goldfields

I did a book about Nancy Kelsey in 2017 but it doesn’t look like I ever wrote very much about her here. A call from a journalist writing an article about her has inspired me to revisit her life and fill in some gaps in her story.

Nancy Kelsey was the only female member of the 1841 Bidwell-Bartleson Party and the first American woman to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains into California She did it barefoot and carrying her baby girl.

When asked why she went to California, she replied, “Where my husband goes, I go,” a statement that was true throughout their married life. Ben Kelsey had itchy feet and could never stay in one spot for long. He first worked for John Sutter as a hunter and trapper, but soon left. He wanted to be his own boss.

Ben and Nancy and their growing family were frequently on the move. They lived in Sonoma, Arcata, Kelseyville, Kern County, Fresno, Lone Pine (where an earthquake drove them out), Gilroy, Lompoc, Puente, and Los Angeles. Probably a few other places too. They went to Oregon in 1843 and to Mexico and Texas in the 1860s, returning both times to California.

Ben died in February, 1889 in Los Angeles, in those days just a medium-sized town of around 50,000 people. Nancy moved to the Cuyama Valley to be near her oldest daughter, Martha Ann, the child she had carried over the mountains. Martha Ann was married to Jesse B. Lewis, a blacksmith and rancher. Don’t picture a Bonanza-style spread — life was hard and money was scarce on the ranch.

Nancy lived in a small cabin, and raised chickens and vegetables and herbs. She served as a nurse and midwife for her neighbors. It was a small but tight-knit community where neighbors depended on one another.

You may not be familiar with the Cuyama Valley and the town of New Cuyama. It lies roughly halfway between the heavily populated Central Coast and the California Central Valley, in a remote corner of Santa Barbara County. It’s about sixty miles from Santa Maria, a two-day journey by wagon or horseback in Nancy’s day. It’s a beautiful rugged region, but you wouldn’t have much reason to go there unless you were traveling between Bakersfield and Santa Maria. Which I did quite a few times via Highway 166 after we moved from Bakersfield to Santa Maria in the 1980s.

Here’s a good article from SFGate about the cowboy life in Cuyama.

Next time: Nancy Kelsey’s last years.

In this image you can see Bidwell’s store on the left, the bridge over Chico Creek, and the old adobe building on the right, surrounded by cottonwood trees and a few horses and people.

The adobe building served as John Bidwell’s house in the 1850s. but it was also his ranch headquarters and a way station on the heavily traveled Marysville-Shasta Road. D.F. Crowder, who came to Chico in 1856, described the scene:

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.

It was inevitable that some traveler would leave an item behind after their overnight stay. Here are two letters from guests seeking their lost possessions (original spelling retained):

Shasta City    Nov. 2^nd 1851

Mr. John Bidwell

Sir,

On Monday last we had the pleasure to dine at your ranch in Companie with doctor George and in going in the dining room on the right hand and near the door of the Kitchen there was a wedge in the walls on to wich my Lady hung a blue Coat wich has been forgotten.

I wish Sir you would be kind enough to deliver said Coat to the bearer who will take it to a friend of mine in Marysville to have it sent up by the mail or if the mail stage passes to your ranch you would much oblige me by sending it to me at the hotel de France Shasta City by the first mail

            your obedient servant

            G. Dassonville

Oak Grove July 2^nd / 51

Mr. Bidwell

            Sir Please send by the barer a watch left at hour house by a gentleman who staid at your home last night and oblige yours etc.  St. Clare T. Phillips

P.S. The watch was left under his pillow

John Bidwell Papers, California State Library

I am not sure about the first name of the latter writer. Maybe you can figure it out:

Both these letters were written in 1851 before Bidwell’s log cabin burned down. Did these folks dine and sleep in the cabin, or was the adobe already constructed? Bidwell employed several men in addition to the Mechoopda workers who lived in their own village. Did they all sleep in the cabin?

Bidwell was surely building a number of other structures at that time. Nelson Blake, who was employed by Bidwell in 1850-51 later wrote “I often think of making adobes and of hauling boards and shingles down over that fine mountain road” (Blake to Bidwell 19 June 1853) so there was construction going on before the cabin burned in 1852.

At any rate, everybody knew that they could get a meal and a bed (with a pillow — such luxury!) at Bidwell’s Ranch. I hope the gentleman got his watch and the lady got her blue coat back.

Back in 2017 I wrote about my visit to the Kelly-Griggs House in Red Bluff. As I said then about this beautiful historic home:

The Kelly-Griggs House is a classic example of 19^th century American architecture, and one of several handsome Victorian homes in Red Bluff, California. If you visit it, you must give yourself a some extra time to drive around the neighborhood and enjoy the other fine houses of Red Bluff. At the Kelly-Griggs House Museum they can give you a handy “windshield tour” map of other Victorian homes.

The House closed during the pandemic and has been undergoing extensive (and ongoing) renovation. At last it is re-opening to the public and the organization invites everyone to a grand re-opening celebration on Sunday, April 16th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.

The Kelly-Griggs House is not only a lovely example of a fine Victorian home but also a museum featuring costumes and textiles, local history items, and a collection of Native American artifacts. Well worth a visit.

So step back in time at the Kelly-Griggs House! To schedule a tour, call 530-527-1129.

April 6th is California Poppy Day, honoring our state flower. The California Poppy was designated the state flower in 1903, and in 2010 April 6th was named an official state holiday (but not one where anybody gets the day off, sorry to say). Instead, according to Senate Bill 944:

. . . all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to conduct exercises honoring the California Poppy, including instruction about native plants, particularly the California Poppy, and the economic and aesthetic value of wildflowers; promoting responsible behavior toward our natural resources and a spirit of protection toward them . . .

So I hope you learn something about the California Poppy today. Here are some tidbits of information, with which you can stun your friends and family.

The California poppy (Eschscholzia Californica) is one of 12 species in the genus eschscholzia, which is named for botanist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz. 

Before they flower, the plants look a bit like carrots. But don’t try to eat the yellow taproot — it is mildly toxic. I am not sure what constitutes “mildly toxic” and I do not plan to experiment and report my findings.

Other species of eschscholzia grow in Western North America and you can find pictures and descriptions at the wonderful website CalFlora.

As you know, I like to visit Table Mountain Ecological Reserve in Butte County every year for the wildflower display. The true California poppy is not a native of Table Mountain, but two of its cousins are there:

One is Eschscholzia caespitosa or foothill poppy, which is nearly identical, except that it lacks a collar below the petals. These are only found in a few rocky outcrops.

The other is the smaller, paler cousin of the California poppy, Eschscholzia lobbii, or frying pans. (Yes, the flower is called frying pans. I’m not sure why, but you can think of it as a little pan full of melted butter, ready for your morning eggs.)

Frying pans are very common on Table Mountain. You see them everywhere — swathes of little yellow poppies.

More information on California’s state symbols can be found at https://statesymbolsusa.org/states/united-states/california

After his log cabin on Chico Creek burned down in 1852, John Bidwell built this two-story (with a one-story wing) adobe building. It was his home, his ranch headquarters, as well as a tavern and a hotel for travelers on the Marysville-Shasta Road.

Although the year of the photograph is 1868, the year that Bidwell Mansion was completed, the mansion does not appear in the photo. It would have been outside the photo, off to the left. It was set quite a way further back from the road.

The adobe stood for several years after the mansion was built. It was still standing in 1872 when the newspaper reported it being using as a polling place for the “Mill” precinct. It appears on a bird’s-eye map of Chico made in 1872.

This undated painting by an unknown artist hangs in the Butte County Pioneer Museum in Oroville. (It is impossible to get a good photograph of the painting because of the bright light that shines on it.) Across a lively scene on what is now the Esplanade, you can see the adobe on the left, the mansion in the center, and another residence on the right. (That same house shows up in the 1868 photograph.) Here is a close-up of the adobe:

By the end of 1874, it was gone. The Weekly Butte Record reported on April 25, 1874, that it was “Disappearing.”

The old adobe on the Bidwell premises, so familiar to old residents of Chico, is undergoing the process of demolition. In a little while it will have entirely disappeared, and those who have known it long will know it again no more forever. In its time it has witnessed Chico’s growth from nothing to be the most flourishing town in Northern California.

In Bidwell’s diary for April 21 he notes: “Tearing down adobe house.” Later that year he had the cottonwood trees by the former adobe torn out as well.

I don’t like to go back. When people talk of the “good old days,” I like the present better. I don’t want to return to those days. . . . I had an old adobe house that was built in ’52 — an insect-infested house. A great many people say “let it stand.” But I removed every vestige of it. It had no charms for me.

John Bidwell: 1891 Dictation.

Spring is running a bit late this year. With all the cool and cloudy skies we have had lately, the flowers are only just getting started. But with all the rain, the wildflower season will only get better and better.

My daughter and two granddaughters went to Table Mountain two weeks ago and almost the only thing we saw was carpets of California goldfields. That’s mainly what we saw again today, but the lupine, bluedicks, popcorn flowers, and frying pans are beginning to show up.

The streams are rushing along, full of water, and the waterfalls are throwing themselves down the hills. Here are two girls by one of my favorite waterfalls, with more water than I have ever seen.

The section of Table Mountain set aside for hiking is officially known as North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve. A Lands Pass from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is required to visit. I have never seen anyone checking for passes, but it only costs $5.40 for a day pass and the fee goes towards upkeep and improvements.

As long as you have made the drive to Table Mountain, why not visit Oregon City while you are there? Oregon City is a tiny community with a gold rush history. It was settled by a group of Oregonians, led by future California governor Peter H. Burnett, in 1848. (Click on the link if you want to find out why Burnett was not a very good governor.)

Oregon City boasts a covered bridge and the oldest schoolhouse in Butte County. Go on a weekend during wildflower season and you will find the school open and staffed by volunteers from the Butte County Historical Society. It’s worth a visit.