'Cowell Lime Works' in Wikipedia

While studying Lime Kiln Legacies, I checked Wikipedia to see if there are any Santa Cruz lime industry-related articles. I found one entitled Cowell Lime Works, very short and full of inaccuracies. I enjoy WP editing and decided to put some time into improving the article, using Lime Kiln Legacies as a reference. To this point, just the introductory (and only) section have been edited. A first draft of a new section entitled 'History' is written, but I wanted to run it by Frank Perry (one of the Legacies authors) before posting it. With some expert feedback, the section should soon be ready for addition to the article.

Resolutions -- slowly

Time for an update on on those pesky resolutions - it's only been four-and-a-half months. I did get the new Historical Novels blog launched (there's a link to it in the sidebar). Progress on the other items has been slower. Thanks to the great book Lime Kiln Legacies, I found a couple of new facts to add to William Kerr House. There are also a few tidbits in that book relating to the bituminous rock industry. It's odd that there are so few connections between lime and bituminous rock in Santa Cruz County. Both industries involved quarrying/mining in some of the same areas, especially on the north coast. Yet Henry Cowell appears to be the only business owner with interests in both. According to a source quoted in Lime Kiln Legacies, he bought out one of the earlier bituminous rock operations in 1891. I bet there was some crossover of quarrymen but those names are much harder to find, especially for the bituminous operations.

Resolutions

I've never done it before, but this year I'm going to make a few resolutions; not for my life in general, only for my blogs. I resolve to:

1. add photos and notes to complete Sidewalks of Washington Street.
2. work to resolve the questions about the origins of the William Kerr House, and get back to the SCPL microfilm for later history of the house.
3. do more research on the bituminous rock industry in S.C. County
4. start a new blog about my non-Santa Cruz historical reading, especially historical novels. First effort in that direction is a shout-out to Margaret Donsbach, editor of the excellent and comprehensive site, Historical Novels.info (link: http://www.historicalnovels.info/index.html)

It's going to be a busy year, so I'd better get started.

Mountain men in Santa Cruz

Several companions of Isaac Graham, from his days as a fur trapper, also ended up in Santa Cruz. Joseph L. Majors seems to have been the first. By marrying the daughter of a Castro, Majors was able to obtain Mexican citizenship. That allowed him to own land including Rancho Zayante, which he then rented to various Americans, including Job Dye, Isaac Graham and Henry Naile.

Also, discovered a biography called The Trials of Isaac Graham, which is available at the UCSC library.

More Isaac Graham

Following a link from the Wikipedia article on Isaac Graham, I found a biographical article written by Michael Kinsella. The article has a lot of information, but no bibliography or source notes. My quest would be greatly aided if Mr. Kinsella, who used to live in Santa Cruz but is now in Seattle, is willing to share some of that info. He has a MySpace page, where I was able to send a message - no response so far. I'll attend the next RA meeting and ask if anyone knows him.

Majors, Graham and Wikipedia

It's been awhile since my last post, so I ask myself, "What have you been doing?" In the course of my research on the bituminous rock industry of late 19th century Santa Cruz County, I encountered the Majors family, owners of one of the north coast properties containing substantial bituminous rock deposits. It turns out that Joseph L. Majors, the first of his family to come to this area, was a compatriot of Isaac Graham - namesake of Graham Hill Road. While the record is scanty regarding Majors, Graham had quite a life before he got here. Learning more about Graham led me to study the brief history of 'Alta California', after Mexican independence from Spain and before the Mexican-American War of 1846-8. I've been reading Bancroft's History of the Pacific States, which can be read online or downloaded.

Another historical distraction has been Wikipedia. Creating and editing WP articles is interesting and educational. Considering that WP articles come up near the top of most web searches, it's scary how much wrong information there is. An army of diligent editors aim to improve that situation. Some of the articles I've worked on relate to Santa Cruz history, including the above-mentioned Isaac Graham, which needs expansion from its present puny state.

John Chase

I was saddened yesterday to read of the passing of John Leighton Chase, author of The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture. Given my interest in architecture, it is probably natural that Sidewalk Companion is my favorite and most-often-consulted reference book, and was the first local history book I ever bought.

I never met John Chase, since he moved to southern California about the time I moved from there to Santa Cruz. One surprising thing I learned from the Santa Cruz Sentinel's article about Chase was that he was a twenty-two year old UCSC senior when he wrote Sidewalk Companion. The meticulous research and approachable writing style seem like the products of a much more mature and experienced writer. Thank you, John Chase, for giving us Santa Cruz history geeks such a treasure.

William Kerr House update

See the William Kerr House blog for new info

Bituminous rock

After months of distractions, I'm trying to get back onto some local history projects. Thanks in part to a post at the Researchers Anonymous bb (by RA member Rick Hyman), I finally bit the bullet and joined Ancestry.com. In addition to its intended use for genealogy research, the site contains many helpful resources for local history researchers. I'm using it to gather info about the early County residents involved in bituminous rock mining, production, transportation and construction. The mining took place mostly on the lands of a handful of North coast property owners. Some were originally dairy farmers like the Enright and Majors families. Others seem to have been mainly miners, like A. Walrath and I. L. Thurber. Davis and Cowell also got involved; the northwest corner of their holdings contained some bituminous rock.

Book Review: Decline of the Californios

'A social history of the Spanish-speaking Californians, 1846-1890'; By Leonard Pitt (1966), available at SCPL.

The names are familiar from California street signs: Castro, Vallejo, Berryessa, Bernal. Or, if you grew up in southern California as I did: Pico, Sepulveda, Dominguez, Olvera. These are the names of some of the families who, through huge land grants awarded by the Mexican government, owned much of California in 1846. Pitt's very readable book tracks the declining fortunes of these "Californio" families from the Mexican War into the gold rush, statehood and on through the development boom of the 1880s. There are no direct references to any persons or events in Santa Cruz County, but the larger background of California events during this time period helps to provide context for a better understanding of Santa Cruz history.