, we proceeded down the north side of the same and camped. Early the next day the news came that the Indians in the night had attacked them and stolen all their horses. We remained till they came up, carrying on their backs such things as they were able.

John Bidwell never did get on with John Bartleson. There is a note of satisfaction here that once again, Bartleson was wrong and got what he deserved.

This blog has a new name — it is now goldfieldsbooks.com. Don’t leave out the “s” in the middle or you won’t find it. It’s still the same northern California history blog, but I’ll also be promoting my new book here. You can also still get here with the old URL.

My new book is John and Annie Bidwell: The Long and the Short of It. It’s a paperback picture book selling for $16.95. It has full-color illustrations by the talented Steve Ferchaud, and is aimed at the young readers who visit Bidwell Mansion and want to know more. I hope it will be equally valuable to teachers and families.

I am self-publishing the book under the imprint Goldfields Books. I don’t know what future projects are in store, but there may be more books from Goldfields in days to come.

John and Annie Bidwell is at the printer right now. It will be out well in time for Christmas. It will be for sale at Bidwell Mansion, at Made in Chico, and at other outlets around the area. I’ll keep you posted on where and when you can buy the book.

Captain William Whitfield and his wife took Manjiro in, treated him like a son, and sent him to school, where he excelled. Then when he was nineteen years old, Manjiro went to sea once again aboard an American whaling ship. For three years, from 1846 to 1849, he sailed the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans as the Franklin, commanded by Captain Ira Davis, searched for whales.

At one point in their voyage, as the ship sailed close to Japan, Manjiro spotted a group of Japanese fishing boats. Captain Davis gave his permission for a boat to be lowered, and  eagerly Manjiro approached the fishermen, hoping to be taken home. But fearing the authorities, the fishermen would not even speak to him, let alone take him on board. He returned to his ship.

Captain William Whitfield of New Bedford, Massachusetts, looking every inch the whaling ship captain.

Later the whaler docked in Honolulu, where Manjiro’s companions had been left when he went on to New Bedford with Captain Whitfield. One of the men had died, but three were left, working as servants and hoping for the day that they could return to Japan. Manjiro consulted with them about how they might someday make the return voyage.

By the time the Franklin reached New Bedford in September 1849, the entire nation was talking about the discovery of gold in California. Manjiro saw his chance. If he could get to California and strike it rich, he would have the money he needed to return to Japan and his mother.

He signed on board a lumber ship bound for California. Such was the competition for passage to California that Manjiro worked for no wages as part of the crew, and paid $25 besides for the privilege.

Arriving in San Francisco, Manjiro wasted no time in making his way by steamship to Sacramento, and then by foot to the goldfields. He found a job working for $6 a day digging for gold. After a month he bought his own tools and went off to try his luck.

Two months of panning gold in a mountain stream, and Manjiro had what he figured would be enough. Living frugally, he avoided the gambling dens and dance halls and kept a close watch on his pile. He took his gold to San Francisco and traded it for $600 in coin. Then he bought passage on a steamship bound for Honolulu. He was homeward bound.

Next time: What Kind of Welcome Awaits?

P.S. I first discovered the story of Manjiro when I read Rhoda Blumberg’s book for young readers: Shipwrecked: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy (2001). Two adult books on his experiences are The Life and Times of John Manjiro, by Donald R. Bernard (1992) and The Man Who Discovered America, by Hiskazu Kaneko (1956).

Manjiro’s adventures have also been fictionalized in Heart of a Samurai, a novel for young readers by Margi Preus (2011), and Manjiro: The Boy Who Risked His Life for Two Countries, a picture book biography by Emily Arnold McCully (2013).

Coming soon! A picture book biography of John and Annie Bidwell for young readers. I want to show you some samples pages.

John Bidwell’s first days in California.

Ever since I did my book on John Bidwell in 2010, teachers have asked me for an easier book that they can use with 3rd grade classes. It’s in the works and should be available shortly. It covers the Bidwells’ lives from the time John left Missouri to journey to California, to the day Annie gave Bidwell Park to the city of Chico.

The illustrations are by Steve Ferchaud, a talented local illustrator who has illustrated many books, as well as doing pictures for magazines and newspapers. It’s been a delight to see how he can translate my text into lively, informative pictures.

John and Annie’s romance.

The book will be 8.5 by 11 inches and 32 pages, with color illustrations throughout. It includes an afterword and timeline that add more information about John and Annie’s lives. Steve and I have worked hard to make sure that the text and illustrations are as historically accurate as we can make them.

Camping with the Bidwells and John Muir.

The book will be for sale at Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park and in other local outlets. I hope you enjoy it!

Continuing the recollections of D. F. Crowder. The following appeared in the Chico Enterprise for December 27, 1917. Crowder came to Chico in 1856, at the age of twelve, so he saw it before it was even a town.

Bidwell had a flour mill which was run by water power. It was located on the creek about a hundred yards from where the present Sperry flour mill stands.

Rancho Chico in the 1850s, with Bidwell’s Store, adobe house and hotel, and flour mill.

Both flour mills are gone today, but they stood next to the creek next door to where Northern Star Mills is today.

Flour was $1.75 a sack of fifty pounds, but no one kicked in those days. I used to see a good deal of John Bidwell. He was always busy with the ranch affairs and was seen very little about the hotel. He never was behind the bar himself, that I know of. Drinks we’re told were 25 cents each.

The hotel was Bidwell’s two-story adobe that he built after his log cabin burned down in 1852.

There was no bridge across Chico creek but there was a ford near where the present bridge now stands. The Shasta trail, now the Shasta road, lead off almost due north as it does now and it was black with immigrants — just like ants, coming and going. Some had ox teams, some were afoot and others drove mules. I don’t remember ever seeing a burro at that time.

John Bidwell’s adobe with Chico Creek in foreground.

It must have been a busy place in those days with plenty of traffic and people stopping all the time at Bidwell’s house for a meal or a drink or a rest.