More NE California local history
Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 10:24 pm
I am still on the same theme -- local area history. I finished the Dusty Trails series, now I am reading Fairfields Pioneer History of Lassen County - California. First written in 1916, mostly a first person account of the earliest days from 1848. Recounts the first white men in the valley through the settlement period.
Some of the stories involve national political events, as at one time the boundary of California was thought to be the crest of the Sierra Nevada, and Utah and Nevada had not yet separated into two territories. Thus much of what is now NE California was actually considered part of Utah. The machinations of how Nevada eventually split from Utah, and how the CA/NV boundary was eventually resolved, involve political intrigue, dealmaking, and heated partisan arguments that would fit right in with contemporary politics.
Those familiar with the area geographically would recognize many of the early pioneer names that live on today in place names. As in Dusty Trails, some of the stories describe events that took place in locations that I have hiked and camped (Literally. I believe I have set up camp and pitched a tent right in the middle of an 1859 gunfight between cattle rustlers and ranchers, if the description in the book is accurate.)
Some of the stories involve national political events, as at one time the boundary of California was thought to be the crest of the Sierra Nevada, and Utah and Nevada had not yet separated into two territories. Thus much of what is now NE California was actually considered part of Utah. The machinations of how Nevada eventually split from Utah, and how the CA/NV boundary was eventually resolved, involve political intrigue, dealmaking, and heated partisan arguments that would fit right in with contemporary politics.
Those familiar with the area geographically would recognize many of the early pioneer names that live on today in place names. As in Dusty Trails, some of the stories describe events that took place in locations that I have hiked and camped (Literally. I believe I have set up camp and pitched a tent right in the middle of an 1859 gunfight between cattle rustlers and ranchers, if the description in the book is accurate.)