goldfields

Come to the Annual Meeting of the Association for Northern California Historical Research and hear archaeologist Greg White talk about his investigations at Rancho del Llano Seco. This new book, and all of ANCHR’s books, will be available for purchase. The event is free!

Read Dan Barnett’s review of the book in the Chico Enterprise-Record.

At the end of her diary for the year 1904, Annie Bidwell listed the Christmas gifts she gave that year. She doesn’t record where she bought these gifts, but elsewhere she mentions shopping at Oser’s and at Hibbard and Sommer’s. Here is a sampling of her purchases:

She gave her sister Sallie a Spanish head scarf and an asparagus fork. Sallie’s husband Tom was given a music cabinet, and their son Willie $4 for an “electric water motor.” I’m not sure what that was, unless it was a motor for a toy boat.

The servants were given $3 each and $3 worth of candy, but some other employees were given more; $5 for Florence Proud (cook), a scarf pin for Fred Petersen (head gardener) and a sapphire ring for his daughter. $3 in 1904 is the equivalent of $90 today.

She doesn’t record what she gave Reuben Messinger, who was a jack-of-all-trades, who could drive her coach, fix her furnace, and put ducks on the table. But she gave “Reuben’s wife – blue silk embroidered jabot” and “Baby Ruby – gold necklace.” Annie was very fond of little Ruby Messinger.

Four favorite young ladies — Edna Canfield, Helen Sommer, Ruby Hart, and Mary Entler — were each given an embroidered collar and tie. Each of these accessories cost $1.50. Helen Sommer Gage, who was later interviewed about her childhood in Chico and her relationship with the Bidwells, was 16 years old at the time.

Maggie Lafonso received a “handsome jabot of blue silk and white lace.” Maggie, as Annie undoubtedly knew, was the granddaughter of John Bidwell and a Mechoopda woman. Annie relied on her as a liaison with the Indians on the rancheria and as a co-worker in Christian good works. I have told her story here.

Annie sent John Bidwell’s sister Laurinda Jay a “white silk shawl” and her husband Wesley a “muffler, black & red.”

Several friends, such as cousin Dr. Ella Gatchell and attorney Franklin Lusk, were given olive oil, no doubt Bidwell’s Olive Oil produced on Rancho Chico. Her friends in San Francisco, the Hirshfelders, received a half-dozen bottles of olive oil and a whole keg of olives.

The most generous gift listed was to “Mrs. Hobart,” who was given “a corner lot in our new Sub.Div on Esplanade.” Emroy Bidwell Hobart was the daughter of John Bidwell’s half-brother Daniel. In 1904 she was a widow and had lost her house in a fire, so giving her a lot to build on was a timely gift.

For over forty years I have been using Guittard chocolate to make bonbons, truffles, and hand-dipped chocolates at Christmas time. Guittard chocolate is the best! Superb quality!

I knew that the Guittard Chocolate Company was an old California manufacturer of fine chocolate, but I didn’t know how old and how historic. Today, while listening to a podcast from the King Arthur Baking Company, I learned something more about the history of my favorite chocolate, direct from Etienne Guittard’s great-great-great-great granddaughter.

Etienne Guittard founded his business in San Francisco in 1868. He was born in Tournus, France in 1838 and came to California to seek his fortune, probably sometime in the early 1860s. (I can’t find a date anywhere.) He brought with him chocolate from his uncle’s factory to trade for mining supplies, and for three years prospected for gold in the Sierras. He realized that the chocolate that he had brought with him was every bit as desirable as gold, and so returned to France to acquire the knowledge and equipment he needed to go into the chocolate-making business in San Francisco.

In addition to making and selling cocoa and chocolate, M. Guittard also dealt in coffee, tea, and spices, and even yeast and baking soda, all necessary items for a good kitchen.

The business was a great success, and for 31 years Etienne Guittard led his growing company. He died at the age of 61 in 1899, passing the company on to his son Horace C. Guittard. Today Gary Guittard is CEO of the Guittard Chocolate Company, the oldest continuously family-owned chocolate company in the United States.

You can buy chocolate chips made by Guittard in most grocery stores. They cost a little more than other brands, but they are worth it. Their chips and cocoa and couverture “buttons” can also be purchased through their website.

When I first started dipping chocolates many years ago, it was not possible for the home cook to buy directly from the Guittard company. They referred me to a candy company in Southern California (I lived in Bakersfield back then) and that manufacturer has kindly been filling my order for 10-pound bars of chocolate ever since. It’s quite something to see (and smell!) a 10-lb. bar of chocolate.

I have been cutting back on production in the last few years, and now the price of chocolate has doubled or tripled, so I probably won’t do much this year. But the Guittard Chocolate Company carries on, still producing the best chocolate ever.

News stories about Halloween from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Chico don’t mention anything about trick-or-treating. Instead it is all parties and pranks. The parties were put on by families and churches, and featured fall decorations (lots of pumpkins and cornstalks), games like apple bobbing, and treats. Even Annie Bidwell got into the spirit and hosted a party for her teenage guest, Harriet Alexander, and Harriet’s young friends. I’ve written about that party before.

Annie’s party was fun, but decidedly decorous. The pranks were anything but.

The prank mentioned most often was the unhinging of gates and depositing them elsewhere. Other popular bits of casual vandalism were switching signs, depositing rubbish on porches, and stuffing chimneys with sacks, as reported in this story from 1907. The pranksters were mostly boys and young men, with girls sometimes joining in the fun.

The Normal students were the students at Chico State, then a teacher’s college, or “normal” school. John Bidwell was not amused. He wrote in his diary in 1899, “Last night being Halloween the Normal students cut up shamefully.” But sometimes they needed to blow off some steam, and that’s how they did it back in the day.

Back in March I wrote a series that I called “Murder at the Mansion,” the true story of the brutal murder of Billy Simpson, a Rancho Chico employee, for the gain of a few dollars. That story has now been published in the Butte County Historical Society‘s quarterly The Diggin’s. If you are a member of the BCHS (and if not, why not?) then you will be receiving it shortly in your mailbox.

The printed version contains a significant update to the story. By contacting California State Archives, I was able to obtain the San Quentin mug shots of the two perpetrators, who entered the prison in the year 1900. At the time, John Richards was 19 years old and Steve Thompson was 21. The census taken that year listed their occupations (before they went to prison) as teamster for John and laborer for Steve.

The photos are contained in the San Quentin State Prison Records (1880-1920), 46 volumes of photographs of inmates. The photos are not available online — I was able to acquire them by sending a request to reference@sos.ca.gov. They kindly copied the photos and mailed them to me. That’s what librarians do!

I am grateful to the state archives for preserving these mug shot books. What would historians and researchers do without archives!

I will be at Barnes & Noble in Chico this Saturday, October 11th, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with piles of my biography of John Bidwell, ready to sell and sign and chat about books and history. I hope I see you there!

This is the book that started my career as a writer. A friend of mine, also a librarian, said, “Somebody ought to write a book about John Bidwell.” There was an old biography by Rockwell Hunt, John Bidwell: Prince of California Pioneers (1942), and there is the excellent book by Michael Gillis and Michael Magliari, John Bidwell & California (2004). But we didn’t have a book for the general reader who wanted an introduction, or the young reader who wanted to know more about the man who built that big beautiful mansion.

I took up that challenge, and the more I learned about John Bidwell, the more I liked and respected the man. In reading the book by Gillis & Magliari, I discovered a man who epitomized California history from 1841 to 1900, a man who could truly say:

“The history of California lies like a map before me. Somewhat confused it may be, but I have seen it all.”

So please stop by Barnes & Noble on Saturday. Come in and say “Hello!” and chat with me for a while about the man who put Chico on the map, and so much more.

Huzza! Happy California Admission Day! It has been 175 years since California joined the United States as the 31st state. (If 50 years is a semi-centennial, what is 175? There are several to choose from, such as “dodransbicentennial,” but none of them have caught on.)

It’s strange to think that on September 9, 1850, as President Fillmore put his signature on the document that admitted California to the Union, the people of California had no way of knowing that they had just become a state. No telephone, no telegraph, not even the Pony Express to spread the news. It would take five weeks for the news to reach San Francisco.

John Bidwell, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time, was entrusted with the document admitting California to the Union. He left New York City on the steamship Oregon on September 13th. Fearing their loss to unknown men who opposed the admission of California as a free state, he gave the document into the keeping of Mrs. Elisha Crosby and her daughter Helen. Miss Helen slept with the packet of papers under her pillow and hid them in her blue silk umbrella as the crossed the Isthmus of Panama. For more on this story, see “Miss Crosby’s Blue Umbrella.”

The steamer Oregon arrived at San Francisco on October 18th. Here is how the scene is described in The Annals of San Francisco (1855).

When, on the 18th instant, the mail steamer ” Oregon ” was entering the bay, she fired repeated preconcerted signal guns which warned the citizens of the glorious news. Immediately the whole of the inhabitants were afoot, and grew half wild with excitement until they heard definitely that the tidings were as they had expected. Business of almost every description was instantly suspended, the courts adjourned in the midst of their work, and men rushed from every house into the streets and towards the wharves, to hail the harbinger of the welcome news. When the steamer rounded Clark’s Point and came in front of the city, her masts literally covered with flags and signals, a universal shout arose from ten thousand voices on the wharves, in the streets, upon the hills, house-tops, and the world of shipping in the bay.

Again and again were huzzas repeated, adding more and more every moment to the intense excitement and unprecedented enthusiasm. Every public place was soon crowded with eager seekers after the particulars of the news, and the first papers issued an hour after the appearance of the Oregon were sold by the newsboys at from one to five dollars each. The enthusiasm increased as the day advanced. Flags of every nation were run up on a thousand masts and peaks and staffs, and a couple of large guns placed upon the plaza were constantly discharged. At night every public thoroughfare was crowded with the rejoicing populace. Almost every large building, all the public saloons and places of amusement were brilliantly illuminated — music from a hundred bands assisted the excitement — numerous balls and parties were hastily got up — bonfires blazed upon the hills, and rockets were incessantly thrown into the air, until the dawn of the following day.

What a jubilation that must have been! Unfortunately, Bidwell himself never said much about his role in bringing California into the Union. He was in a hurry to get back to his ranch and didn’t linger in San Francisco.

Time for some shameless self-promotion. I have all kinds of events lined up for the Fall. I hope I see you at one or more of these.

First up — the Bidwell Mansion Association Victorian Picnic at the Chico Cemetery.

You read that right. The Victorians enjoyed getting together with friends and relations alive and deceased in a park-like setting. The BMA is hosting a picnic in the historic section of Chico Cemetery on Saturday, September 20th, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a ticketed event, and will include a delicious boxed lunch and a guided tour of the oldest section of the cemetery. Pay your respects to John and Annie Bidwell and learn about some of the folks they would have known. Tickets available at https://www.bidwellmansionassociation.com/event-tickets.html

I’ll be there in costume and full of information about some of the permanent residents of the cemetery.

Next: Shut Up & Write: a Creative Writing Workshop. Sunday, September 21, 5-8 p.m.

“Shut Up & Write” aligns with my slogan of “Keep Calm and Butt in Chair.”

I’ll be speaking about my writing journey and giving tips for narrative non-fiction writing. And then I’ll “shut up and write” and let someone else do the talking.

Next up: Tehama County Museum History Keepers & Seekers Rendezvous

If you love history, especially Northern California history, then this is the place for you. A gathering of local museums and historical societies, plus fun music, good food, vintage trucks, and prizes! I always enjoy this gathering on the grounds of the Tehama County Museum, where you can also take a peek inside the old jail. Saturday, September 27th — I hope to see you there!

Followed by:

The Manton Apple Festival on Saturday, October 4th, 9-4.

I’m looking forward to this one, because I have never been to the Manton Festival and I hear it is a great Artisan Fair. I’ll be there with folks from the Association for Northern California Historical Research (ANCHR). We have lots of excellent books on local history — you can check out our publications on the ANCHR website. It’s a good opportunity to pick up some Christmas presents for your history-loving friends.

And finally — last but not least —

I’ll be selling and signing books at Barnes & Noble in Chico on Saturday, October 11th, 11-3. Come and say “HI!” even if you already have my book on John Bidwell.

It has been 15 years since I published this biography, but it is still going strong. I just reprinted more copies because it was all sold out.

I borrowed the above photo from “Awesome People of Chico” on Facebook. I’m not sure where the original is, but it shows just what a rough-hewn town Chico was in the 1860s.

The second house in Chico was built by Dr. S.M. Sproul in 1861-62. He had come across the plains with the Barham family in 1855. Mrs. Arabella Barham told the story for the Chico Enterprise-Record in 1918.

Dr. Sproul was the second person to have a completed house in Chico. He moved here from Butte creek. All of the townsite from the corner of Fifth and Main streets south and east was known to the old settlers as the Woods Field for it was sprinkled with many little oak trees and some underbrush. He got his lumber from Hupp the same time as we did but we built more rapidly than he.

Unfortunately I can’t find a photograph of the Sproul House.

Bidwell’s offer to give lots to anyone who would build on the Chico townsite started a little building boom and soon houses were springing up on every side. The first store building was erected by Charles and Edward Pond, brothers, who conducted a general mercantile business. The store still stands at the corner of First and Main. It is now used as a blacksmith shop.

Which corner it was on I am not sure, but Bidwell’s plan to get settlers off his ranch and into a town was working out. He surveyed the town and laid out the streets.

Main street was the first street laid off. Of course it was already a road but such a poor one that the mud was knee-deep in the winter months, being constantly churned up by the stages and heavy freight teams.

The Valley House was the first hotel in Chico. It stood where the Union Hotel now is. You could scarcely call it a hotel as it was a very small affair but it did a big business. Dick White and his wife ran it. The stages all stopped there and their presence was always make known by the stage driver, who tooted a horn. No sooner was the first toot heard than the people would all come from their homes and hurry to the Valley House to hear the news. The stage drivers always had a lot to tell and about a third of it was true.

Until the Valley House opened for business, John Bidwell’s old adobe on the north side of Chico Creek was the only hotel on the Shasta-Marysville Road in Chico. On Rancho Chico that is, not in the town of Chico. Over the next few years, Chico grew and developed rapidly. Looking back from 1918, Mrs. Barham concluded:

When I look back over the vista of sixty years I can hardly realize the changes that have occurred, they have been so gradual. Those were great days. Everything was new and we were in a strange country but times then were pretty much as they are now with everybody working to make a living and we encountered hard times as we do now.