We saw 20 California Historical Landmarks today! We headed up Highway 99 from Stockton today, so we stopped in Elk Grove first to catch two sites. The first is the Site of the First County Free Library Branch in California (CHL #817).
Our next stop was the
Grave of Elitha Cumi Donner Wilder (CHL #719). According to local historian
Cheryl Anne Stapp, Elitha Donner was only 14 years old when she was saved by the first rescue team to reach the Donner Party encampment in the winter of 1847. She and her sister Leanna were taken to Sutter's Fort (80 miles to the southwest) along with the other survivors. It was the closest place big enough and well-equipped enough to care for the survivors. Alone, and with few options, Elitha married a 26-year-old employee at Sutter's Fort, Perry McCoon. By age 15, Elitha was pregnant (she later lost the child), and was being frequently cheated on by her husband. After a substantial gold find near what is today Placerville, Elitha's husband enjoyed spending his new fortune on liquor, and died in 1851 after being thrown from a horse. Elitha's second husband, Benjamin Wilkensen Wilder, was considerably more stable. They married in 1853, had six children together, and according to Stapp, "lived a quiet, moderately prosperous life together on their ranch near today’s Elk Grove," where she died in 1923.
After Elk Grove, we headed to Sacramento. Our first stop was the
State Indian Museum (CHL #991), located in Sutter's Fort park.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum, but I did happen to snap a quick photo of Native American basket-weaving legend Julia Parker just as we were leaving.
They were having a big authors event today at the museum, and when we first entered I had a chance to meet Deborah Valoma, author of Scrape the Willow Until It Sings.
Valoma is a professor at the California College of the Arts. We didn't get to chat for very long, but I did get to hear the story of the first time she met Julia Parker. Valoma was 11-years-old, when she snapped a photo in Yosemite Valley of Julia Parker weaving a basket. That moment made an impact on her, and guided her to her career in the arts. Perhaps all this historical travel will have an impact on Libi. Who knows?
OK, Julia Parker is kind of a big deal. Here is a short video (
CNN, 2009) about Parker, who (I didn't realize) is actually a Park Ranger at Yosemite National Park.
Libi completed a scavenger hunt in the Indian Museum, and earned a wooden acorn top for her efforts.
We then continued around the park grounds until we got to our next marker:
The Coloma Road--Sutter's Fort (CHL #745). The Coloma Road connected Sutter's Fort to Sutter's Mill, 50 miles to the northeast.
John Sutter is to the Sacramento area what Benjamin Franklin is to Philadelphia--he's kind of a big deal around here. The Sutter statue across the street from Sutter's Fort is NOT a California Historical Landmark, but was worth photographing nonetheless.
We finally entered Sutter's Fort (CHL #525).
Like many of the interpretive sites we have already visited in California, Sutter's Fort features a number of rooms re-created to what they might have looked like back in the mid-1800s.
One of my favorite features was this old lock. If you look closely at the engraving, you can see its country of origin.
As we often do, we went to the gift shop. Libi decided to get a bonnet. Adorable.
So this caught my eye. Patty Reed was 8-years-old when her family decided to move west to California. Unfortunately, the Reed family was part of the ill-fated Donner Party. The family had to lighten their wagon's load, and her parents instructed Patty to abandon all her toys in the desert. Patty obeyed almost fully, keeping her favorite, "Dolly." Tucking Dolly away in her dress, both Patty and her beloved toy survived the harsh winter of 1846-47.
Ultimately the entire family survived, arriving at Sutter's Fort. Patty was so grateful to John Sutter and her rescuers from the Fort that she instructed her children to donate "Dolly" to Sutter's Fort.
Speaking of the Donner Party, by this point in our day all three of us were motivated by hunger (we had a
great lunch at
Ten22), so we hopped in the car and headed to Old Sacramento. Our first stop was the
B.F. Hastings Building (CHL #606).
This building served as the Wells Fargo stagecoach station, the western terminus of the Pony Express, and the California Supreme Court met upstairs for our first few years of statehood.
I never knew this! This image below is of a 19th century copy machine. By using iron oxide ink on the original and damp paper, the image of the original would "rust" onto the new sheet, thereby making a copy. Fascinating!
Here is a pocket scale used by prospectors to measure their gold findings out in the field. It wasn't quite as accurate as a full scale in an assayer's office, but it was close enough.
Here is the statue honoring the Pony Express riders. The Pony Express route ran from St. Joseph, MO, right her to this spot in Sacramento. There were 184 stations along the route.
They have several of the plaques situated all together on a wall right behind the Pony Express statue. This is where we finally found the marker for
Old Sacramento (CHL #812).
Old Sac was a treasure trove of historic sites! Here is the
Eagle Theatre (CHL #595), the first building to be used as a theater in California.
The
Booth Building (CHL #596) was home to grocer, turned governor, turned senator, Newton Booth. Booth was a savvy businessman. From the second floor landing, Booth used lanterns to signal transactions to incoming ships as they were coming into port along the Sacramento River, beating out his competition.
Next was the
What Cheer House (CHL #597). It was a hotel and also housed state offices until 1855.
Just across the street is the
Lady Adams Building (CHL #603). The Lady Adams is one of the only original buildings still remaining in Old Sac (all the rest have been rebuilt). The
Lady Adams was actually a ship before she was a building. The two German merchants who sailed from Dresden around Cape Horn could have used stones as ballast for their ship. They could have (most other shippers of their day did), but instead they chose to use fired bricks. Brilliant move, it turns out. They used these bricks to build the Lady Adams building. When nearly 1,500 other buildings on the waterfront were destroyed in The Great Fire of 1852, the Lady Adams remained.
Next on our journey just down the street is Ebner's Hotel (CHL #602). Ebner's is one of many Old Sac buildings that has been replicated. This is all we get from California State Parks: "This hotel was built by Charles Ebner in 1856. It is said that Captain Sutter was a frequent visitor here." I just learned on this trip that Old Sacramento was actually founded by John Sutter's son, John Augustus Sutter, Jr. (known as "August"). Sutter, Jr. fell ill a few years after founding the waterfront town, and lost much of his land as the result of a deal he entered into while still fairly sick. He was convinced that moving to a warmer climate would improve his condition, so he moved to Acapulco where he did in fact regain his health, gained a new fortune, got married, and secured the position of US Consul to the Port of Acapulco, a post he held for 24 years. He died in Acapulco in 1897, and was originally buried in Mexico. His daughter, Anna Sutter Young, successfully petitioned to have his remains moved in 1964, and he is now buried in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. Ironically, the cemetery was built on 10 acres of land donated back in 1849 to the City of Sacramento . . . by John Sutter, Jr.
Our next stop was the Site of Stage and Railroad - First (CHL #598). The state of California unceremoniously claims: "This is the site of the terminal of stages of the 1850s and of the Sacramento Valley Railroad in 1855," but perhaps the state understates this location's importance. This was the start of the transcontinental railroad in the west. Ground broke here in 1863, and the Central Pacific Railroad was completed at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.
Our next two buildings are not well-labeled, but are across the street from each other: The
Sam Brannan House (CHL #604) and the
Sacramento Union Building (CHL #605). So, remember the unscrupulous businessman who swindled a sick John Sutter, Jr., out of his landholdings in Sacramento? Hey, that was Sam Brannan! I'm going to need to consult some of my LDS friends to fully determine the legacy of Sam Brannan. He was apparently the first LDS President in California, and according to
CalGoldRush.com (a website of the Sacramento Bee), Sam Brannan would head out the gold fields (as the official representative of the Mormon Church), collect the tithes from the Mormon miners (he took straight-up gold as a tithe; no need to convert to money), and then used those tithes not to advance the mission of God, but rather to advance his own business. CalGoldRush says of him, "A bigamist, alcoholic, public relations genius and real estate swindler, Brannan was California's first millionaire." LDS friends, please help corroborate (or refute) this version of California history.
Across the street is the Sacramento Union Building. The
Union was one of California's first newspapers.
Instead of telling news of events past, today the building is used to foretell future happenings.
The rest of our Old Sac landmarks are not well labeled, unfortunately. Through the California Office of Historic Preservation, we are able to determine the current buildings where these sites once were. The cream-colored building nestled between the two mustard-colored buildings is the
Adams and Company Building (CHL #607). This is where the Pony Express offices were housed until the transcontinental telegraph was completed in 1861. The telegraph was the death of the Pony Express.
Next is the
Orleans Hotel (CHL #608). It was "a depot for stage companies."
Yet another unused building is the old
Pioneer Telegraph Station (CHL #366). Wired communication replaced the Pony Express during the Civil War, and this telegraph station served as a hub of communications for Sacramento until 1915.
Empty buildings were starting to get us down, and we thought we could just be done for the day. We had seen 18 landmarks (a record for one day), and we were feeling good. As we got back on the road and headed back to Heather's parents' house in Stockton, I noticed the sign for "Capitol Mall Road" and decided to make the turn. Libi has never seen the
California State Capitol (CHL #872), and I thought, "Eh, why not?"
The Capitol at twilight is pretty cool, and since it was a Saturday, parking was pretty easy. So we got out and walked around.
The Capitol Christmas tree is already up, although it's not yet decorated. Usually the tree-lighting ceremony happens shortly before Thanksgiving.
We had to ask some State Parks employees where to find the marker. We had walked right past it! Again, we got some beautiful shots at this time of day. I should add that all the photos you see here on the blog are taken with my iPhone.
We know we need to bring Libi here when the Capitol is actually open (no one would let us in on a Saturday afternoon at 4:45 p.m.). We'll probably do that when she's in 4th grade, so we have a little time. For now, we were just happy to find the marker and give ourselves credit for the find.
We've now seen 19 California Historical Landmarks today. Why not make it an even 20? Let's do it. It took a little driving around, and an unhelpful Morton's Steakhouse valet, but we eventually located the marker for the
Site of the First Jewish Synagogue Owned by a Congregation on the Pacific Coast (CHL #654). The building that originally stood here was actually prefabricated in Baltimore, sailed around Cape Horn, and delivered to this location, just a few blocks from the Capitol in 1849. It first housed a Methodist-Episcopal church, but was later sold to the local Association of the Children of Israel, and became our first synagogue in 1852.
Well that made it an even 20, and brings our total number of sites visited up to 64. We are hoping to reach 100 by the end of 2013! With six weeks left, we think we can do it!
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