Category: Resources

Cerro Gordo (Images of America)

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Cerro Gordo (Images of America) written by Cecile Page Vargo, Roger W. Vargo
Cerro Gordo (Images of America) written by Cecile Page Vargo, Roger W. Vargo

High in the Inyo Mountains, between Owens Valley and Death Valley National Park, lies the ghost town of Cerro Gordo. Discovered in 1865, this silver town boomed to a population of 3,000 people in the hands of savvy entrepreneurs during the 1870s. As the silver played out and the town faded, a few hung on to the dream. By the early 1900s, Louis D. Gordon wandered up the Yellow Grade Road where freight wagons once traversed with silver and supplies and took a closer look at the zinc ore that had been tossed aside by early miners. The Fat Hill lived again, primarily as a small company town. By the last quarter of the 20th century, Jody Stewart and Mike Patterson found themselves owners of the rough and tumble camp that helped Los Angeles turn into a thriving metropolis because of silver and commercial trade. Cerro Gordo found new life, second to Bodie, as California’s best-preserved ghost town.

About the Author

Roger W. Vargo and Cecile Page Vargo are a husband-wife historian team who photograph, write about, and guide tours to historic areas. They have volunteered and worked in both Bodie and Cerro Gordo. Histories and images have been collected from public, personal, and private archives.

Book Summary

TitleCerro Gordo (Images of America)
AuthorCecile Page Vargo, Roger W. Vargo
PublisherArcadia Publishing
Pages130 Pages

The Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley (Images of America)

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The Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley (Images of America) - Author Ted Faye
The Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley (Images of America) – Author Ted Faye

The image of 20 mules hauling a train of wagons was once as popular as the golden arches are today. Everyone knew what it meant. It was the trademark of Pacific Coast Borax’s most famous product, a laundry additive called Twenty Mule Team Borax. The company’s advertising was dependent on one important fact: the connection between the Twenty Mule Team and America’s most notorious desert, Death Valley. From 1883 to 1888, teams of mules and wagons hauled borax out of the famed valley on the California-Nevada border. During those years, the teams were not famous; they were just a common means of transportation. After all, it was not the first time 20 mules hauled borax and it was not the longest or the most treacherous path. So what happened? How did this common form of transportation (the big-rig truck of its day) become transformed into an American icon? That is the story of this book.

About the Author

Ted Faye is a documentary filmmaker whose company, Gold Creek Films, specializes in stories of the West. Ted develops touring information, including audio CDs, signage, and brochures. He also helps communities to find and tell their stories. Ted was the historian to US Borax, and many images from this book are from the Borax collection at Death Valley National Park.

Book Summary

TitleThe Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley (Images of America)
AuthorTed Faye
PublisherArcadia Publishing
Pages

Death Valley Gold Rush (Images of America)

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Death Valley Gold Rush (Images of America) - Written by Ted Faye
Death Valley Gold Rush (Images of America) – Written by Ted Faye

From the mid-19th century to the 1930s, no place in America was more feared or mysterious than the stretch of desert on the California-Nevada border known as Death Valley.

While today Death Valley National Park is seen as a place of natural beauty and scenic wonders, there were once rumors of vaporous gases so toxic that birds flying overhead would drop dead instantly. One of the first Americans to encounter this dreaded land was William Lewis Manly, who left his Wisconsin home for California’s 1849 Gold Rush and who heroically saved those lost pioneers who would give Death Valley its name. Other pioneers in the early 20th century were Frank “Shorty” Harris, who made Death Valley’s biggest gold strike; the Hoyt brothers, who, in 1908, struck it rich in a place called Skidoo; and in the 1920s, a con man named C.C. Julian, who used the valley’s reputation to scam naive investors. There was a time when the entire country seemed to be consumed with news and tales of the Death Valley Gold Rush.

About the Author

Ted Faye is a documentary filmmaker, exhibit curator, and historical researcher on stories and people of the Death Valley region. Faye has worked with tourism boards on both the state and local levels to develop materials that tell the stories of their communities. He was a historian at US Borax, and many images from this book are from the Borax collection at Death Valley National Park.

Book Summary

TitleDeath Valley Gold Rush (Images of America)
AuthorTed Faye
PublisherArcadia Publishing
Pages128 Pages

Bodie: 1859-1962 (Images of America)

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Bodie: 1859-1962 (Images of America) - Author Terri Lynn Geissinger
Bodie: 1859-1962 (Images of America) – Author Terri Lynn Geissinger

Nestled amongst the sage-covered, windswept hills of California’s Eastern Sierra is the site of one of the most notorious mining towns of the Old West. In 1859, gold was discovered in the treeless hills northeast of Mono Lake. By 1879, Bodie was a metropolis of nearly 10,000 souls and was briefly the third-largest city in California. Excitement was short-lived, however, and word soon spread that the mines had reached peak production. An exodus began, but contrary to popular belief, Bodie was never totally abandoned. People continued living in this curious and beautiful place throughout the 1950s, and in 1962, the California State Parks system purchased the town site. Now stabilized against the elements, Bodie is today known as the largest unrestored ghost town in the West.

Author Terri Lynn Geissinger, a local historian, tour guide, and interpreter at Bodie State Historic Park, collects the oral histories of Bodie’s denizens. With extensive experience in educational lectures, she is dedicated to preserving this town’s past for future generations. Geissinger collected the stirring images in this volume from the Bodie State Historic Park Archive, the Mono County Museum, and various families with roots in this remarkable place.

Book Summary

TitleBodie: 1859-1962 (Images of America)
AuthorTerri Lynn Geissinger
PublisherArcadia Publishing
Pages128 Pages

Farewell to Manzanar

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Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls her childhood at a Japanese incarceration camp in this engrossing memoir that has become a staple of curriculum in schools and on campuses across the country. This special 50th-anniversary edition features a new cover, a foreword by New York Times bestselling and acclaimed author Traci Chee, and photographs of life at the camp by Toyo Miyatake.

During World War II the incarceration camp called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose? To house thousands of Japanese Americans.

In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was and the experiences of her family. She relays the mundane and remarkable details of daily life during an extraordinary period of American history: The wartime imprisonment of civilians, most native-born Americans, in their own country, without trial, and by their fellow Americans.

She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment as well as the dignity and resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances. Jeanne delivers a powerful first-person account that reveals her search for the meaning of Manzanar.

Book Summary

TitleFarewell to Manzana
AuthorJeanne Wakatsuki Houston,
James D. Houston
PublisherClarion Books; Reprint edition (December 12, 2023)
Pages224 Pages