[00:00:10] Speaker A: Hello, folks, and welcome back to another episode of the American Attic, where we deliver dialogue driven explorations of California history and beyond, presented by the Sacramento Historical Society and host it by Eric Sweigert. Join us as we uncover topics that inspire imagination, inform action, and enrich the present.
Our guest today is a local historian. She is an author. She is a speaker. She is a writer well versed in the landscape of local history and the individuals, the committed few, who choose to pursue it. She is a regional vice president for the Conference of California Historical Societies and has worked with historical advisory boards and museums in Placer county. In this episode, we discuss her rival to appreciating the past, how it started, her current efforts in promoting it publicly, and what gems await visitors on the western slope of the Sierra and in Placer county. Please enjoy this candid and compelling conversation with author Christina Richter.
All right, well, welcome, Christina, to the american attic. Thank you for your time this morning in sharing all that you have to share and taking some time out of.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Your oh, thank you, Eric. It's a pleasure to be here, and it's always great to support Sacramento historical society. And I'm excited about exploring your placer county.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Yes, and you have already put in a lot of work in exploring Placer county, and I'm excited to talk with you about that today. But before we do that, I'm always curious about how people get connected to history as a passion, as a topic, as a major aspect of their week to week work. And I feel like we could just dive right into some of these questions. And it's no surprise, looking at your background, that history is a passion of yours. And for those of us who call history our passion, a lot of it comes from stories. A lot of it comes from the stories we encounter over the years as we study the past. And so I wanted to start off with just asking you, are there any stories that you've encountered? It can be specific to Placer county. It can be broader, it can be international if we want to go there. So are there any stories that have inspired your love of history and or continue to inspire?
[00:02:49] Speaker B: You know, a lot of stories in my background have inspired me, and I did think about this for a minute, and it came down to something very specific. Two things. When I was very young, I grew up in Ohio, and a tornado hit our house. We were in it. It was an f five tornado. It was a Ohio tornado. And we were thrown into massive chaos. Our town was destroyed. Our house was destroyed. And we made history that day because it was such a devastating tornado. And I grew up with that, knowing that things can change in an instant. And that drew me to a local story here, which is the Donner party. And of course, we all know that story, the Donner party story. And it's been retold and retold and retold. And because of our forensics, now we can tell the story even better. So my own personal history inspired me to actually look into events of the past and then studying that whole Donner story. And while it's not exactly in Placer county, it's right on the border there, it did teach me to look at things, number one, objectively in history because it changed once we learned more about it. And number two, things can change in an instant. And how people react and respond to what's happening in their environment can be so different from normal days. And that's important to take forward with you when you do study history. So I would say that those are my inspiring stories, Eric.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Wow.
That sounds like such a. When it comes to someone's personal story, such a pivotal, memorable, traumatic experience.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: It was traumatic.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: And how old were you when that happened?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: I don't know if I want to tell you.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I was very young. I was in my early teens.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: And it was a tornado that happened in 1974. It's still on history books. Is one of the worst tornadoes in history.
Like I said, it destroyed my town and the house I was in. It killed 32 people, some of which I knew. So I think what inspired me the most, or actually had the biggest impact on me was the tornado hit. And then we were left in our basement with nothing overhead, with people coming to us because their home was destroyed, people we hadn't talked to or seen perhaps in months or years, in the moment, life twisted, and we differently, just like the Donner party, in a moment, not quite a moment for them, obviously, they were traveling, but they were caught unawares and in a situation that they had to react to just suddenly. And that happens throughout history. And that totally intrigues me. So it starts with the Donner party, and then you can take a look at whatever else in history you want to look at and apply that things change in an instant, and people will behave differently from that.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Well, and obviously, the Donner party, like you mentioned, it's one of the staples of California history. It's one of the most common stories from that know a cautionary tale or whatever you want to call, you know. I was just curious, is your interest in history and some of these stories, is it pretty local, would you say? So local to Placer county, local to your home? Or would you say you find similar inspiration beyond the county?
[00:06:30] Speaker B: I find inspiration all over, especially when we travel. But recently, of course, my focus on history is definitely local. I'm currently on the board of the Western States Trail Museum, which talks about the immigrant trail going over the Sierra Nevada. And of course, was part of the Donners, they traveled part of that trail as well.
That history is brand new to me and just fascinating how the immigrants negotiated that trail not only to get here, but also, of course, to look for gold. So I guess to answer your question in short order, local right now has been my main focus.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and it almost seems like whenever you encounter a historical topic, it's like an onion. You peel back one layer and there's another layer just waiting there for your exploration when you encounter some of those stories. Anyways, yeah. So just the Donner party is a great example of that, where the stories that survive, there's so many angles, so many layers to it.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Absolutely. And I think one of the biggest things in studying history, I know that education was part of your questions is when we do dive into those areas that we're most interested in, we have to take off the filters of today. And if we can learn to take off the filters of today, when we dive into those stories, then we can be most affected in that manner. So it's like reading a good book. You dive into the book and you start getting into the characters and the places and the times, and then by the time you're finished, you've completely popped yourself out of your life into another life and you go away changed. Your life has changed. Maybe a lot, maybe just a bit. But that's how I liken history, too. When I dig into the stories, it's like a good book that just keeps you enthralled for chapters and chapters.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I'm glad you brought up books because as you know, I'm going to be asking about your favorite author here in short order, but not yet. I did want to kind of dive in a little bit deeper to the topic of education because history, social studies, it's a mandatory part of many curriculums. And just out of curiosity, speaking as someone who's familiar with the past, who's written two books now, what do you think are the most valuable lessons history can offer young people nowadays? And focusing on the youth, what are some lessons you think that would be fertile ground for young people to consider?
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Good question. I think overall history really gives you the roots for being a productive and independent person throughout your life and learning history contributes to this.
I think there isn't a particular story because everybody is attracted to things that they want to learn about. But overall, the ability to think, if we can't look at what has happened in the past, whether it's recent past, ancient past, turn of the century, if we can't look at that, then we can't put life into perspective. So the ability to think really comes up from all of this. I believe locally, in our schools, one of the most important stories that we teach, and I think it's fourth grade, is probably the story of the missions, California missions. And that story has certainly changed throughout time. Right? I mean, first it was just about the buildings, and now it's about the Native Americans, and now it's about the whole political atmosphere of that. So even the teaching of that history has changed, and I think that's a great foundation for children. Fourth grade is pretty great time learning about our local history and those missions.
They're a great launch pad, if you will.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Sure. No, I still remember, I think I had to build a mission when I was in fourth grade. I had to gather the materials all together and construct a model mission. I'm blanking on which one. I probably chose the Sonoma mission just because that was right over the hill from me in. Yeah, you know, just hands.
It's. It's special. Sonoma is such a special place in terms of the history there.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it is.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: To say nothing of all the tourism and wine that also attract people there. That's a nice little thing to have on the side.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a nice little economic engine they have going on over.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Sure.
Oh, man. And I did want to circle back around to what we were talking about earlier. I know my background with history was kind of facilitated by a few different authors.
Steven Ambrose was a big author of mine. Right. Especially in military history. So I dove headfirst into all his writings on World War II and D Day. I think he was the author of that band of brothers, that HBO miniseries, too, that just took off. Did very well for you and your journey to history and your current efforts there. Are there any authors that stick know?
[00:11:58] Speaker B: That's another great question, Eric. I love local authors. I love Stephen Ambrose. I love all of the big names and the bestsellers, of course, but I truly love the local authors. There's an author in Colfax. His name is Roger Staub, and he's written quite a bit on the transcontinental railroad for example, there are several local authors. Every time you go to a city here in Placer county and you go to the historical society, you'll always find books by local authors. And I love those because it's the local flavor. It's the stories that you wouldn't get in the big books and the big authors. And I think those are my favorite ones here in Roseville, which I spent a lot of time in, as you know, Leonard Davis. They called him Duke Davis. I don't know. He was a prolific writer. I think he wrote two or three dozen books about history. I've read every single one of them, and those are my favorite authors, I would have to say. And I think when I travel, I like looking at local authors as well, and I would encourage other people to.
When you're home and you're just wanting to learn in general, the big name books are great, but learning about local history, go dig into those local history museums and see what those little books are that are written about local history and the stories of the people and what happened. Those are the best.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I haven't encountered. Did you say his name was Leonard Davis?
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Leonard Davis.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Davis. Okay.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Yes. He left us, I want to say, in, oh, golly, 2015, somewhere around there. And he was a history teacher as well at, I believe, American River College for quite a few years. And he had a great style, and he loved talking to what he called the old timers, and he would record their stories. And he was really good about keeping information and keeping all the facts straight. Of course, as always, things change. You learn more as you go.
Some of his facts, of course, had to be changed throughout time, but he was great for a local historian.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and as someone who is a local historian yourself and you are familiar with the writing process, which I'm excited to get to in our discussion, do you feel that there is a lot of information out there for folks that do want to dive into wherever they are? If they're outside of California, if they're in Oregon, on the east coast, something like that. Is there, would you say, a pretty robust presence of local writers that folks that can get it to? And I'm speaking from the outside.
I don't know the local scene as well.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: So the answer here locally is absolutely yes. Placer county. We're fortunate that we have a robust placer county historical society. Of course, we have the Placer county museums that are a branch of the county government, which we run eight museums. I'm also part time employed with them, and I know in Sacramento we have a lot of local historians that have written Sacramento Historical Society and their golden notes. How many? Dozens of golden notes, just about different aspects of history that the historical society maintains. So here locally? Yes, I think so. One thing to consider when you look at local history compared to the east coast, for example, or even Europe, a lot of people have said to me, well, real history is on the east coast because they're so old. And you have to realize that our modern day history, civilized history, if you will, is relatively recent. Right. 1849. So 100 and 5175 years ago is really when we started. And that's relatively recent compared to the rest of the United States and the rest of the world. So we're still in that discovery process somewhat. And, yes, there's a lot out there, and there's still a lot to be discovered, which is one of the fun parts about being think, yeah.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: Oh, that. That there's a lot of directions we could go from that because that is something, too, that I've thought about in my travels. I was in Boston. I was in Boston in April. Oh, Boston's great this year. Yeah. And I almost missed my train. I was supposed to make it up to. I was supposed to catch an Amtrak up to Maine for a wedding. But, a, I got turned around in the city. B, I was distracted because I was walking past cemeteries where Samuel Adams gravestone was. And the victims of the Boston massacre were, like, buried right there. And I had to do a double take from the sidewalk. Yeah. Amazing.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: I'd like to live there just to explore the history for a year or two.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Absolutely.
There's a lot there. But you're right.
You need to account for the fact that in terms of recorded history and some of the documents that many historians work with, they're not scattered across the United States in the same way. There's not the same amount available to local historians in, let's say, maybe Placer county, that there might be in Massachusetts or something like.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Absolutely.
But we're getting there.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: We're getting there.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Like I said, we have the Placer county museums, and we run eight of the 22 museums in Placer county. And we have an archives warehouse. We have a collections warehouse. And I know you have the same in Sacramento with the library and your Sacramento center history Center. So we're getting there. And I love it that we're paying attention and we're making sure that in this rapid development time in history that we're saving what we can save and preserve what we can preserve. It's important.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Absolutely. And a large effort so thank you on behalf of the SaC Historical Society for all the work that you're putting in in that regard. When I was speaking with Marcia Eyman, the city historian for Sacramento, she reminded me how much of a process it is to maintain, not just to promote history, but to maintain the artifacts and so on and so forth.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And I think our particular challenge also is that we don't have the advantage of time. It's relatively recent. Whereas in Boston or a Maine, even anywhere along the east coast seaboard, they've had the advantage of time. So over time, they've said, okay, this is important, and this is important. And things were not going away as quickly as they are now. We're building, we're changing. Our society is moving so much quicker, so it's even that much more of a challenge. And I feel like here in northern California, we are definitely stepping up. I think La, San Diego, they're doing a good job as well. But I'm really proud of our efforts here in northern California, and I encourage anybody to get involved in local history and understand our preservation techniques and how to go about studying and preserving.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and just to share a last anecdote for me on this topic, I was visiting a friend in Reno recently just to highlight the relevancy of the work that we're talking about. I have a friend in Reno who. They're american citizens, but they're trying to establish italian citizenship through the paperwork, I guess Italy has a process where if you identify the right sequence of ancestors, you can qualify to be considered an italian citizen, which I had no idea.
But in order to do that, they had to approach the historical organization of Grass Valley, and they had to connect with the officials over there and the historians over there to access their family's paperwork, which was.
And then, of course, make photocopies of everything and include it in their application packet, which is.
Yeah, I had no idea. It was just neat to connect the dots between something that someone's doing now and something that happened a long time ago.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Right. And family history is amazing. And you know who has incredible records is Utah LDs.
They have phenomenal records. They're all there. They. They have made it their life's work to gather family histories and just history in general. And you can literally go and visit them and research, and I believe it's free. They just want everyone to know their family history. So that's another aspect that they might want to check out, too, if they're not finished.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I had no know. It's been ages since I've been to Utah, do you know, are there a few locations in particular that is there a physical presence that the public.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: There's an LDS library that's huge, and there's a museum there. I think your gateway to that is ancestry.com.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Okay.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: They fuel a lot of what's on ancestry.com, and so that's your gateway. But if anybody's studying their family history, I totally recommend a trip to that big library and museum that they have.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I had no idea. That's amazing. Well, we kind of already talked about a few of the areas I was hoping to explore with, you know, maybe just focusing in. We talked a little bit about Boston, Utah. Are there any other specific locations, geographic areas or cities or what have you that you felt most connected to? The know, to give an example, I went on a family trip to Gettysburg when I was young over there in just sticks out in my mind. Is there anything like that from either your travels or things like know?
[00:22:31] Speaker B: I think the most impactful, especially recently, was my digging into the fitiment history. When I wrote the history of the Roseville fitiment family and their original ancestor came here in 1852, a woman with a baby on her hip and understanding what the land looked like. And they were farming. And to homestead a land, they had to dig a well, plant a fig tree or plant a tree, a fruit bearing tree, usually. And usually it was a fig tree, and then they could claim land for their own as long as they continued to development. And that, to me, was fascinating.
We were trying to attract people to the areas, so that's why we were giving away land. And then we had to create an economic aspect of it, an economic engine, if you will. So in learning the fitiment history, I learned the history of Placer county, truly, because they came here not for gold, but to make a new life and to create a livelihood, which they did mostly through ranching. And in learning about that, I was able to apply that to the rest of the county. Now, they did ranching. Parts of the county did quarrying. Of course, there was a ton of gold mining. And in Lincoln, there was gladiating McBean, the big clay factory, from the clay deposits up there. And Roosevelt had the. There's just.
I would say it still continues to inspire me, just learning about all of the things that came together to make us be where we are. Our foundation is pretty spectacular.
That's not a larger view, because I know that I could take a look at, say, St. Louis. Their history is amazing. New Orleans that history is amazing. All of that is fantastic. But right now I feel like my focus is just laser focused on my immediate area. And then maybe in ten or 20 years, I'll venture out.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and for those listeners that might not be super familiar with Roseville, can you describe the location? Is there a house or a historical site that people can go to to encounter this particular.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Know with the fitiments? There is a ranch house. It's in west Roseville that's not open to the public, but it does sit right beside the new west high, Roseville High School. And I know the city will eventually turn that into some sort of destination place, but all of West Roseville was just all ranch land at one point in time. And of course, it really grew once the railroad came through. And let's see, the railroad started to develop in 1906 because the roundhouse moved here. And then in 1909, Roseville incorporated. And in 1910, they just started growing like crazy. So the best place probably is to go to the Roseville Historical Society at the Carnegie Museum. And then if you want to learn about native american history in the area, we have a world class.
It's called the Maidu Indian Museum, and that is Roseville proper. And that's a wonderful museum as well. So that's here locally. Roseville, of course, is the largest town. It's growing like crazy. It's going to continue to be the largest town. They say it's going to parallel the population of Placer county just in Roseville alone.
Yeah, we're one of the few counties that are actually growing in, so it makes it even more important that we hang on to our.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And just to be a resource for all those newcomers that show up in know. Yeah. Being a resource with is your. This is your community now.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Here's your community. Absolutely. The other thing I want to mention is our county seat, which is Auburn. And Auburn has a beautiful courthouse.
They set the cornerstone for that courthouse in 1894. It was completed in 1898. And the entire first floor now is the Placer county museum. So if you want to get a good foundation for Placer county history, go to that museum and it's easy to find. You can drive down I 80 and you see the courthouse. It's beautiful.
I think there are only 16 remaining courthouses from that era in California left. And fortunately, it has survived the test of time and all of its trials and tribulations through time. But that's where you want to start. And then there's the Gold Rush Museum is also in Auburn, and that's a wonderful museum as well. And then if you're a victorian, you like that era, the turn of the century. The Bernhardt house is, and these are all three museums in Auburn that are very easy to get to. The Bernhardt house is an 1851 structure that was originally a hotel. Now, then it was turned into a house and now it's a museum. And we have it in that victorian period, just completely decorated in the victorian period. It's full of antiques and wonderful stories. And the tours through there can really give you a glimpse into life in Placer county, specifically auburn at that time. So I think Auburn is a very influential and inspiring place for understanding Placer county history. I would recommend anybody start there and then just branch out throughout the branch out.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: No, that's great. And you have a great image of that courthouse on the COVID of your new book.
Great, great shot of it right up here. Thank you. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, my grandfather was an attorney for a long time here in Sacramento area, and I think he may have argued a case.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: I'm sure he did. It was.
We still hold courts there.
There are other places as well, but the second and third floors are still. Court is still held.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: And in those early days, the ground floor was the jail.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: The sheriff's office.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: And there's a little jail underneath the stairs that was the women's jail because they couldn't house the women with the men, of course. And it's got great history. And I'll bet your relative was there.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Yeah. This must have been in probably the 70s or 80s. My grandfather lived out and he lived in Loomis. And then I want to say he was practicing water related water law or something like that, which obviously in California, it's a fraught topic.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. And my last chapter in my book, Placer county past and present, is about water. And I partnered with the Placer county water agency to actually write that chapter. They had to do the photographs. That's the only chapter that somebody else did both photographs. But we talk about in that chapter how those original canals that provided water to the gold miners and to their places, their mining places, we still use those canals.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Because how they built them was ingenious. And they were able to take the land and figure out the curves and the ups and the downs and apply that water flow to get to the gold. It's amazing how much gold inspired this county. It truly, truly did. And then there are two reservoirs that I feature in here. One's called french meadows and one's called hellhole. And they are our two largest reservoirs in Placer county. And when they were built, they were just considered marvels at the time, and they really put us on the map for how we were managing our water. And french meadows is still a beautiful place to go to. It was actually the site of native american tribal ceremonies and where they would go to do trade.
The northern California. And I think some central California tribes came here also, some from Nevada. Of course, there weren't any state boundaries in some from Nevada. And they would come here and they would collectively get together and just cultivate their own lives. And a lot of language was happening there. A lot of cultural exchange was happening there. And that's why I love our mountains here as well.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I was camping up there a long time ago, and it's beautiful now.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: I've not been up there.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: The thing that caught me off guard was the drive to get there because you're kind of in the middle of. You're a good distance off of 80. So I took 80 up to Auburn and then started getting on those county highways.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: You went the forest Hill route. Yes, through Mosquito Ridge Road instead of going the 50 now, you can't get there now that same way. So you have traveled really, that is no longer available until they fix it because the mosquito fire just wiped it out.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Whoa. I had no idea.
[00:32:25] Speaker B: Well, Mosquito Ridge road and takes you through the mountains. And as you know, it was quite the drive. It's quite the trek to get there, but it's gone.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: I had no idea. Yeah. And I remember that drive specifically because I was blown away, how rugged it was. There are some very steep ravines that you go down into and climb back up on your way up to french meadows reservoir.
Okay.
So look somewhere else if you're planning your next camping trip, perhaps.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Well, you can get there, but you have to go off of the 50 now through El Dorado.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: You can still get there. So I'm glad you mentioned that you were on that road, on those roads. There's some history about us that's pretty interesting. So from Sacramento into know, gold miners were going like crazy in that direction. And Auburn was the farthest they could get with a horse and buggy or just anything that was the farthest that they could get. So after that, they had to travel by pack mule.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: And these pack mule trains, there'd be 40 to 50 mules just piled high with supplies to go into the mines. And they had to balance these supplies perfectly on the back of these mules. Otherwise, if they became jostled and unbalanced during the trip. One of these mules would fall over the side, and then the others would follow. You can imagine that only happened a couple of times before they learned. But that was what these trails looked like back in gold mining days, these 40 to 50 pack mules. And by the way, these mules were mexican. They had to come from Mexico because they were the most stout and the most robust, and they could handle the terrain in the canyons, in our mountains.
It was another aspect of our history that we wouldn't even know about unless you dig into it. And I can just imagine getting into Auburn and then finding a mule train that was going into the mining camps. And you have to pay $10 per 100 pounds. That was in good weather. In bad weather, if you wanted to get your goods into the mining camps, you'd pay double or triple that amount on the back of those mules. And that's how those mining towns were supplied. Because after Auburn, you couldn't get through. Just you had to be on horseback or mule.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah, it seems like a good time to be a mule merchant, maybe.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: It was. Absolutely.
It was definitely an aspect of making money in the gold rush. It wasn't just about the gold. As you know, lots of people made money in the gold rush and had nothing. They didn't even touch the.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Well, Christine, I appreciate you walking us through not just the placer history, but also your journey to history as a topic that you're passionate about, for sure. And changing tact here a little bit and focusing a little bit more on this book. Placer County.
I am fascinated by the writing process.
I don't know much about it. I haven't published any books. But can you walk us through where you got the. I know this is your second book, so where the inception of this book came from and you choosing to take it on as a. Oh, I'm so.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Glad you asked the question. When I was looking into this to prepare for the interview today, Eric, it occurred to me today is the two year anniversary of the day that I was awarded the contract from Arcadia to write this book. So I love it that we're doing this podcast today because been two years. It was the day before thanksgiving in 2021, and they found me because I write a monthly column for gold country media, and it's in the Granite Bay view, and I've been doing that since July of 2019. And so the Arcadia editors, they're always scouting for authors. They approached me, and I submitted a book proposal, and then the day before thanksgiving, it was awarded to me. And, of course, that was the pandemic, right?
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: So we were at the end of the pandemic in 2021, but who knew if it was the end or not? And so I was faced with writing this book when everything was shut down.
And the only way I could really do research was online initially. And then fortunately, things cleared up at the beginning of 2022, and I was able to get out and start. Sorry about that. I was able to get out and actually start going into the different historical societies. But to answer your question directly, they found me, and I know that my involvement with the Fidamant family and writing that book also contributed to it as well. And so this was great because I got to get out of Roseville, get into all of Placer county, and just go to all the corners of the county and meet wonderful, wonderful people and wonderful historians and learn. So it was fantastic.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: I'm curious about how much. So they approached you, given your involvement in historical documentation already.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: How much of the idea of the book or the topic that you addressed, you had to create a book proposal, of course. Did they come to you saying, hey, we're looking for a book on Placer county?
[00:38:17] Speaker B: They asked me if I would be interested in doing a past and present book.
And originally they were talking about maybe focusing on just one of the towns. And I said, well, I work for Placer county museums, and I've been around a while, so I think I'd like to tackle the whole county, if that's okay.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: And I gave them the proposal, and they said, sure. They did give me a year to do it. Normally, it's a six month process, and they gave me a year to do it. But the content is solely mine because they give you a template. You fill in the pictures, the past and present pictures. I found the past pictures, and then I had to take the photograph that was closest to the angle that the original photograph was taken, and that was really fun.
And then write the story. Write the story or the little history blurp about each of those aspects. So I call it just a top line of Placer county. And for folks who want to learn about Placer county history, it's a great resource because it gives you a little bit of everything, touches on all the towns, all of our cities, and we have one town, Loomis, and then the foothill communities and, of course, our water history. So if you don't find something that you're interested in about Placer county history in my book, you won't find it.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: Well, I thought you did a great job when I was reading through it, just spotlighting some of these. Again, going back to the idea of the peeling the layers back. Peeling the layers back on Placer county, it was amazing.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: It was amazing.
It was fun. And I think meeting the people, like we talk about, who are so passionate about local history and just making sure we keep it alive, because if we don't, it goes away. And I have to segue, if you don't mind, into a story I discovered, and this happened in 1972, and we have what's called the Tevis cup. Are you familiar with the Tevis cup?
[00:40:30] Speaker A: I'm not.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: So the Tevis cup is a horseback ride, and it's 100 miles horseback ride over the immigrant trail, which is now called the Western States Trail. And it's done in 24 hours.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: 100 miles horseback ride through the mountains in 24 hours. And that's called the Tevis cup. And the Tevis cup began in 1955, and it's run annually ever since then. Well, something else happened in 1972 that wasn't really talked about, and I just by accident, uncovered it. The first infantry out of Fort Riley, Kansas, sent 20 soldiers here in 1972 to hike the trail. And they did it in conjunction with the Tevis ride, but they did it in 48 hours. And what was happening in 1972? We're at the end of the Vietnam War.
Our soldiers are not heroes when they come home. It was a pretty depressing time, and I think that's why this story was not really carried through in history. So I dug into it. They sent 20 soldiers here as a morale booster. And the reason they did is because the wife of one of the commanders had ridden the Tevis cup. And she said, I think this might be great for your soldiers to just get kind of a morale booster. And out of the 20, only seven finished.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:41:58] Speaker B: But it was absolutely amazing. And they did it in their military fatigues, including their leather boots.
So they were the first on foot to travel that western states trail. And that story is just fantastic. That ran, let's see, in the October 2023 Granite Bayview. You can still find that online. But that was one of my most, I think, widely and well received articles. I had a lot of veterans reach out that article and say thank you, because they really weren't honored very much at all, if at all. They were actually downtrodden quite a bit. So this was a great story to read. And it's called the first infantry, hosted at the Tevas Cup. I love these stories, just digging them up.
[00:42:50] Speaker A: And we will include a link to any current.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Oh, very good.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Locations that folks can find. Articles like that will for sure include links to. And is it Tevas? Tevastevisisis. Okay, Tevas.
Yeah, that's just, again, one of those examples of those little stories that are out there just waiting for folks to encounter or explore.
[00:43:16] Speaker B: Absolutely. Another one was, we had a Titan one missile site in Lincoln.
[00:43:22] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Right at the. Maybe it might have been about the height of the Cold War.
We had a missile site there. Let's see, this was 1962 to 1965. There were 54 Titan one missiles in California. Can you believe it? 54 Titan one missiles. So these missiles had the capability to go up over the pole and hit Russia dead on if we needed it. And there was one, a site right.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: In Lincoln, right in our backyard.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: It was right in our backyard. And when I discovered this, of course, I immediately went out to drive to the site, and there's nothing there now. It's just a big field. I think they've used it for artillery practice, but that was a fun story to unfold.
[00:44:12] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And we might have preempted one of my next questions already, which is totally fine, but I wanted to give you the chance to add anything else. Just speaking about the research process for your book, Placer county, the writing process, speaking as an author, was there anything specifically that surprised you after taking on this project, after winning the contract from Arcadia, when you were talking to the people going to these places and actually sitting down and doing the organization and the writing of the book, anything catch you off guard or surprise you how.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Much work it took?
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: And to make sure your facts are straight, you have to double, triple check them. Oftentimes, source documents are not readily available, so you have to go with secondary sources. So when I couldn't find a source document, I always made sure that if I stated a fact, that I could find it in three other places that were reputable. So walking tours are great for that. Walking tour brochures. If there's a building on a walking tour brochure, what does that walking tour brochure say about that building? Okay, let me double check that against some newspaper articles of the time. Let me double check that against maybe a pamphlet or a book that was written. That took a lot of. Yeah, took so much time. And fortunately for me, I was able to reach out to a lot of the local historians throughout placer county and double and triple check my facts. And they did some groundwork for me, too. So the most exciting part was meeting all the people. Yeah, I love that. I still love that to this day. And I give presentations out at Sun City, Lincoln, Sun City, Roseville, and for different organizations throughout Placer county. And that's always my favorite. The hardest part was all the research and the time and being up against the deadline. Of course, that's normal with any writing process.
I know my husband found me many times, my head down on the dining room table, sleeping at one or two in the morning, because just exhausted myself.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: But it was so rewarding when it was all finished.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: I have to say, the life of a history writer, well, you have to.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Make sure your facts are straight and we're all human. And even though the facts are straight today, they may change later. I found that with when I wrote the story of the fitiment family, when I first started digging into that, and by the way, that was a seven year process.
I first started digging into that. There was a lot of family lore that was not really true.
We didn't have the resources that we have now. So those stories of the past, they had to be verified, and quite a few of them couldn't be verified. So if you dig into your family history, I know I'm segueing a bit, but I would just caution people, if you dig into your family history, be open minded.
You're going to find things you had no idea about.
[00:47:32] Speaker A: There's always that one uncle that likes to tell tall tales.
Got a few of those.
[00:47:38] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:47:40] Speaker A: Oh, man. Anyways, well, approaching the finish line here, I just had a couple of additional questions, if that's okay. Now that you've gotten a couple of books out the door for somebody that maybe they have an idea for a local history book or they have an idea that they want to get involved somehow, do you have any advice, any suggestions for somebody like that who maybe hasn't taken the leap yet and doesn't know what's involved with the process or with just how gratifying it can be. So any suggestions or advice for those folks?
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Go visit your museums. We have 22 in Placer county. We have 22 museums throughout this county. I know Sacramento has a lot, too. I've never tallied how many. But don't be afraid to walk through a museum. Don't be afraid to.
Oh, just googling local history. I would say that online, there's a lot of stuff online that's not accurate. So if you're going to start doing that, maybe dig into newspapers.com to get a little bit more accuracy. But if people are interested in local history, go walk through your local museums. Historical societies are always looking for people who want to be involved to promote history. You don't have to be a history scholar.
My background. I have an MBA with emphasis in marketing, so I have a total business background. But it's always been a passion of mine. And I would say the people in this realm, this niche, a lot of them like to hold their research close to their chest. So just be patient and just continue to show up and be there. And if you want to write about something, make sure the facts are straight. Make sure you have good references and then have at it. Just write.
We all appreciate a good history story. We all appreciate exploration and discovering different things. Like I discovered this titan, one missile site, and of course the Placer county water history. Just wonderful aspects. I had no idea. Was.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Very. Those suggestions are very helpful, I would think, speaking as somebody who would love to get a historical book out the door, know I appreciate that. So thank you for those suggestions.
[00:50:22] Speaker B: Oh, I hope you do. I hope you do. And Arcadia has a great little treasure trove of history books. Yeah, Arcadia is a great resource for a lot of our history. And my book, by the way, you can get on Amazon and you can get it through Barnes and Noble in Roseville. And I have it at the majority of the historical museums throughout Placer county and then anywhere where Arcadia books are sold locally. I don't know that it's in Sacramento. I'm guessing it's making its way. It was just published in May of this year, but I'm guessing it's making its way to Sacramento.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: Definitely. So grab a copy, folks, if you're interested in learning more about Placer county history and all of the treasures to be discovered there, one last question. This is mostly just me being know if you had to design a. And I like asking similar questions to my know, if you had to design a historical tour of, you know, maybe something to submit to the Placer county tourism bureau, I don't know. But if you had to design a tour like that, what are a handful of items that might appear on that list that you think best illustrate your county?
[00:51:37] Speaker B: That's a great question.
I would advise people to start in the mountains.
Truckee isn't quite in Placer county, but if you start there, you'll start to get an idea of our history and in the mountains. And then as you're coming from the mountains, stop in Dutch flat. And Dutch flat is a gold mining town from long ago that has done an incredible job of preserving their history. You can literally walk down Main street, and there are history placards on their historic buildings, and there's a wonderful history museum there. They are seasonal, so this is a spring to fall situation, mostly summertime that they're open. And then from Dutch flat, I would go into Colfax, the railroad depot. There is their museum, and get a real good glimpse of the transcontinental railroad and our chinese railroad workers. And Roger Staub was like, I think I mentioned him before. He's an incredible historian on railroad history. And then go to Auburn and go to the placer county museum, that first floor, and get an idea of where you might want to go next, because what's next is Roseville, Rockland, Lincoln. You have just a plethora of different areas, and depending upon your interest, I always let the economic factor drive my interest. Loomis was about fruit, and Newcastle was about fruit, and of course, the trains and then Lincoln with the. I call it the clay factory with gladding McBean background. And then Roseville just had.
They were kind of an accidental city, really. Just two railroads crossed each other back in 1864, and the railroad people called it Junction.
Original name, unique name. Such an original name. And the original roundhouses from the big four went into Rockland. But then when they moved from Rockland to Roosevelt, 1906, oh, my goodness, it changed everything.
So ranching, farming, the fruit trees, all of that just grew like crazy from there. We didn't have a lot of gold mining per se in the flatlands here in Placer county, although we had some. We had a little bit. I think there was even a dredge that was in Loomis for a while. But you can see all along the north fork of the american river, like Ratlesnake bar, murderers bar, all those places where there was a lot of exploring.
It's a neat county. It has everything here from a growing city to country life with an economic engine that was inspired by just so many aspects. And the quarries. Rockland grew up with the quarries. Penrin, of course, Griffith. Griffith was the welsh man's name. First, last name, the same, which was kind of a welsh thing. There's a great museum in Penrin at Griffith Quarry, so you learn all about the rocks and how we literally contributed to the building of northern California with our quarries and our clay.
[00:54:56] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: That's a neat aspect.
[00:54:58] Speaker A: Amazing. Amazing. Well, Christina, I appreciate you taking the time so much.
I think our landscaper might have just arrived, so this might be a perfect timing.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: Perfect timing, and I appreciate it. Eric, thank you so much. Looking forward to doing more things with Sacramento.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Sacramento Historical Society's the American Attic. If you'd like to learn more about the society and upcoming speaker series, please visit sackhistoricalsociety.org. If you have ideas for topics and speakers we can engage, drop us a line at
[email protected] see you next time.
