I wrote a couple of months ago about how the Manhattan Project preserved the natural beauty of the Columbia Reach in eastern Washington. In addition to preserving this unique part of our nation’s landscape, the Manhattan Project also enhanced the development of my home town of Richland, Washington. 2015 is […]
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Sacramento in July 1849
As I searched for a topic on the California Gold Rush to write about this month, I came across issues for the Sacramento Placer Times in July 1849. At that time, Sacramento was a burgeoning outpost at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers. It still was not an […]
Continue readingWriting Historical Fiction: The Research Is Never Done
A month or two ago I was working on the cover for my novel about the Oregon Trail. I found a wonderful painting by Albert Bierstadt, called “The Oregon Trail.” It is in the public domain and the beautiful image evokes the era of my novel. It works well cropped […]
Continue readingA Twenty-First Century Visit to Fort Laramie
On our recent drive from Washington State to Missouri, my husband and I detoured to Fort Laramie. We both wanted to see it, but for different reasons. My husband loves military history and was interested in understanding the strategic role Fort Laramie played on the Western frontier. I wanted to […]
Continue readingRoles of Women During the California Gold Rush
The vast majority of miners during the California Gold Rush were men. The census of 1850 showed that only 8 percent of the population in California was female. In fact, women were so scarce in the mining regions that a young man in Nevada City wrote, Got nearer to a […]
Continue readingWhat Is Cottolene?
After helping me clean out my parents’ house after my father died, my husband got the bug to clean out our house. He has never liked clutter. Although most of the clutter in our home is hidden in cupboards and drawers, it is there, and he hates it. He started […]
Continue readingSluicing and Beyond: The Gold Rush Develops from Entrepreneurial to Capitalist
I’ve written about panning for gold and rockers and Long Toms. Inevitably, as the search for gold during the California Gold Rush, the miners developed more sophisticated methods of extracting gold. Sluicing was the next development after Long Toms. While some consider Long Toms to be primitive sluices, the difference […]
Continue readingUse of Rockers and Long-Toms During the California Gold Rush
As I wrote last month, the early California gold miners began with placer mining, simply picking the nuggets off the ground or from streams, with hands and pans and knives. Soon, however, they wanted to sift through more dirt faster to increase the profitability of their prospecting. One of the earliest […]
Continue readingPresident Polk Acknowledges California Gold Discovery Ten Months After It Occurred
It wasn’t until December 1848 that President James Polk acknowledged that gold had been found in California. President Polk was a strong supporter of western expansion. He had worked to acquire Oregon south of the 49th parallel for the United States in 1846. The Mexican-American War which President Polk supported left […]
Continue readingCharlie Brown and Me, Fifty Years Ago and Today
I’ve been fixated recently on what happened in 1964—fifty years ago—as 2014 winds to an end. Perhaps I should have focused on these events throughout the year, but I’ve only noticed occasionally when the media has reported on anniversaries of major happenings from 1964. I didn’t research 1964 events until […]
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