Cheryl Anne Stapp6 days ago1 minDog Town DiggingsMore than one gold rush mining camp was dubbed “dog town” by its inhabitants—miner’s slang for coarse, thrown-together encampments of...
Cheryl Anne StappMay 112 minFoiled IntriguePerhaps it’s only myth or legend (for sure, certain story elements are questionable), but nonetheless it’s a romantic tale, published as...
Cheryl Anne StappMay 43 minThe American RiverThey thought the American River was just a lovely stream of fresh water flowing through the valley from somewhere high in the unexplored...
Cheryl Anne StappApr 272 minLegendary Hank MonkGregarious, quick of mind and firm of hand on the reins, stage driver Hank Monk was a legend in his own lifetime—revered across the West...
Cheryl Anne StappApr 193 minServing California by SeaIn the Age of Sail, not everyone who entered California’s harbors came to settle. In the early 1820s, the ships of many nations began...
Cheryl Anne StappApr 133 minPony Brings News of Ft. SumterBy April 1861, California had been a state of the Union for only ten and a half years. As yet, no telegraph lines connected it with the...
Cheryl Anne StappApr 62 minThe Russian RiverIt’s called the Russian River because there were Russian settlements on the river itself and at other nearby sites from 1812 to 1841....
Cheryl Anne StappMar 304 minA Remarkable LifeShe was a woman of remarkable qualities; a woman who rose from being an uneducated young bride going west in a covered wagon in 1844, to...
Cheryl Anne StappMar 233 minHaunted by TragedyHer real name was Meriam but everyone called her Mary. She was a Donner Party survivor, fifteen when she was rescued from a...
Cheryl Anne StappMar 162 minHer Fight for EducationElizabeth Thorn Scott Flood was the capable, determined 19th century woman who paved the way for desegregated education for children of...
Cheryl Anne StappMar 93 minAn Ordinary WomanTeenaged Eliza Marshall emigrated with her family from England to the United States in 1839. They settled in Pawtucket, in the section of...
Cheryl Anne StappMar 24 minThe Richest WomanIn her later years Mary Frances Hopkins was publicly castigated as a rich, vain, willful woman; her conduct judged foolish and scandalous...
Cheryl Anne StappFeb 233 minRev. Thomas Starr KingSan Francisco’s First Unitarian Church congregation gaped at its new pastor with a mix of curiosity and consternation. Could this small,...
Cheryl Anne StappFeb 164 minMother Shoots Daughter's SeducerGunplay was so common during the chaotic, early days of the California Gold Rush that many incidents, though duly reported, drew little...
Cheryl Anne StappFeb 93 minThe Kindergarten MovementBy 1884 California was leading the nation in educational innovations with its system of pre-grammar-school schools, based on ideas...
Cheryl Anne StappFeb 23 minStriking Gold in Angels CampMark Twain said he based his short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” on what he thought, at the time, was a...
Cheryl Anne StappJan 263 minGolden IslandNot long after Marshall’s January 24th gold discovery at Coloma, three men stumbled upon a second gold find downriver—which became one of...
Cheryl Anne StappJan 192 minThe Luckless Gold DiscovererOn a chilly winter day 174 years ago this month, a construction site foreman named James Marshall picked up a few small flakes of gold...
Cheryl Anne StappJan 122 minThe Pretty Girl Stage DriverThe stage arrived in Oroville right on time that morning in October 1893; yet at the first sight of it, the townsfolk were astounded....
Cheryl Anne StappJan 53 minA Close AttachmentThe proverb “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is from the 17th century play The Mourning Bride, and means that no one is angrier...