In studying history, one of my favorite discoveries is how creativity and ingenuity solved problems, like moving really BIG things. Incline railways were one such invention. These rail lines had nicknames for their many parts – they were “sidehill railroads” using “gravity systems” to run “log slide engines” and “dropping machines.” Basically, what the systems accomplished was moving logs or lumber in really steep terrain. Hare [...]
My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates.You never know what you're gonna get.Forrest Gump The 184-year old letter written by Charles W. Drechlser to his wife Mahalia, given to the Kelley House Museum from the collection of John and Rosemary Kelley Maulbetsch. Kelley House received a remarkably interesting “box of chocolates” last month – a well-packed bin of papers that had belonged [...]
As the communities of the Mendocino coast emerge from the recent public health closures, we will be able to fully welcome visitors back to the area. The Earl family at Alder Camp on Big River, a rustic camping spot created by the adult children of Jerome and Martha Ford. While they lived elsewhere, members of the Ford clan often brought their children and friends to camp [...]
As a historian, it is easy to be researching one project and get waylaid by interesting materials that have nothing to do with the research topic at hand. The book “Caspar Notebook – School Days” by Ann M. Connor, self-published in 1979, was half about the topic I was after (schools) but the rest was stuffed with tidbits of Caspar history from 1895 to 1905 that I [...]