July 3, 2014, was the final day of our Ippolito Family West Coast Adventure! We woke up at the Gingerbread Mansion in Ferndale (CHL #883) and caught the plaque for the town before we continued south.
Ferndale made its mark as a dairy town in the late 1800s. The process of preserving butter by wrapping it in paper was developed here.
Another Ferndale claim to fame: it's the hometown of Food Network star Guy Fieri.
photo from Food Network
We drove back north back into Eureka to hit Highway 299. The highway follows the path of the Trinity River, and the corridor served as a pathway from the coast at Eureka and Arcata through the gold mining operations along the Shasta and Trinity Rivers to Redding.
Little did we realize that one of the towns we would pass through was Willow Creek, the self-proclaimed "Bigfoot Capital of the World."
Libi decided to get into the spirit of things!
On the drive to Weaverville we encountered the
La Grange Mine (CHL #778).
One method for extracting gold from rock is to blast the rock with water--it's hydraulic mining. Using pressurized water, matter is loosened and flows down into the river bed where gold can be extracted.
from westernmininghistory.com
Next was a site that left us in awe: the Weaverville Joss House (CHL #709).
The Joss House was one of many built by Taoists to worship in when they came to the states. This particular one in Weaverville is the oldest continuously used Chinese temple in California.
We were fortunate enough to arrive in time for a guided tour by one of the park rangers-- it was well worth the 40 minutes or so!
The sign above the door names the Joss house...
this particular one is called the "Temple Amongst the Forest Beneath the Clouds"-- sounds pretty good to me!
Every single item inside came from China-- many by way of San Francisco and every one of them has a special meaning.
The altar was full of things to look at-- statutes, offerings, pictures, banners-- it was overwhelming!
The tapestries, which were occasionally used for parades on holy days, were all handmade using silk and were purchased by locals as offerings to the gods.
Each of the statues of the gods had a special area of focus- some helped with wealth, travel, or health.
Everything was designed to keep out the bad spirits and welcome in the good ones.
There were several peacocks on tapestries as well as lots of mirrors since bad spirits don't like to look at themselves in the mirror.
In the room adjacent to the temple was the caretakers room. In here there was a modest kitchen, sleeping area, and room for him to conduct his business.
The papers on the wall are all originals-- on these posters are the names of those folks who brought offerings to the temple. This was one of the caretakers more important jobs and it was a requirement for them to know who to read and write.
German immigrant children broke the nose off this statue and it was going to be replaced, however the guardians of the temple had it left to remind people that you need to watch your children so they don't misbehave.
Libi was fascinated by our tour guide who kept using the children as examples in her stories.
A long drive along the 299 brought us to
French Gulch (CHL 166).
The town was founded by French miners in 1849 and it acted as a supply center as well as a very rich mining area.
Now there isn't much here, but at one time it produced over $20 million from local mines!
Father Rinaldi's Foundation of 1856 (CHL 483) took us to someones backyard in Shasta. On this site you can still see the foundations for a church that never was.
The next set of site weren't very exciting-- a simple plaque on a dusty road with a tiny explanation-- and we were very tired at this point, so please forgive the lack of excitement on our faces!
Reading's Bar (CHL 32) is the site where the first gold in Shasta County was found by Major Peirson Reading and his Native American helpers.
This next site doesn't exist any more, but we stopped in the spot where it used to exist. Here is
Bell's Bridge (CHL 519)-- this was an important bridge and toll road that connected Shasta to Tehama Counties.
This next plaque was right next to an Indian casino--
Clear Creek (CHL 78).
We aren't certain why this site was registered as a landmark-- here is the description from the state: Five miles up the creek, at Reading's Bar, is the site of the discovery
of gold by Major Pierson B. Reading and his Indian laborers in 1848. Since we had already been to Reading's Bar this seemed to be unnecessary, but we visited it and checked one more site off our list!
Our final site for the big trip was the
Old California-Oregon Road (CHL 58).
This is the marker for the main road that pioneers used between the Trinity River and northern mines.
It was a long journey (almost 4,000 miles), full of family and friends, over 50 historic sites, and lots of memories! Thanks for traveling with us again on Libi's California Adventure.
0 comments:
Post a Comment