Finishing up Sacramento and Yolo Counties - 1/2/2015

Today we decided to tackle the rest of the Sacramento County sites-- and begin and end Yolo County!

Our two sites were right next to the Sacramento Zoo-- in fact at this first stop we had a great view of the giraffe enclosure! Our first site of the day was Sutterville (CHL 593).

It was here where John Sutter laid out a townsite and one of the first brick structures in the state was built in 1847. Who knew that a brick building would merit a statue?

The next site was a short walk away- Camp Union, Sutterville (CHL 666). As you may have guessed by the name of this site, this was one of the few Civil War sites in California.

Near this site in 1861 the 5th Infantry Regiment of California Volunteers were trained to combat Confederate forces in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

An interesting point of note-- Camp Union was only the temporary headquarters for the regiment, they were also headquartered at the Drum Barracks in Wilmington (Los Angeles County) which we've already seen!

Next we drove on to the Sacramento City Cemetery (CHL 566).

The cemetery was established in 1850 on land donated by Captain John A. Sutter.

It is the final resting place for many California pioneers as well as victims of the cholera epidemic of 1850.

The grave below struck me-- the man who cared for California's money sure has a fancy headstone!

We spent a lot of time walking around looking for former governors, mayors, and prominent Sacramento figures who are buried here.

It is definitely worth taking some time to visit!

A short drive later we were at a nondescript brick building which held the plaque for our next site, California's First Passenger Railroad (CHL 526).

Back in 1856 this was the site of the passenger terminal for the Sacramento Valley Railroad which ran from Sacramento to Folsom. The train turntable and freight station used to be located just a few blocks away from this building.

We moved on to the E.B. Crocker Art Gallery (CHL 599), a site we will definitely have to explore more on another day!

Crocker was a California Supreme Court Justice in 1863. He also served as legal council for the Central Pacific Railroad company that helped with the transcontinental railway. (Coincidentally, his younger brother was a member of the Big Four who spearheaded the Central Pacific Railway)

E.B. Crocker suffered from a stroke and halted his legal career. In place of that stressful lifestyle, he toured Europe and collected art. He and his wife amassed so much art that they remodeled their home to include an art gallery. Today the home and several adjacent buildings house their collection, which were donated to the City of Sacramento by Crocker's widow.

One of the coolest sites we visited today was the Stanford-Lathrop Home (CHL 614). Leland Stanford bought the house in 1861.

Stanford is a major figure in California history (photo credited to Wikipedia)! He was governor of the state in 1861, he was a state senator, He was also a member of the Big Four which was responsible for the transcontinental railroad (he is prominently featured in the famous painting of the scene of the golden spike which you will see shortly!)

Leland and Jane's only son died as a teenager and his loss prompted them to found Stanford University in his honor.

The mansion served as state executive offices from 1861-1867 (before the state capital was completed) and today it still hosts state dinners and functions. I'm waiting for my invitation to the next party at the mansion!

The plaque was hidden away in the corner in the front of the house-- don't miss it when you stop by. Note: they do have tours, but they don't allow any photography inside the house.

Attached to a parking garage a few blocks away is the plaque for CHL 1013, The Site of The First African-American Episcopal Church Established on the Pacific Coast.

From the state: This is the site of the first church building associated with an African American religious congregation on the Pacific Coast. The church was the Methodist Church of Colored People of Sacramento City, formally organized in 1850. In 1851 the congregation was admitted into the African Methodist Episcopal Church, becoming the first African Methodist Episcopal Church on the Pacific Coast. First known as Bethel, the name was later changed to St. Andrews. The original 1850 wooden church building was the site of the first statewide convention of the California Colored Citizens which met November 20-22, 1855.

Walking around the Lorenzo Patino Hall of Justice (aka a modern-day prison) we came to the site of The First and Second State Capitols at Sacramento (CHL 869). Strangely this was the location of the capitol in 1852 and again in 1854-- during 1853 the capitol was moved to Benicia (which is a CHL we will have to visit when we go to Solano County).

You may recall us visiting the Folsom Powerplant a few months back. Today we go to visit the Old Folsom Powerhouse- Sacramento Station A (CHL 633-2).

This station was constructed in 1894 and it was the first distribution point of electricity for a major city, according to the state.

Its first transmission of electricity was on July 13, 1895.

The next few sites don't exist any more, so we had to just get close to them and take photos near where they used to be.

The first site was the Site of the Congregational Church (CHL 613). The state gives very little information about this site except that here in 1849 the first church in Sacramento was organized by Rev. Joseph Benton. Interestingly, a little internet digging brought up an entire book about the life of Rev. Benton-- which you can view here.

A short walk away we came to the former Site of China Slough (CHL 594). This was originally called Sutter Slough until Chinatown was moved to its banks-- now it is the site of the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot.

This off-ramp used to be the site of the Original Sacramento Bee Building (CHL 611). The paper published its first edition on February 3, 1857.

On the Sacramento Bee blog they do have a photo of the original building, which was torn down to make room for the I-5.

Next we made our way into Old Sac to hit a few sites we missed last time we were here. The first was the Overton Building (CHL 610) which is now a parking lot. The building was constructed in 1852 and housed state offices and businesses.

The D.O. Mills Bank Building (CHL 609) was home to one of the largest and oldest banks in California. There is an interesting timeline of the building here-- with some cool postcards from 1852 when the building was built.

Another site that is now a parking lot is the Western Hotel (CHL 601). Built over earlier hotel footprints, this hotel constructed in 1875 was one of the largest in the West.

An interesting note-- CHL 600 Headquarters of the Big Four has been retired. It is now included in Old Sac CHL 812. Sadly there is no description of where the site was, or what it was. While exploring the website for our next site, I found some information that shines some light on this former CHL-- you can read it here.

Speaking of the Big Four, our next site has a great deal to do with them. The First Transcontinental Railroad (CHL 780) is located within the California State Railroad Museum. One of the first things we saw was the Golden Spike portrait that we spoke about earlier. If you look at the key here, you can see where all the major players of the Big Four were standing in the picture.

Next we walked through the roundhouse to see some of the cool locomotives and train cars they have on display.

After walking through a great deal of the museum and getting sent in the wrong direction by a few docents, we found the plaque for the site!!

The plaque reads: Here, on January 8, 1863, Governor Leland Stanford turned the first spade of earth to begin construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. After more than six years of labor, crews of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory, Utah where, on May 10, 1869, Stanford drove the gold spike signifying completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad, forerunner of the Southern Pacific Company, was planned by Theodore D. Judah and constructed largely through the efforts of the 'Big Four'-Sacramento businessmen Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins.

Our next site was tricky to find--- and even stranger when we found it. We were looking for the Site of the Pioneer Mutual Volunteer Firehouse (CHL 612). The building erected in 1854 housed the oldest fire company in California.

A drive across the river to us to our first site in Yolo County (keep in mind they only have 3!) We were pleasantly surprised to quickly find the plaque for the First Pacific Coast Salmon Cannery Site (CHL 1040).

Hapgood, Hume and Company founded California's first salmon cannery here in 1864.

Amazingly enough, the Sacramento River used to be full of salmon! It was caught here, canned using the cooker-boiler method (instead of the salt preservation method), and shipped out. In 1866 when the salmon runs declined, they moved to the Columbia River in Oregon.

Sadly our next site was undergoing renovations, so we didn't get too close to the Governor's Mansion (CHL 823).

From the state: This mansard-styled Victorian house was built for Albert Gallatin in 1877. Acquired by the State, it served as the first official Governor's residence, Governor George C. Pardee and his family moved in during November 1903. It was home for 13 Governors over a span of 64 years.

Interestingly included in the 13 governors who lived here were Ronald Reagan and Earl Warren-- both of whom went on to national recognition as the 41st President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court respectively.

Another note-- many of the websites we use as references when we are looking for landmarks said that there was no plaque for this site. We are happy to report that there is a plaque which is prominently displayed!

To see a list of the Governors who lived here and a few of their accomplishments during their time in office, visit this site.

We will have to return here when the renovations are complete and take a peek inside!

Our next site was a huge disappointment as well! According to the website the California Almond Growers Exchange Processing Facility (CHL 967) was supposed to be open for visitors-- when we arrived it was locked down tighter than a drum!

We could see the plaque...

and the sign for the exchange...

but we were locked out!

The reason this is an important site for California is that it was the first successful grower-owned cooperative for marketing California almonds. The plant opened in 1915 and it contained the world's first mechanical cracker!

Our next site has kind of an interesting story-- the Nisipowinan Village Site (CHL 900) no longer lists an address due to Section 6254.10 of CA State Government Code. We did a little digging and were able to find an approximate site where we could take some photos. It was here that the Nisipowinan had their village and cemetery. They also interacted with Capt. John A. Sutter's settlers in the 1840's.