November-December 2022

Administrator’s Notes

Ralph Gibson, Museums Administrator 

Ralph Jr. and Russell sledding, February 1932. May Perry Collection, Placer County Museums. 

The carved pumpkins on the porch are beginning to look a little sad as the rot sets in and the faint voice of the last trick-or-treater has faded away. That can only mean we’ve entered the downhill slalom towards the Holidays. It’s time to take measure of the things we are thankful for, to look back and reflect on the year 2022 and to start working on those Christmas lists! Myself, I’m thankful I’m not a turkey in November, but I’m also thankful that we have such a talented, skilled, and dedicated staff. I’m thankful we now have eight museums in our County system; I’m thankful we have a great number of motivated, dependable, and proficient volunteers; and I’m thankful that we have the full support of Placer County, from the Board of Supervisors to the Management Team at the Facilities Management Department.

As turkeys grow more nervous, we’ll be installing Christmas decorations throughout the Placer County Museum, the Bernhard Museum, the DeWitt History Museum, and we’ll add small touches to the Gold Rush Museum. Thanks to a generous donation from the Placer County Docent Guild, we will have more greenery at the Bernhard Museum this year and several new Christmas trees at the Placer County Museum. Our staff cannot wait to turn our museums into a festive home for the Holidays. I hope to see all of you at one of our museums this Holiday season.

From all our staff, I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Card Confusion

Kasia Woroniecka, Curator of Collections

There are many Christmas cards in our collection, but among them are a few that don’t seem Christmassy at all. In the 19th century the iconography of Christmas was not fully developed and some of the images depicted on the cards had nothing to do with Christmas, winter, or the season at all.

 
Christmas was not a holiday in early America, and it wasn’t until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace and reinvent it from a carnival holiday to a family-centered day of peace, charity and good-will. Christmas was declared a federal holiday in 1870, so before that it was up to the employers to give their workers a day off to celebrate with their families.

The printing of the first Christmas card in 1843 was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, English educator and first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Yet it wasn’t until the 1860s when the commercial printing of postcards, influenced by technical improvements to the printing process and mass production of images, took off. Victorians collected, displayed, and mailed cards in great numbers, and standardized mail and delivery prices contributed to postcard popularity.

Christmas greeting card with a pastoral view and clover. 1908. Placer County Museums Collection. 

Christmas greeting card. Portrait of a woman with red hair. Message on reverse: “May you a bonnie Christmas spend, partake of joys untold, and like the hills in summertime, be often tipped with gold. True happiness be thine this Christmas Day.” C. 1900. Placer County Museums Collection.

Christmas greeting card with pink roses. C. 1900. Placer County Museums Collection 

Christmas greeting card. “The Avenger” by Henry Joseph Payne (1858-1927), an English military artist. The Wild West series. Printed in England by Raphael Tuck and Sons c. 1900.  Placer County Museums Collection.

While some of the surprising images in our Christmas cards include pink roses, daisies, clovers, and butterflies, 19th century cards often included images of dead birds, insects, dancing vegetables, and lobsters among some of the more bizarre designs. They seem unusual today, but some of these images poked fun at superstitions, were considered signs of good fortune or, as in the case of dead birds, were used to elicit sympathy towards the poor struggling in freezing weather during Christmas.

The following postcards are from an album (1959.7.2). They are glued to the pages, so messages, stamps, or publication dates are not available. The album was donated by Lucy Thomas of Weimar.

Christmas greeting cards. Children with dog. C. 1880. Placer County Museums Collection.

Christmas greeting card. Putti with spring flowers and swallow. C. 1900. Placer County Museums Collection.

Christmas greeting card. Forest scene with deer and elves C. 1910.  Placer County Museums Collection.

Christmas in the Mines

April McDonald-Loomis, Placer County Historical Society

The diaries and letters of would-be miners in California during the early years of the Gold Rush treat Christmas in a variety of ways. Generally, it was recorded as just another day. Other entertainments like card playing, gambling, and drinking to excess, appear with frequency but not necessarily around the Christmas holiday. Most of the accounts of holiday celebrations centered on the patriotic observances: the 4th of July was by far the most written about and even Washington’s birthday generated a great deal of diarists entries.

Most diaries recorded Christmas almost in passing, instead chronicling the day to day drudgery of mining, the weather, and daily chores like cooking and laundry. James Staples, who was mining near Auburn on December 25, 1851, wrote only about the miserable weather and building a coffin for a dear friend. Dr. Stillman, in Sacramento in 1849, wrote: “There is nothing here to remind me of Christmas.”

Sometimes the diaries and letters did record Christmas celebrations. Louis Amelia Smith wrote from the Feather River in 1851 of a Christmas when the local saloon had a new owner and “casks of brandy and baskets of champagne” began arriving via mule train. She noted that it was the first time the wooden floors of the saloon had ever been scrubbed. That celebration lasted a whole three weeks! Whether due to celebrating the holiday or the presence of a large supply of liquor for the grand opening of the saloon is unclear.

Many of the celebrations around Christmas on the East coast centered around food, lavish spreads that could take days to prepare. In the gold camps food played an important part of the celebrations also. One diarist wrote they were treated to “flapjacks fried in bacon grease, bootleg coffee, and Johnny cakes that were baked on a shovel.” Another reported that “they feasted on flapjacks, biscuits baked with a little gunpowder for added flavor, and for a rare dessert: a can of peaches.”

The weather and local of the miners was also a factor. There are several accounts of men trapped in the deep snow of the Sierras with little food and less joy. The closer to a town, the easier to get something special for the holiday.

Another thing common in the accounts was dancing. Many miners arrived with small portable instruments like violins, flutes, banjos, guitars, clarinets and accordions. Men showed little reluctance to take the female part in the dancing, wearing an arm band or ribbon to denote their role.

 

SUNDAY MORNING IN THE MINES, 1872. Charles Christian  Nahl . Crocker Art Museum, E. B. Crocker Collection, 1872.381.

Shooting off guns or making small explosive devices was also a common thread. One miner wrote, “ there were guns, pistols, and rifles popping off all around us. We blew up 2 or 3 old glass bottles.”

Nostalgia and homesickness often was evident in the diaries and letters. The men expressed a longing for family and friends. One young miner even admitted that on Christmas day he “hid himself behind some bushes , sat down and cried, and thought about home and wished he was there.” He did feel better later surrounded by his fellow miners sitting around the fire telling stories and singing Christmas songs.

Many historians have written about the general lack of moral restraint felt by the young miners out from under the all-seeing eye of the village townsfolks and their families. “There was a tendency toward various indulgences and men more readily engaged in questionable, riotous behavior.”

By 1852, with the arrival of more women and children, the social fabric of the mining camps began to change. The women brought religion, moral judgement and education. Men began to moderate their behavior and limit the excesses previously enjoyed. Christmas became a “more like a settled familiar Eastern pattern of a family -centered, private day of celebration. One miner wrote: "With families came a sense of home life, and the general recklessness that had been a marked feature in the early days was beginning to disappear.”

This article replied heavily on the Master of Arts thesis by Christian Parker, Christmas During the California Gold Rush, 2008. CSU-Csus.esplor.exlibirsgroup.com

The Guy Who is Santa Claus 

Christina Richter, Administrative Clerk, Archives & Collections

It was September of 1897 when 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to the New York Sun newspaper and asked if Santa really existed. The question has delighted and intrigued Christmas fans ever since. The editorial heralds the famous “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

Sun editor Francis P. Church explained to Virginia “Without Santa there would be no childlike faith, then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist.” Perhaps the most poignant phrase is “Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders …unseen and unseeable in the world.”

The city of Auburn is especially fortunate to have had a legendary Santa Claus for over a quarter of a century. His name was Guy Lukens.

 

Guy Lukens as Santa Claus at the Auburn State Theater, 1935. Placer County Museums Collection.

Guy was 15 years old when Virginia inquired about Santa Claus. Perhaps the inspiration for his Santa Claus years was derived from her letter and its response. As an adult Mr. Lukens acted the part of Santa Claus for every church, school, civic program and Christmas celebration possible. The Placer Herald once reported that “Christmas without Guy as Santa Claus would be almost a catastrophe to those who look forward each year to his appearance.”

Sylvester Guy Lukens, aka “Guy”, became involved in his community at an early age. At the age of 20 he was one of the organizers of the ‘new’ volunteer Auburn Fire Department and two years later he was elected Chief of Auburn Hook and Ladder Co. No 1, taking the position January 1, 1905. He treasured this post and eventually became the oldest volunteer Fire Chief in the state. Lukens once explained that in the early days “what we lacked in equipment we made up for in enthusiasm.”

Guy was also appointed, then elected, as Placer County’s tax assessor and collector. He never ran for office in the manner of a true politician, he simply announced his candidacy. Yet no person in Placer County was ever elected by a bigger majority in more elections than he was. Lukens also enjoyed being a member of almost every fraternal organization in the area and was a strong supporter of civic improvement programs.

His Santa Claus years fell exactly in the midst of the some of the most tumultuous times in history, including the conflict of WWI, the Great Depression and eventually WWII. Yet it was well known that Guy’s spirit as Santa Claus would lift even the dreariest of times.

This holiday season we honor those in our past who tirelessly brought the spirit of Santa Claus to their communities, and are grateful to those who ensure the children in our lives today also have the chance to believe. Our beloved Guy Lukens reminds us of what this wonderful spirit is all about.

“A thousand years from now Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

News from the Placer County Historical Society

April McDonald-Loomis, President

Greetings from the Society,

Looking forward to our December 1st dinner meeting. We are proud to have Chris Enss, a New York Times best-selling author for our presentation. She will be speaking on her new book, Iron Women: the Ladies Who Helped Build the Railroad. Bring your pocketbook, you will want to buy this book! She has over twenty other titles and will be bringing some of them also.

You will need some cash to bid on our raffle items, this year we are doing several baskets instead of buying tickets for lots of small items. Thanks to Walt Wilson’s family for putting this together. Remember, this is our only fund raiser so please be ready to participate.

We will also be presenting the Placer County History Award at this dinner. We are so pleased to be able to honor Carmel Barry-Schweyer. So many of us have known and worked with Carmel over her many years of service as the Archives curator, we are thrilled that she is receiving this award. Besides her several books on local history, she is responsible for writing so many of the nomination papers for getting a property listed on the National Registry. These applications are rigorous and time consuming and she is great at drafting them!

Josh Alpine

Christie Brzyscz

Sally Miller

Several of us attended the Docent Guild Cemetery Tour. This is a great event, so much fun and we sold quite a few of our books also!

PCHS plaque at the Fruitvale Schoolhouse Museum.

The plaque we funded for the new Fruitvale Museum is up and looks great. If you have any ideas for places that should be honored with a plaque, please contact a board member.

April McDonald-Loomis

Placer County Historical Organizations Calendar 

Please confirm all meeting times and locations which each organization

Foresthill Divide Historical Society Meeting: Monday, November 21st at 6:00pm

Golden Drift Historical Society Meeting: Monday, December 5th at 7:00pm

Historical Advisory Board Meeting: Wednesday, December 21st at 5:30pm

Historical Organizations Committee Meeting: Tuesday, November 1st at 9:00am

Loomis Basin Historical Society Meeting: Wednesday, November 16th at 6:00pm; Wednesday, December 21st at 6:00pm

Placer County Historical Society Meeting: Thursday, November 3rd at 2:00pm, Dinner Meeting: Thursday, December 1st at 6:00pm

Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society: Tuesday, November 22nd at 7:00pm; Tuesday, December 27th at 7:00pm

Placer Genealogical Society Meeting: Monday, November 28th at 7:00pm; Monday, December 26th at 7:00pm

Rocklin Historical Society Meeting: Monday, November 14th at 6:00pm; Monday, December 12th at 6:00pm

Roseville Historical Society Meeting: Tuesday, November 8th at 4:00pm; Tuesday, December 13th 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

Annie DeMaria-Norris 

(916) 206-4479

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
Diane Fishburn
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

September-October 2022

Administrator’s Notes

Ralph Gibson, Museums Administrator 

Much like a pumpkin farmer, planning for our fall programs began way back in the spring. The Old Auburn Cemetery Tour will be on Sunday, October 2nd from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Like last year, the Auburn Cemetery District will provide porta-potties. If you aren’t playing one of our dearly departed or assisting as a “Ghost Host”, we’d love to have you come to the cemetery to learn about some of the people from our past. This event is Free! Kudos to Carol Cramer who organizes and manages this event so expertly every year!

Old Auburn Cemetery

Also, this fall are the Old Auburn Ghost Tours. We don’t run this event, but we do assist the group that manages it and many of our docents portray the other-worldly apparitions of historic tortured souls. The tours will be on October 22nd with the first tour at 5:00 pm and the second tour at 7:30 pm; October 29th at 6:30 pm; and October 30th at 6:30 pm. This event serves as a fundraiser for local non-profits (including our Placer County Museums Docent Guild) and tickets are $35.00 each. Tickets will go on sale September 10th at 11:00 am both online and at the Placer County Visitors Center located at 1103 High Street in Auburn. To buy the tickets online, visit: Facebook.com/HauntsofAuburn

Finally, some of you may be aware that we had two separate incidents of theft at the Bernhard Museum. It has been gut-wrenching for our staff and volunteers, but we are working through it and have implemented new security procedures. We’re hopeful this will all soon be far behind us as we welcome and revel in the autumn colors, the carved Jack O’Lanterns, and the occasional museum ghost. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Keyboard Instruments at the Bernhard Museum

Kasia Woroniecka, Curator of Collections

Woman at her piano c. 1890. PCM, Sam McClain Collection.

Music played an important part in everyday 19th century life and was enjoyed by Victorians of all social classes. The center of family life was in the parlor and that is where families entertained, enjoyed private musical gatherings, and took part in sing-alongs. Owning a piano or an organ during this period became a status symbol that demonstrated family’s social standing, financial situation, and ability to enjoy leisure time. Playing a musical instrument was part of a well-rounded education and children often performed the latest popular pieces at social functions. Musical ability became especially important for young women who hoped to attract suitors by displaying musical talents along with their femininity and domesticity. Keyboard instruments, especially the piano, were seen as the woman’s instrument: graceful and modest, with fingers (and shoed toes) the only body parts touching the instrument.

Iowa Hill dance hall with organ c. 1910. PCM, Candy Lehman Collection.

The growing popularity of home entertainment and technological advancements of the industrial evolution influenced the emerging musical industry. Factory mass-produced instruments became widely available on the market with London, Vienna, and Paris as major manufacturing centers. Parlor music repertoire often included religious and patriotic pieces, as well as sentimental songs of love and loss. Sheet music was widely available and polkas, waltzes and music and songs from popular plays were in demand.

Until they were replaced by the phonograph, radio and television, musical instruments, especially the piano, were at the center of family entertainment. Three 19th century keyboard instruments are on display at the Bernhard Museum: a melodeon, a pump organ, and a grand piano.

This melodeon was donated to our collection in 1974. It is a six octave “Charles Prince” model manufactured by the George A. Prince and Company of Buffalo, NY, around 1862. The George A. Prince Co. was the leading manufacturer of organs in the United States from the 1850s until the 1870s. The melodeon is a type of a reed organ, the forerunner of the parlor organ. It was invented in Buffalo, NY and often looked like small square grand piano. It had one set of reeds, which created sound when air was pumped by foot pedals. Some had one or two levers on the side of the keyboard that controlled a secondary set of reeds that were usually tuned an octave higher for a more varied and higher pitch sound. Melodeons were very popular before and During the Civil War. They were cheaper than pianos and rarely needed maintenance or tuning.

The melodeon was donated by Ann Ballard of Penryn. Ballard was the president of the Placer County Historical Society, president of the Loomis Garden Club, and member of the Auburn Federated Women’s Club.

This organ was donated to our collection in 1985 and dates to around 1890. These were commonly referred to as “parlor organs,” “reed organs” and “pump organs.” They were operated by pumping large foot pedals, which forced air across a bank of reeds, or thin vibrating metal strips. Organs built during this period had elaborate designs, with shelves, high backs, and carved panels, often in the Eastlake style of the late Victorian Period. This organ was made by the W.W. Kimball Organ Company, which was founded in 1857 in Chicago. At the height of production in the late 1880s the company was able to produce fifty organs a week. By 1890s it expanded to include large-scale pipe organs. The company ceased production of organs in 1942 and focused on piano manufacture.

The organ was donated to our collection by Dale Moore of Weimar. It was a fixture in the front parlor of the Iowa farm home of Charles and Susan Plumly, donor’s grandparents, from around 1887 until Charles’ death in 1933. It remained in the parlor until the estate of their daughter, donor’s mother Belle L. Plumly Moore, was settled in 1963 following her death in 1961. The organ was purchased for Belle Plumly when she was ten or eleven years old. Belle Plumly’s daughter Margaret Moore inherited it and moved it to her house in Weimar.

By the-turn-of-the-century, the piano became the instrument of choice for the American home. It became the essential instrument in performance, accompaniment, and composition. More sheet music publications were made for piano in comparison to other instruments since the piano allowed amateurs to produce sound quality that would otherwise take months of practice on woodwind or string instruments.

This piano was donated to our collection in 1993. It is a square grand piano, sometimes called a box grand. The square piano is not square but rectangular in shape, and usually has a keyboard that is between five and five and a half octaves, shorter that today’s piano that usually has seven and a quarter octaves. Its strings are arranged diagonally across the case, unlike the strings in the grand piano, where strings run vertically to the keyboard. The piano was made by Steinway and Sons around 1868. The company was founded in 1853 in New York City by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later Americanized to Steinway), a German immigrant. By 1880 the company revolutionized the way pianos were made and marketed. The pianos were produced in New York and Hamburg, Germany, and sold in elegant showrooms. The company also built concert venues, where audiences would enjoy performances on various Steinway models. The company is still in business today and continues to build high quality instruments. Square pianos enjoyed popularity until the turn of the century, when upright pianos, which took up less space, became popular. The piano was donated by Edith Slade Frost of Los Altos.

We were fortunate to have Alicia McMillan perform on these three instruments to reveal their complex and beautiful sounds, which you can view on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/placercountymuseums. Alicia McMillan is the Worship and Music Director and organist at the Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church in San Diego. She earned her music degrees in organ performance from the University of Tampa in Florida, Northwestern University in Chicago, and National University in San Diego. Her performance experience ranges from seasonal solo organ concerts, performing concertos with orchestra during annual Christmas Concerts, serving as choral festival accompanist, and performing on the famous Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park.

Music in the Days of the Gold Rush

April McDonald-Loomis, Placer County Historical Society

A miner’s life was filled with loneliness, homesickness, physical danger, bad food, illness and very, very hard work. Any escape from the day to day drudgery of mining was a much sought after relief.

Men gathered whenever they could for companionship and entertainment. Drinking and gambling were the main pursuits but these were often accompanied by music of one sort or another.

Would be miners brought any musical instruments they could possibly carry across the Plains or on the sea route to California. Banjoes, guitars, fiddles, harmonicas and accordions were all very portable and made the long journey. After arriving in California, many men made more money from making music than from digging for gold.

Miner’s journals of the early days often recount tales of miners gathering around a fiddle or banjo player and having a “stag dance.” Typically, those miners portraying women tied a white handkerchief around their arms. Fueled by alcohol, the dances could last till dawn.

As the camps grew to small towns, music halls or theaters were often part of the foundation of the town. Traveling troupes of entertainers were hugely popular and miners would travel many miles from their distant camps to a theater. Lola Montez, Lotta Crabtree, Kate Hayes and Ella Bruce were among the most popular gold rush entertainers and they made huge amounts of money on their tours. Ella Bruce sang in Auburn in 1853.

Also very popular were the hurdy - gurdy houses, one of which was said to be in Last Chance. A group of young women, often accompanied by a married couple, for propriety sake, would travel from hotel to hotel with a band of some sort, and dance with the miners for a fee. Some of the women were quite respectable, some not so much!

In The Days of Gold, author Malcolm J. Rohrbough wrote: “From the beginning, the 49ers sang. They sang as they marched to the wharves, on shipboard, and around the campfires on the way to California. They sang in the diggings and in the towns. They sang to themselves; they sang in groups; they were sung to by entertainers. Later, they sang on the way home and after their return.“

The first songs expressed the optimism and enthusiasm of the new adventure. Some songs related the hard journey to California by land or sea, later songs would note the contrast between the popular accounts and the realities of mining. Many songs had a “strong element of nostalgia and pathos,” expressing the hard life of the miners and the homesickness they suffered. Many of the songs were humorous. Later the songs would reflect the celebration of the great adventure and the remembrance of old comrades.

Below find lyrics from some Gold Rush era songs.

Oh, California

I come from Salem City with my washbowl on my knee

I'm going to California, the gold dust for to see

It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry

The sun's so hot I froze to death, oh brothers don't you cry

Oh, California That's the land for me

I'm bound for San Francisco With my washbowl on my knee

Life In California

O I ha’nt got no home, nor nothing else, I spose

Misfortune seems to follow me wherever I goes

 I come to California with a heart both stout and bold

And have been up to the diggings there to get some lumps of gold

But I’m a used up man

A perfect used up man

And if ever I get home again I’ll stay there if I can

The Arrival of the Greenhorn

I've just got in across the Plains, I'm poorer than a snail

My mules all died, but poor old Clip I pulled in by the tail

I fed him last at Chimney Rock, that's where the grass gave out

I'm proud to tell, we stood it well, along the Truckee route

But I'm very weak and lean, though I started plump and fat

How I wish I had the gold machine, I left back on the Platte!

And a pair of striped bed tick pants, my Sally made for me

To wear while digging after gold and when I left says she

"Here take the laudanum with you Sam, to check the di-a-ree”

The above came from a variety of sources: The Age of Gold by H.W. Brands p.213. 253, Days of Gold by M. J. Rohrbough, p. 287-289, sfgate.com, folkwaysisi.edu, balladsofamerica.org, seecalifornia.com, Auburn Journal 6-14-1974 & Sierra Heritage June 1981, Placer Herald July 30, 1853 & August 6, 1853.

Heavy Metal in Auburn 

Jason Adair, Exhibit Technician

Gold isn’t the only heavy metal people around here were into. There was a time back in the late 1980s when you couldn’t throw a drumstick without it being incorporated into a local metal band’s double bass solo. My own band, Bloody Chicken, was reputed to be the “Loudest band at Placer High” which was probably the closet thing to a compliment that you could pay us. But how did a little town in the foothills become home to dozens of bands of all stripes?

The proliferation of Auburn bands in the late 80s- early 90s was driven by a few different forces. The most important was new places for bands who were just starting out to play at.

There have always been places for nationally touring acts to play shows but small all ages clubs where your friends under 21 could come see you attempt to be a rock star at were almost non-existent. What’s now the Auburn Event Center up on Elm Street used to be an all-ages club on Thursday nights called Club Soda with a Twist. The club would book three bands a week plus a DJ. In addition to that club, there were several coffee shops in town like The Firehouse, in the old firehouse on Lincoln Way, and Café Leon next to the bowling alley, where quieter bands could play for tips, coffee and a couple of bucks.

Another driver of band creation was the advent of home recording and duplication. Being in a band was cool, but being able to record your music and force your friends to blast in in their cars was amazing. In the early 80s the only way to do this was to rent studio time and it was hard to justify spending that kind of money to record bands like Bloody Chicken. By the time the late 80s rolled around the Tascam Portastudio was becoming popular enough that there were several musicians around town who had them and would be cool with coming over and spend a few hours recording your band.

After that it was just a matter of getting two tape decks together and copying tapes while you drew cover art and made the insert for the tape case. It was all very rough and do it yourself, but that was just the thing: you could do it yourself.

Having tapes not only allowed you to give your music to friends, you could also sell them at your shows where you might make enough money to pay for gas!

 

I don’t think I have any tapes from my old bands but I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other band’s old tapes, t-shirts, flyers etc. floating around in parent’s garages. I’m hoping the museum can start a collection of all the music from bands that didn’t quite make past Loomis. Or even the ones that did, like The South Loomis Quickstep, who was reportedly the only band who didn’t get booed off the stage opening for Cheech and Chong.

 

News from the Placer County Historical Society

April McDonald-Loomis, President

The big news here is the unveiling of our new website, it has been “under construction” for some time, (we had tons of content that needed to be reformatted). Do take a look at the fresh, updated new look.. We thank Ellen McKay of Webcrafters for the superb job. If you have any ideas for web content please let us know.

placerhistoricalsociety.org

 

Our Society member Frank Nissen just hosted a really nice book launch for his new Gold Rush era book Fortune’s Call. I just picked it up and can’t give it a review yet but it looks like it will be a good story of a young man’s eventful journey from Vermont to California. I think it is available in all the usual places. Another publication that is out are the six volumes of Auburn’s 49ers. Well at least the first three volumes are out, the last three I am picking up at the printers and they should be in place by the time this The Placer is issued. A few years ago, John Knox and I set out to find as many 49ers who mined in Auburn in 1849 and early 1850 as we could. We had hoped to find maybe 15 or 20 and eventually came up with more that 80 men and women that we could document. Each and every one has a unique story to tell. Those should be available at Winston Smith’s books, Serendipity, the Visitor’s Center and Auburn 360. You can always contact the Society through our new website and order any of our publications or just send me an email.

The Society is working on expanding our scholarship program. We currently have one in place at Sierra College but for some reason it has never garnered any attention. We are working on transferring the $1,000 scholarship to be available to all the local high schools.

We are getting ready to open the Benton Welty historic Classroom for student tours for the upcoming school year. We have expanded our invitation list and hope to reach more teachers and students than we have previously. The Covid lock down pretty much halted any tours and we are trying to get it going again.

We are still working with the City to get signage up for Nevada Street for Spanish Flat and the fruit sheds. I met recently with the City Manager and have some hope that progress will be made on this project.

Hope to see you all at the next dinner meeting on October 6th. John Knox will be the speaker on Auburn Dry Diggings and Water. A fascinating look at the history of water delivery to Auburn from the days of the Gold Rush to modern times. One not to be missed if you love local history!

Placer County Historical Organizations Calendar 

Please confirm all meeting times and locations which each organization

 Foresthill Divide Historical Society Meeting: Monday, September 19th at 6:00pm

Golden Drift Historical Society Meeting: Monday, October 3rd at 7:00pm

Historical Advisory Board Meeting: Wednesday,  October 19th at 5:30pm

Loomis Basin Historical Society Meeting: Wednesday, September 21st at 6:00pm; Wednesday, October 19th at 6:00pm

Placer County Historical Society Meeting: Thursday, September 1st at 2:00pm,  

Placer County Historical Society Dinner Meeting: Thursday, October 6th at 6:00pm

Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society: Tuesday, September 27th at 7:00pm; Tuesday, October 25th at 7:00pm

Placer Genealogical Society Meeting:  Monday, September 26th at 7:00pm; Monday, October 24th at 7:00pm

Rocklin Historical Society Meeting: Monday, September 12th at 6:00pm; Monday, October 10th at 6:00pm

Roseville Historical Society Meeting: Tuesday, September 13th at 4:00pm; Tuesday, October 11th 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

Annie DeMaria-Norris 

(916) 206-4479

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
Diane Fishburn
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

 

 

July-August 2022

Administrator’s Notes

Ralph Gibson, Museums Administrator 

We’re in the middle of summer and that means fire season. I hope all of you stay safe as the weather gets warmer and the woods around us more combustible. It seems each summer there is one historic fire after another. For good or bad, history has a way of being made in summer.

The summer of 1959 was no different. The first week of the summer of ’59, the historic Orleans Hotel was demolished to make way for a Shell Gas Station. The Orleans stood on that site (where the Valero gas station is today) since at least 1870.

Also in the summer of ’59, the Gold Country Fair revived the old Gold Rush Revival after a ten year hiatus and made it part of the fair celebration.

But there was another historic event in Auburn that summer: the 1959 Auburn All Stars Little League team was on a roll. It began with the opening game of the area tournament on July 23^rd and ended on August 30^th in the championship game of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Though they lost that game to a team from Michigan, over 3,000 people greeted them on their return to Auburn on August 31^st.

In the summer of 1959, Auburn lost a little history and gained a little history. If you’d like to learn more about the Auburn All Stars Little League team that made it all the way to Williamsport, visit the Placer County Museum in the Historic Courthouse and embrace a little bit of the magic from that historic summer.

Auburn Little League All-Stars celebration in Central Square, Auburn. PCM, Auburn Journal Collection.

 

The History of Ice Cream

Kasia Woroniecka, Curator of Collections

Ice cream is one of the world’s oldest desserts and a favorite in the United States, where according to the International Dairy Foods Association an average person consumes around twenty-three pounds of ice cream per year. The most popular ice cream flavors are vanilla and chocolate. California is the country’s leading ice cream producer, with over one hundred million gallons made annually. Yet until the early 1800s, ice cream was a rare and expensive dessert enjoyed mostly by the wealthy. This changed with the design of the insulated icehouse, the development of ice harvesting and the invention of the ice cream freezing machine. Manufacturing ice cream became an industry in America in the mid-19^th century and ice cream production increased because of many technological inventions, including electric power, mechanical refrigeration and packing machines. We have a few objects in our collection that help illustrate the history of mass production of ice cream.

People eating ice cream. PCM, Sam McClain Collection.

Before the invention of the ice cream freezer, ice cream was a flavored slushy mixture with chunks of ice. In 1843 Nancy Johnson, a homemaker from Maryland, invented the ice cream freezing machine, which revolutionized the ice cream making process. The machine is a manual device cranked by a handle. It consists of a wooden bucket that would contain crushed ice and salt and the pewter cylinder that would contain the ice cream mixture. Inside the cylinder is a dasher that would be attached to the lid, which then would be bolted on to the handle, and turned to make the ice cream. The process took about 45 minutes. The technique of adding salt to the ice surrounding the cylinder created an endothermic reaction that lowered the freezing point allowing for the mixture inside the cylinder to freeze. The machine sold quickly and was produced by many companies, including the Alaska Freezer Company.

This Alaska Freezer Company ice cream freezer, currently on display at the Bernhard Museum, was donated to our collection in 1982. The company was established in Winchendon, Massachusetts, in 1902. In 1963 the company bought the White Mountain Freezer Company and produced under that name as well. The White Mountain Freezer Company was established in 1872 and in the early days was the largest ice cream freezer maker in the world. In 1974 it was purchased by an investor group and renamed the White Mountain Freezer Inc.

Ice cream parlor c. 1900-1910. PCM, Keith Lukens Collection.

Ice cream became widely available to the public in the mid-19^th century. By the 1920s people consumed it mostly in drug store soda fountains, ice cream parlors, lunch counters restaurants and other public spaces. Although in the beginning ice cream flavors were mostly lemon and vanilla, the Roseville Tribune Register reported on May 5^th, 1933, that “during the year 1932 the county produced a total of 5,024 gallons of ice cream – strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and every color, flavor and combination known to modern creamery. In the entire state of California more than 10,000,000 gallons of the frozen delicacy were produced. (…). Reasons for this tremendous growth include improved methods of manufacture, more efficient and wider distribution made by the electric storage cabinet, better road conditions and refrigerated transportation.”

In the early 1900s ice cream was packed onto brick molds, which were cut into smaller pieces and wrapped in parchment paper for sale. Commercially made ice cream came in large metal cans. The availability of refrigeration in the 1930s made it possible for consumers to keep store-bought ice cream at home. Automated filling machines changed the way ice cream was packaged and wax-coated cardboard boxes became popular.

Holly-Maid Ice Cream one quart carton c. 1940. Placer County Museums Collection.

Wood’s Homemade Ice Cream container c. 1940. Placer County Museums Collection.

We have two ice cream cartons in our collection. Wood’s Ice Cream, owned by Sherman Woods, was produced in Auburn. The company had an ice cream parlor on Lincoln Way, which also served home cooked lunches.

Holly-Maid Ice Cream was made in Los Angeles by the Hollywood Ice Cream Company, and began production in 1923.

The Betsy Ross of Horseshoe Bar

April McDonald-Loomis, Placer County Historical Society

Sarah Capson was only 15 years old when she and her mother Elizabeth made a harrowing trip via the Isthmus to  join her father, sea captain Robert Capson in California in 1852. They endured an overcrowded ship with little food and water and with Panama Fever running rampant through the ship’s passengers. But they safely made it to Horseshoe Bar. Her father put together a home that was part tent and part brush on the banks of the American River.

As it was nearing the Fourth of July, Mr. Sealey, who had a boarding house on the Bar, came up with idea of erecting a  flag pole so miners up and down the river could see the American flag waving from Horseshoe Bar. A committee of miners came to the house and asked if Sarah could make a flag for the occasion. They bought the material for her and she proceeded to make a large Flag with thirty-one stars. Sarah’s mother probably helped her make the large flag.  Miners Charles O’Neil, who later became Chief of Police in Sacramento, and Lorenzo Coombs volunteered to make the pole, which was an astounding 100 feet tall.

News of the event became known up and down the river. On the evening of July 4^th,  men from Smith’s Bar, Rattlesnake Bar, Kentucky Bar, Oregon Bar, Granite Bar, Dolan’s Bar, Long Bar, and Milk Punch Bar marched with torches toward Horseshoe Bar. It was said that nearly 500 men assembled. The men of many nations gathered and as the evening wore on, they all began to sing their own national songs, in their native languages, at the same time!

The flag raising was a success and accompanied by the roar of artillery. They found a granite stone of some four feet square, buried it in the road in front of the flag pole and using an anvil and fuses, “fired salvos that could be heard for miles around.” Sarah was given the honor of “christening” the flag with a goblet of wine. As she did she gave a small speech: ”the Flag of our Union, long may it be the hope of the oppressed and home of the free.”

There was a band of eleven pieces made up by the miners and they played the Star-Spangled Banner. A large barbecue followed with alcohol flowing freely. At about 3:00 in the morning, the miners picked up their torches and those who could, began walking back to their camps. It was said that in the long line of torch light, every once in a while, one would suddenly drop from sight and burn out on the ground, the bearer evidently unable to make it any further up the trail.

Sarah married James Smyth in October 1852. They had a store near the Franklin House on the Auburn-Folsom Road. It was the site of a famous shoot-out between Sheriff John Boggs and the Tom Bell gang. Sarah and James  returned to Horseshoe Bar in 1860 where James and his partners managed to turn the course of the river twenty-eight times in order to mine the riverbed.

They planted a large orchard and had ten children. Their sons would run the successful Smyth Brothers Nursery in Loomis for many years.

The above account was taken primary from an article in the Placer Herald 12 March 1921 and Gold & Schemes by Bill Wilson. 

Valeria “Yay” Panlilio 

Katy Bartosh, Curator of Education

With the end of the school year, the Living History program is on summer break and I’m free to return my attention to the various projects I’m forced to set aside each season. One of these is a list of interesting people from Placer County that I hope to someday integrate into an exhibit or program. On my list is a woman named Valeria “Yay” Panlilio. I only have a few newspaper articles and photos in her folder, but one day I hope to include her story in educational material for students at the DeWitt History Museum.

Born in Denver, Colorado in 1913, Panlilio’s mother was from the Philippines and her father was Irish-American. Eventually, the family moved to Auburn where Panlilio’s attended Placer Union High School. She married Eduardo Panlilio in 1929 and graduated in 1930.

After graduating, Panlilio moved to the Philippines with her husband and had three children while working as a journalist for The Philippines Herald. The couple separated prior to the war, and Panlilio stayed in Manila with her children. When the war broke out, Panlilio joined the underground resistance movement against Japanese occupation. Serving as a radio broadcaster, she passed intelligence through code to the United States military. This was soon discovered by the Japanese and she fled into the Sierra Madre.

Yay Panlilio and Marcus Agustin

There, Panlilio met Marcos Agustin, the leader of the Marking’s Guerillas. Panlilio became a vital asset, planning their operations, handling administrative duties, and training members. She was named second-in-command as Colonel Yay. In her honor, a detachment of the Marking’s was named the Yay Regiment. This regiment was integral to the Battle of Ipo Dam in 1945. The Japanese were routed, and the dam was captured.

Panlilio returned to the United States in 1945, and she and her three children lived with her mother and step-father in Auburn. Here, she spoke about her experiences behind enemy lines in the Philippines. “A little occupation makes you fully realize the sweets of freedom.”

After the war, Panlilio continued her work as a journalist in the States and was awarded the Medal of Freedom. In 1950 she published her autobiography The Crucible, which detailed her experiences in the Philippines. Panlilio died in 1978, but her resistance and strength provide an interesting link for Placer County to the wider story of World War II.

 

News from the Placer County Historical Society

April McDonald-Loomis, President

We have good news and bad news for this issue of The Placer. The good news is that the Western States Trail Museum, under the direction of Hal Hall, is gaining momentum. They are in the process of negotiating with the City of Auburn to rent/lease the part of the old fire station on High Street where the Chamber of Commerce is now ensconced. The Chamber wants to move upstairs so the timing is great. It is such a wonderful location right next to the Visitor’s Center. Keep in mind they are looking for memorabilia to add to their collection for possible display.

The other good news is the Placer County Museums Docent Guild Anniversary Tea that the Society helped fund was a success. It was a lovely event, two of our own Society members were the creative team behind event. Carol Cramer as over-all coordinator and Carolynn Basque as chief caterer and all around party person! Both did a great job.

For the other news, long time member and board director Betty Samson passed recently. Betty gave untold hours to the Society. She rarely missed a meeting until the last few years. Her dedication and work for protecting and fostering the history of our area has been significant and she will be missed by many.

 

Placer County Historical Organizations Calendar 

Please confirm all meeting times and locations which each organization

Foresthill Divide Historical Society Meeting: Monday, July 18th at 6:00pm

Golden Drift Historical Society Meeting: Monday, August 1st at 7:00pm

Historical Advisory Board Meeting: Wednesday,  August 17th at 5:30pm

Historical Organizations Committee Meeting: Tuesday, August 2nd at  9:00am

Loomis Basin Historical Society Meeting: Wednesday, July 20th at 6:00pm; Wednesday, August 17th at 6:00pm

Placer County Historical Society Meeting: Thursday, July 7th at 2:00pm

Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society: Tuesday, July 26th at 7:00pm; August 23rd at 7:00pm

Placer Genealogical Society Meeting:  Monday, June 25th at 7:00pm; Monday, August 22nd at 7:00pm

Rocklin Historical Society Meeting: Monday, July 11th at 6:00pm; Monday, August 8th at 6:00pm

Roseville Historical Society Meeting: Tuesday, July 12th at 4:00pm; Tuesday, August 9th 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

Annie DeMaria-Norris 

(916) 206-4479

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
Diane Fishburn
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