California's Olden Golden Days

Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jul 15, 20202 min read

The Next Big Gold Strike

Several weeks elapsed after the January 1848 gold discovery before people started believing it was genuine…and then events started...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jul 8, 20201 min read

Formerly, The Forks

Downieville sits in a magnificent, rugged, wooded natural amphitheater surrounded by lofty, pine-covered peaks. The town, founded in late...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jul 1, 20201 min read

The 1887 Land Rush

For twenty years southern California had poured money, and millions of printed brochures, into a publicity campaign to attract settlers...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jun 24, 20201 min read

The Silver Bullion Heist

It is still called Bullion Bend. It is a stretch of curving old stage road that once continued on from Placerville, California to Carson...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jun 17, 20202 min read

They Saw the Elephant

The wanna-be rich-quick gold prospectors who swarmed into California hoping— but failing— to find an easy fortune, boosted the folklore...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jun 10, 20202 min read

Chasing Horse Thieves

Horse thieves harassed Californians for well over 100 years. Horse stealing began in the late 18th century, when Spanish missionaries and...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Jun 3, 20202 min read

Bad Guy Mulligan

New Yorker Billy Mulligan and his gang of young toughs came west with the California Gold Rush, arriving in San Francisco by ship in late...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

May 27, 20202 min read

Kansas to California, 35 Days!

In June 1907, when faster, cheaper railroad networks had long since replaced cross-continental stagecoach transportation, a gentleman...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

May 20, 20202 min read

"Lucky" Phineas Banning

A self-made man from his early teens, Phineas Banning was one of the most colorful, charismatic characters in the history of Southern...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

May 13, 20202 min read

Best Reinsman in the West

Driving a stagecoach required superlative skills: a quick eye, a steady nerve, a skillful hand on the reins, and a thorough knowledge of...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

May 6, 20202 min read

RIP, James Marshall

James Wilson Marshall, the celebrated discoverer of California gold, never personally profited from his find though it made other men...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Apr 29, 20201 min read

Raging Infernos

Every town or village was vulnerable to fire during the early Gold Rush years, and few escaped its ravages. Thousands of prospectors in...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Apr 22, 20202 min read

Bruff's Gold Rush Hysteria

Joseph Goldsborough Bruff is a well-remembered participant in the California Gold Rush. A committed diarist and talented amateur artist,...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Apr 15, 20201 min read

Dressing for the Trail

For most of the way west in covered wagons, the weather was hot. Because wool breathed and afforded better protection against the sun...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Apr 8, 20202 min read

The Mechanical Water System

Sacramento’s Water Works Building was the city’s answer to its need for a reliable water supply system that could prevent a small fire...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Apr 1, 20202 min read

Pegleg's Lost Mine

Few things inflame men’s imaginations as the idea of a hidden fortune in gold— so the tale of Pegleg Smith and his lost gold mine has...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Mar 25, 20201 min read

First Female Architect in California

Best known for her work on the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Julia Morgan designed more than 700 buildings after becoming, in 1904, the...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Mar 18, 20201 min read

Pioneer Activist Annie Bidwell

She was tiny—less than five feet tall—but determined and confident. In April 1868, she married tall John Bidwell, a prominent California...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Mar 11, 20201 min read

California's Child Star

Little Lotta Crabtree— a red-haired, merry-eyed child blessed with an irrepressible laugh— became a box office attraction in gold rush...

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Cheryl Anne Stapp

Mar 4, 20202 min read

Spirited Jessie Fremont

Privileged, headstrong, and in love with an “unsuitable” man, Jessie Benton—the daughter of powerful U.S. Senator Thomas Hart...

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