March Can't Decide If It's A Lion Or A Lamb

Good morning, Tina here.


Well, it has been March for a week now. We have had just about every kind of weather you can have in that week, except for sunbathing weather.


We've had thunder, lightning, hail, torrential rains, 40 mile plus winds, popcorn snow, dry snow, wet snow, those large snowflakes that almost cover the ground themselves, frosted fields, rainbows, and shiver-inducing layers of fog. Oh, and clear, crisp blue skies. All in the same week. I think Mother Nature is just about worn out.


We haven't had any disasters here on our property, but our near neighbors lost one of their beautiful oak trees in their sheep pasture. Our driveway runs by it, and it was one of my favorites because it had a big burl down fairly low on its trunk. It came down in January, and will remain as it is until the weather is less liquid and the ground firms up around it.

It always amazes me that a little ball of roots could have held that gigantic leafy canopy for years. You can see a small section of the burl below just to the right of the roots. Farewell silent giant.

Another loss close to home was the Bell Store in Coloma. It was literally gone with the wind. I am just sick about it. 

I guess this gives us a better view of Mount Murphy now, no bricks to block it from us. I wrote a post on this old store a few years back, lots of history there.

(Click here to go back and revisit that post, if you'd like.)

Enough about the disruption caused by our weather, I would sure enjoy some calm, serene, quiet layers of snow.

Below is an old real photo post card (RPPC) of snow in Columbia, which Heidi can tell you is near Sonora where she lives.

I can hear the squeak and feel the squish of the snow under my boots. I think to myself, if it snowed in Columbia. . .  I bet Placerville got some!

Yep, here we are, looking down Main Street toward the Raffles Hotel in the right corner. A bit busier than in Columbia on its snow day.

Well, here I am at the end of the post. I started with absolutely no ideas, and I guess I went here and there, rather like being blown about by the blustery March winds. Hope you held on to your hat!

Best Wishes to You, Tina... A look at Jac Turner, Artist

I received an email from a local gentleman recently who had purchased a Jac Turner print of Diamond Springs from a local thrift store and was interested in finding out a bit more information on him.  So I decided to write a post and share what I know.  I met Jac in 1991 at his gallery on Main Street, Placerville, when I worked nearby, just a few doors down.

I stopped in often after that, and made sure to purchase a calendar from him each year. I have the 1991, 1992 and 1993 calendars. A 1992 calendar with thirteen beautiful full color prints is now on sale on ebay for $150.00! I believe he only made three calendars, and I have them all, each signed with a florish by Jac himself as I waited: "Best Wishes to You, Tina".

As I glanced in his window which faced main street, one day in the fall of 1992, I saw a fresh watercolor painting he had just completed and pinned up on the wall, not yet matted or framed. It was of Main Street, and prominently displayed the City Hall buildings and the Superior Court. I worked at City Hall at the time, and had worked for twelve years at the Courthouse, so I was immediately drawn to the lovely colorful painting. I walked in and purchased it, leaving it there to be framed. He asked if he could include it in his 1993 calendar, and I gladly consented.

Showers on Main Street - 1992

Above is the calendar print of my original watercolor.

Jac moved to El Dorado County from the Santa Clara Valley in 1986, with his wife Valerie, who passed away in 1988. Valerie had encouraged Jac to paint and he proceeded to create with a colorful passion. He also illustrated a couple of large tomes by local historian George Peabody, "The Squaw Hollow Sensation" and "The Historical Perspective", with his quick and comical sketches.

Emmanuel Church of Coloma - October 1990

The print of the Emmanuel Church in Coloma, above, which is included in the 1991 calendar, is one which I bought as a framed and signed print from the Art Gallery in Georgetown several years ago. Gold Country Girls Lori and Tina (myself) were married there in a double wedding in 1980, so it holds special memories!

Bell Tower Plaza- 1989

Sportsman's Hall 1850 - July 1988

John William (Jac) Turner, a native Californian, was born in Fresno in 1916, and died in El Dorado County ten years ago on August 16, 2004. He worked on his high school newspaper and yearbooks, becoming a published artist early in his life. Jac served in the Navy in World War II, learning to carve while stationed in the Pacific Theater.  Later in the Santa Clara Valley he worked as a commercial artist and owned a cabinet shop. An original founder (1992) of the Gold Country Artists Gallery, located on Main Street in Placerville, he continued to paint until just a few years before his death.

The Fausel Ranch - 1989

Gutenberger Corners 1856 - June 1990

Georgetown Hotel 1859 -  painted 1990

Smith Flat House - October 1990

Downtown Diamond Springs - August 1988

D'Agostini's Pond - November 1992

Mosquito Bridge - September 1992

The Willow School - October 1992

American River Inn - September 1991

The above and the following eleven prints are from the 1992 calendar, along with Jac's colorful descriptions of each. This is the calendar for sale on ebay.

Old Town Auburn - September 1991

The Bayley House - September 1991

Boeger's Winery - July 1991



Downieville - September 1991

Downtown Placerville - April 1991

The Fausel House - September 1991

Fiddletown - 1990

Lower Main Street, Jackson - September 1990

Nevada City - September 1991

Pleasant Valley Hotel (Spencer House) - August 1991

Shingle Springs Mill - September 1991

(Actually, he was wrong about it not being a mill - they milled shingles by horsepower - but I won't hold it against him!)

Stonebraker's Place- Also known as Bryant's Retreat - October 1988

Our final print, with Jac's Best Wishes, to show Gold Country Sis Heidi that he made it to Sonora in September 1991 to paint the beautiful Episcopal church.

It is hard to believe it has been a decade since we lost this wonderful, colorful, prolific and friendly artist.  You are missed, Jac. Thank you for leaving such a delightful Gold Country Watercolor Legacy behind!


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Gold Country Memories of Huell Howser

Good morning. Tina here. My sisters and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Huell Howser this past Sunday.  We enjoyed his shows, especially those of the Gold Country.  He had visited Placerville several times, and several of my friends met him.  I spoke to several people yesterday and they shared memories of Huell with me.  As the saying goes, to know him was to love him.

My friend Kay Murdock is a member of the El Dorado Historical Society, and is in charge of procuring volunteers for the El Dorado County Museum and the Fountain Tallman Museum.  She first met Huell at the County Museum, and shared this memory.

Kay and Mary Cory, County Museum Director, were waiting for Huell at the County Museum.  He and his crew were running late, and finally arrived at 2:00 pm. Huell had not had lunch and was very hungry.  After filming Kay and Mary took Huell and his crew to The Hoosegow, a nearby restaurant on Ray Lawyer Drive.  Kay says the owner was thrilled to see Huell!  Did I mention that Huell was hungry? He was famished. The owner, famous for his chili, and winner of several chili cook-offs, generously let Huell sample a least three different chilis. Everyone enjoyed the lunch, and Huell left full and happy.  About a year later, Kay and her daughter Cheryl returned to the Hoosegow for a meal and Kay asked the owner if he remembered when Huell had visited.  He said not only did he remember, but that after the show had aired, he had over five hundred customers who came to the restaurant because they had seen it on the show.

Kay tells me that Huell was here in the Placerville area at least three times, once serving as a waiter at a banquet fundraiser in Coloma. She said he loved it here. Kay said Huell was enthusiastic about everything and enjoyed walking downtown Main Street in Placerville talking to people as he passed by.  He was interested in stories about ghosts on Main Street.  Huell sent her VCR copies of his shows after they were produced. She said if a person saw his show and thought he was phony, all you had to do was meet him, and you would know, he was not phony, he was completely natural and exuberant about everything, it was not an act.  And she added: He liked to eat!

Above and below are shots of the miners' chili from Huell's show as he visited Coloma.

Below, Huell chats with Mary Cory beside an original Studebaker wheelbarrow at the County Museum.
Mary was generous enough to share her experience with Huell.

Huell Howser and his camera man came to Placerville in August of 2002 to do a show called "Road Trip to Placerville."   After finishing his filming at the Museum, he asked me to take him downtown.  We went to the Fountain Tallman Museum where he interviewed Phyllis Rupley Snyder, we went to Placerville Hardware, where he enthusiastically repeated "the oldest hardware store west of the Mississippi!" and then I delivered him to Pat Cook at Gold Bug Park.  What so impressed me was Huell's genuine interest in meeting and talking to people.  He took the time to interrupt what he was filming to stop and speak to strangers on the street who came up to him.  When he spoke to you it was with his full and undivided attention, and you felt like he was really listening!  He came back in 2010 to film a segment on the Studebaker Wheelbarrow Races during the County Fair, and wanted to do a piece with me and the Studebaker Wheelbarrow at the County Museum.  It was a hectic, hot day, but when Huell began filming, after giving me a bit of direction (where to stand, what kind of questions he was going to ask, etc) I felt at ease and tried to answer his questions as best as I could, because he really seemed to care about the history of this wheelbarrow, the County Museum, and those of us who work there.  By doing these films, he also provided great publicity for us.  Every time the shows air, we get visitors who tell us they saw the show and had to come visit.  Huell Howser has done a great service to California tourism, and has done it in such a charming and personable manner that it can't be beat!.

-- 
Mary Cory

El Dorado County Historical Museum

When I have volunteered at the County Museum, I have been lucky enough to work with my friend Bob Gatlin, shown above with Huell.  When I spoke with Bob yesterday he was enthusiastic about Huell.  His first comment was that Huell was a very, very BIG man.  He said when he threw his arm around his shoulder his hand was as big as his head. (Check above, I think he is right!) Bob had been trying to meet Huell for a million years. Bob and Huell had walked up to the museum together, and then Bob went to work. Later when Huell saw him again he said "Where have you been?" just like he would to a good friend.  He was one really happy, friendly man. As our conversation ended Bob added, be sure to say I said he was a "very, very, very FINE man."

The photo above shows Huell speaking with Ed Allen, El Dorado Historical Society Member, and volunteer in Coloma at the Gold Discovery State Park.  Ed portrays James Marshall, discoverer of gold.  I spoke to Ed last night and he shared the story of his meeting Huell at the El Dorado County Fair.  Ed had gone to the fair with his wife and was walking around enjoying talking to people in his James Marshall persona.  He ran into his brother and his family.  Unbeknownst to Ed, Huell was at the fair looking for him, to interview him as James Marshall. Just as Ed met up with his family, here comes Huell, upon spying Ed's trademark straw hat, exclaiming in his great Tennessee accent "There he is!" Ed's niece and nephew were thrilled ( his niece actually kept a photo of Huell next to her bed, and his nephew said he had planned to wear his Huell Howser T Shirt but it was in the wash).  Ed says all present had a good time.  Later Ed spoke to Historical Society members and found out that Huell had come to Placerville a day early and stayed at the Carey House on Main Street. He came early so that he could talk to Marilyn Ferguson at the Fountain Tallman Museum.  Huell spent two hours at the museum with Marilyn, calling people he had met and become friends with during earlier visits to Placerville.  Ed says Huell remembered people and liked to stay in touch.

Above is an old photo of the building which houses the El Dorado County Historical Society's Fountain Tallman Museum on Main Street, Placerville.  My friend Phyllis Snyder, a lovely lady ninety-seven years young with deep pioneer roots in El Dorado County, met Huell here at the museum, and was happy to talk about him when I called her yesterday. Phyllis says Huell was very much like he was on TV.  He liked everyone he met and was interested in everything and was a pleasure to go around with anytime you had a place to go. Phyllis said he loved anything scary and would go right in (while Phyllis would back out and wait - for example, at Gold Bug Mine).  He liked to take chances.  Phyllis told me she considered Huell her friend, and that he sent her things in the mail, and he never forgot a promise. "I was really kind of shocked to hear that he died. He was always so well and so willing and so ready to try everything. I knew him, and I thought he was fine."

Above is a photo of another good friend, Marilyn Ferguson, standing in front of the Fountain Tallman Museum. Marilyn was fortunate enough to meet Huell a couple of times and said he really didn't change much, except for his hair turning gray, always looked healthy, and was really unique. Marilyn shared a story about when Huell was visiting at the museum, and four ladies came in to tour the museum. They spotted Huell, and she said it was as if they had practiced the whole response: together the four ladies each threw up their hands in unison, let out a yell, and ran over and hugged him, just like they had just discovered a long-lost family member.

Marilyn's other tale was about her daughter Janie and her husband.  Janie was just mad for Huell Howser, and always said she wanted to marry him.  Huell was in Davis, and Janie went to meet him, taking along her "That's Amazing!" Tshirt, and hoping to get an autograph. She met Huell and told him how she wanted to marry him, and that her husband told her it was okay, and asked for his autograph on her Tshirt.  She is now the proud owner of a Tshirt signed by Huell, and asking "Janie, will you marry me?"

Finally, I am going to end with my friend Denise's tale of meeting Huell a few years ago when he was in town to film the El Dorado County Fair.  Denise and her cousin Kathy were downtown on Main Street near the Bell Tower and had just come out of a bead store located next to the Placerville Newsstand.  Denise saw a man standing behind Kathy wearing a "Charlie Sheen-type" bowling shirt.  She said to Kathy: "That's Huell Howser!" Kathy said "No, it's not". The man turned, and said "Oh yes it is!" in his unmistakable Tennessee accent.  He was very friendly and they stopped and talked.  Denise told Huell that her Mom had always been a fan, and had always wanted a giant hug because of Huell's big strong arms. She was so enthusiastic about Huell that she made Denise a big fan too. Denise's Mom had passed away and Denise asked if she could have a hug for her mom, smiling down at him from heaven. So he gave Denise a big hug.  Denise says all of Main Street was excited... Huell Howser is in town!

Thanks to Huell Howser's love of California, and his many television shows produced for Public Television, we will be able to visit with him for many years to come.  He was an incredible boon to California and one of our very best ambassadors. He will be greatly missed.  I hope that he is right now giving Denise's mom that giant hug she always wanted in heaven.

The Past is Present in Coloma #1: Bell Store

Just a few old photos this morning of an old brick building in Coloma, California. It is known as "Robert Bell's Store".

I have always been fascinated by this old shell of a building. Can't you just imagine the lady in her sunbonnet carrying a basket of her purchases, perhaps some bright blue calico for a new dress, a bit of chambray to make a work shirt for the husband, and maybe some penny candies to treat the children when she gets home? This old Frasher's Real Photo Postcard above states "Remains of Robert Bell's Store, built about 1856". In this great old photo you can see out the back of the store into the woods beside the South Fork of the American River. Trees of Heaven grow rampant inside where there once were barrels of pickles, crocks of liquor, bins of nails and grain, perhaps a nice warm fire in a pot-bellied woodstove, and people gathered to wonder at the weather and watch the rising of the river during a big storm.

Bell's brick store sold general merchandise, feed and grain, and also served many years as the U. S. Post Office.

According to one old postcard, banners, signs and merchandise were displayed under the shake-covered porch that covered the fancy brick sidewalk.
In 1856 Coloma was swept by fire which destroyed most of the wooden buildings. The Bell store was one of the first buildings rebuilt after the fire.

Today, as you drive down Highway 49 into the State Park, the building still stands on your right just past the old schoolhouse. Take a drive and check it out one of these days.

A Visit to Coloma (40 Years Ago)

Good morning. Tina here. I am going to share with you some photos of one of my favorite places, Coloma, California. Gold was discovered there in 1848, and a gold rush started in 1949. If it hadn't been for Coloma, there wouldn't be any Gold Country Girls, so I am thankful for this wonderful town. All of the Gold Country Girls used to work in Coloma at one time.
In the years 2007 and 2008 there was a hot air balloon company which made trips over Coloma. They were closed down when neighbors complained. I always planned on taking one of their flights. When I was out watering in early morning, I could look down the river and see the brightly colored rainbow balloon. It was about the size of a dime since it was over a mile away. It looked like a lot of fun.

Apparently they had to land wherever they ended up, which was usually someones driveway. That was the problem with the neighbors, I believe. They never made it to my driveway, they would have been welcome. Maybe someday they will come back.

About 40 years ago my husband , a friend and I went to Coloma to check it out. Bill, obviously a child of the 60's, made sure he posed by the Keep Off sign. Since we weren't arrested, we continued on with our visit.

Coloma has changed a lot over the years since 1848. It has been built up, burned, was once the county seat of El Dorado County, and now is a state park, which very nearly closed this year due to the California State budget problems. Luckily for us, the powers that be realized if there was no Coloma, there might not even be a State of California.

This is Mount Murphy. A few years ago it burned. There is a house at the top but they escaped the flames. I have a lot of shots of the fire from our house. It was a few ridges off from us, thank goodness, and so I could watch without fear. It is a beautiful historic hillside which is covered with poppies in late winter. I will do a post on the poppies one of these days.

This is a photo of visitors to Coloma in 1948 for the centennial. They were getting special Coloma postmarks on their mail with special 1948 stamps. The Coloma post office still hand stamps at Christmas with a beautiful Christmas in Coloma postmark. A friend of ours always sends his Christmas Cards out with the hand stamp. This year it featured a Gold miner and donkey and snowflakes fashioned out of picks, square nails, horseshoes, etc.

Here I am in the park. There are beautiful picnic grounds with wonderful large grinding rocks. I have always enjoyed the hike from the picnic grounds up to the James Marshall Monument which overlooks the river where he discovered gold. Watch out for the poison oak though!

This is an old postcard showing the main street of Coloma, which is now Highway 49, when it was still dirt. Notice the old gent by the side of the road. I like to imagine he might be James Marshall.

The site where Sutter's Mill stood now has a rock monument. It sometimes is beside the river, sometimes in the river, since the river changes course every so often. Not as often now since they built the Chili Bar dam in the early 60's.

This is an old postcard showing Marshall's cabin, where he lived while working at the sawmill. Later he moved to Kelsey where I live, and lived in a cabin very similar, and about as dilapidated. He did not get rich from his discovery. But he did become famous.

Rafting is a very popular sport in Coloma. Hard to see in this photo how a raft would get through here. At the time this photo was taken, in 1970, rafting had not yet become a common recreational sport.

This is an old postcard showing one of the old Coloma bridges. If I drive to Coloma from my house I have to go across a great old one lane bridge (sharing it with tourists) before I can get to the little town.

This is the replica of the sawmill built by Sutter. It is just upriver from the actual site and built out of the river path so that people can walk around and on it. Marshall discovered the gold nuggets in the mill trace while working to cut lumber for Sutter to build his fort in Sacramento.

This is an old photograph of a bank and a store built and used by Chinese laborers. The Chinese were awesome workers in the Gold Country and an important part of early California history.

All through Coloma there are various plaques and monuments, old buildings, history abounds. It is fun to walk through and explore everywhere.

This is an old photo of the Bell Store, which still stands in Coloma. It is a wonderful old brick building. Trees of Heaven grow inside where merchandise used to be stacked.

This is my son at the picnic grounds in Coloma 1973. I have taken his daughters to the same place for picnics. It is a special piece of Gold Country heaven that I am happy to live close to. I hope you enjoyed our visit.