January-February 2022

Administrator’s Notes

Ralph Gibson, Museums Administrator 

I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Day. I know it’s a little depressing to still be in the grips of the Pandemic, but hopefully things will get better as the month of January progresses. 

For now, our museums are open, though still at reduced hours, and we are working to get our newest museum, the Fruitvale Schoolhouse Museum, open sometime in the spring. We have a full schedule of Spring Living History booked at the Bernhard Museum and are hopeful that all the schools can make the fieldtrip. 

Looking ahead, we will begin planning for Heritage Trail 2022, one that we hope will look much like Heritage Trail 2019. And that is the mantra that’s been in my head since New Year’s Day – Hope. 2022 is the year of Hope. We have a great new class of volunteers with well over 20 new faces that will be gracing our museums and facilities, and we have plans to transform exhibit spaces in the Golden Drift Museum and the Placer County Museum that were shelved when the pandemic began. 2022, the year of hope, seems like a good year to finally tackle these projects. Of course, 2022 was also the year the film Soylent Green was set, but I think if we can all avoid the green sludge, we should be OK. I hope everyone has a terrific 2022!

 

The Alice Cross Pullen Quilt

Kasia Woroniecka, Curator of Collections

This cotton quilt was made by Alice Cross Pullen in 1915 with the help of her sisters Nettie and Lillian Cross and her mother Sarah Jane Cross. The quilt was constructed at the home of Alice Cross Pullen and Samuel Pullen, now a historical landmark, at 729 Lincoln Way in Auburn. Alice's granddaughter Alice Ekberg Fox of Fair Oaks was 10 years old during the quilting and remembers threading the needles. She presented this quilt to Carol Hughes, the donor, who restored and bound it in 1997. She donated the quilt in 2020. It will be on display at the Bernhard Museum in January.

Pullen Home, Undated.

Reflections of Roseville’s Ice-House Footbridge

Christina Richter, Administrative Clerk, Archives & Collections

The ice-house footbridge was once a centerpiece of Roseville’s daily life, now it’s preserved for generations going forward. A city will often represent their past with plaques and photographs and hope to tell a story. But plaques and photos can never tell the story as well as the actual experience of a historic structure. 

 

Today there’s a strong sense of time when you walk across the bridge, now located in Roseville’s Royer Park and spanning Dry Creek. 

 

Originally built in 1925, the massive structure provided ice-house employees an easy and safe walk over dangerously busy railroad tracks. Climbing the stairs from lower Vernon at B Street, each day workers utilized the bridge to gain entrance to the railyards and their employer, the Pacific Fruit Express.

The iconic, 40-ton bridge was built at 180 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 23 feet high. This historic structure represents the success of the ice plant, the secure employment once available for railroad workers, and gives us insight into the earliest days of a robust local economy.

Looking back, Roseville incorporated as a city in 1909, the same year the artificial ice plant had its beginnings in the railyards. The ice plant was so successful, that after a $600,000 investment was made in 1924, Roseville was on its way to becoming the largest freight shipping terminal west of the Mississippi. 

By the end of April, 1929, the Southern Pacific railroad employed a total of 1,225 people - making it Roseville’s largest employer, and the Pacific Fruit Express had become the largest artificial ice making plant in the world!

At the site of the bridge the Roseville Historical Society historic marker #2 states:

“Across this footbridge situated high above Roseville’s Southern Pacific Railroad yards passed untold thousands of Pacific Fruit Express employees on their way to work at the world’s largest artificial ice plant. In disuse since 1974 when the giant plant was razed, this local landmark was moved in 1986 for use as a public footbridge across Dry Creek and as a memorial to those days when Roseville was the ice capital of the world.”

 

Symbolically it represents a bygone era, a sweetheart really, of Roseville’s history. The footbridge that once served as a secure passage from long ago, is now seen as an inspiring reminder of our incredible legacy for future generations. 

 

Pacific Fruit Express Ice Plant. Used via permission of the City of Roseville Public Library, Leonard "Duke" Davis Collection.

Pioneer Honey Bees

April McDonald-Loomis, President, Placer County Historical Society

Did you know that honey bees were unknown on the West Coast until 1853? Honey bees are not even native to the United States. But as early as 1622, the Virginia colony began importing honey bees from Europe. That species quickly spread all over the eastern part of the United States but geography, climate and disease kept the bees there for over 200 hundred years. 

In early 1853, an unknown beekeeper managed to get twelve bee colonies to Panama from New York, he sold them to botanist Christopher A. Shelton. Shelton, in turn, brought them by steamer to San Jose, then by mule to Potrero de Santa Clara where Shelton had settled. Only one hive survived this last journey. Unfortunately, Shelton died in the explosion of the Jenny Lind steamship just one month after his bees got to the Rancho. 

That one hive quickly multiplied and became three hives. They sold at auction for $110 each, about 22 times the price of a beehive on the East Coast. 

A little closer to home, in 1856 W. B. Hayford and G. D. Hayford of Colfax bought ten swarms of bees in Lewistown Falls, Maine. They paid $5.00 a swarm. They got them as far as Panama when they found themselves in the middle of the infamous Watermelon Riot of 1856. 

The riot began with the simple act of an American refusing to pay a watermelon vendor for a slice of the fruit. A myriad of cultural and economic problems compounded this unfortunate event and set off a riot. The native Panamanians armed themselves with machetes and stones and attacked the Americans. The Americans fought back with guns. 

Over the course of the melee, two hotels, one store and most of the small American businesses had been destroyed. The riot then moved on to the railroad station. The station was destroyed, tracks removed and the telegraph wires were cut. The Hayford’s bee swarms were in a railroad car that was destroyed. The riot ended with deaths on both sides and many wounded. By September, 160 American troops occupied the area to maintain the safely of Americans passing through.

The Hayfords managed to keep the honey they had to feed the bee colonies and brought that back to Marysville where they sold it “very readily at five dollars a pound.” Later that same year, W. B. Hayford returned to Maine and bought five more swarms of bees and again brought them through Panama, this time with no trouble. He returned to Colfax and subdivided the swarms. He then sold at least one swarm to John and Harriet Crandall for $175 a swarm. The Crandalls were among the first agriculturists in Auburn. They had a large parcel of land with extensive gardens right on High Street. They had planted peach and apple trees in 1853 and by 1880 had 17 acres between present day High Street and Pine Street, facing today’s State Theater. No doubt the honey bees contributed to the success of the Crandall’s farm. They had five acres in apples trees, three acres in cherries and plums, two acres of grapes, as well as a large alfalfa field.

John Riggs Crandall

There are native bees in California, but they are solitary and do not make honey. They are, however, good pollinators, perhaps better than the domesticated honey bees for tomatoes, peaches, huckleberries and manzanita.

For sources that informed this story, see Pacific Rural Press 2 Nov, 1889 for the Hayfords account of bringing bees to Colfax. For general information on honey bees, see Cnps.org/flora, arboretum.ucdavis.edu, planetbee.org, atlasobscura.com/place/first-honey-bees. For the Watermelon Riot see Wikipedia for a general overview and the Encyclopedia of La6n American History p. 424-425 and the Hispanic American Historical Review Feb. 1, 1990 p. 85-108. For the Crandalls see Thompson and West p. 370 and Auburn Dry Diggings and Water by John Knox. 

Thanks to John Knox for once again finding and sharing this great little piece of our history! 

News from the Placer County Historical Society

April McDonald-Loomis, President, Placer County Historical Society

Happy 2022!  It doesn’t seem like that long ago that that turning 2000 was a big deal! Let’s hope this coming year will see the end of the Covid pandemic, I think we are all worn out from dealing with it. The Society doesn’t have much on the calendar for the coming year but at least we are back to our regular dinner meetings!  We are always looking for good speakers on local history so please let us know if you have anyone in mind or have a subject you are interested in hearing about. The schedule for 2022 dinner meetings:

February 3

April 7 

June 2

October 6

December 1

Hal Hall, April McDonald-Loomis, John Knox, and Mike Lynch present the 2021 Placer County History Award to Carol Cramer at the Bernhard Museum on December 10, 2021. 

We recently participated in a very joyful event. We unveiled two new plaques for the Bernhard Museum, a National Register plaque and a short history of the site plaque. The event also featured the first Posthumous History Award that was presented to Wendell Robie’s great grandson, Wendell Arnold in Wendell Robie’s name. Carol Cramer received the much deserved annual History Award for her work as a docent, a docent trainer, walking tour guide, living history founder, and that’s  just a few of her accomplishments and contributions to local history.  There was a great turn out by her fellow docents to honor her. Both awardees have contributed so much to the preservation and continuing legacy of the Bernhard Museum. It is always amazing to me how sometimes it only takes one person to have a lasting impact on preserving our history. We owe both Carol and Wendell a great deal of gratitude.

 

April McDonald-Loomis

President

Placer County Historical Society

Placer County Historical Organizations Calendar 

Please confirm all meeting times and locations which each organization.

Foresthill Divide Historical Society Meeting: Monday, January 17th at 6:00pm

Golden Drift Historical Society Meeting: Monday, February 7th at 7:00pm

Historical Advisory Board Meeting: Wednesday, February 16th at 5:30pm

Loomis Basin Historical Society Meeting: Wednesday, January 19th at 6:00pm; Wednesday, February 16th at 6:00pm

Placer County Historical Society Meeting: Thursday, January 6th at 2:00pm, Dinner Meeting: February 3rd at 6:00pm

Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society: Tuesday, January 25th at 7:00pm; Tuesday, February 22nd at 7:00pm

Placer Genealogical Society Meeting:  Thursday, January 27th at 7:00pm; Thursday, February 24th at 7:00pm

Rocklin Historical Society Meeting: Monday, January 10th at 6:00pm; Monday, February 14th at 6:00pm

Roseville Historical Society Meeting: Tuesday, January 11th at 4:00pm; Tuesday, February 8th at 4:00pm

 

Placer County Historical Organizations

Colfax Area Historical Society 

Dirk Gifford, (530) 346-8599 

colfaxhistory.org

Donner Summit Historical Society
Bill Oudegeest
(209) 606-6859
donnersummithistoricalsociety.org

Foresthill Divide Historical Society
Troy Simester
(530) 367-3535
foresthillhistory.org

Fruitvale School Hall Community Association
Mark Fowler

Gold Country Medical History Museum 

Lynn Carpenter
(530) 885-1252

Golden Drift Historical Society 
Sarah Fugate
(530) 389-2121

Historical Advisory Board
Glenn Vineyard
(916) 747-1961

Joss House Museum and Chinese History Center
Larry Finney
(530) 305-9380 

Lincoln Area Archives Museum
Elizabeth Jansen
(916) 645-3800
laamca.org

Lincoln Highway Association
Trey Pitsenberger

vice.president@lincolnhighwayassoc.org

https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/ca/

Loomis Basin Historical Society
Karen Clifford
(916) 663-3871
ppgn.com/loomishistorical.html

Maidu Museum & Historic Site
Kaitlin Kincade
(916) 774-5934
roseville.ca.us/indianmuseum

Native Sons of the Golden West Parlor #59
Dave Allen
(530) 878-2878
dsallen59@sbcglobal.net

Newcastle Portuguese Hall Association
Mario Farinha
(530) 269-2412

North Lake Tahoe Historical Society

Phil Sexton
(530) 583-1762
northtahoemuseums.org

Old Town Auburn Preservation Society
Lynn Carpenter
(530) 885-1252 

Placer County Genealogical Society
Toni Rosasco
(530) 888-8036
pcgs.pcgenes.com

Placer County Historical Society
April McDonald-Loomis 
(530) 823-2128
placercountyhistoricalsociety.org

Placer County Museums Docent Guild
Craig Norris 

Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society
Chuck Spinks
chuck.spinks@outlook.com

Rocklin Historical Society
rocklinhistorical@gmail.com 
rocklinhistory.org

Roseville Historical Society
Denise Fiddyment
(916) 773-3003

S.N.O.W. Sports Museum 

Jill Short Milne, (415) 254-5686

thesnowmuseum.org