The story of an early Hope Valley cabin . . . now returning to the earth.
A Forgotten Pioneer: Samuel Longabaugh
A Tale from the Days of the Timber-Slayers They used to call him “the governor” way back when. But most folks today have never heard of Samuel Longabaugh. He wasn’t actually governor, of course. But that’s how important he was in the 1870s and 1880s — when cord wood fueled everything from the Empire […]
The Alpine County Paradox:
Established in 1864 amid a silver boom, Alpine County anticipated a population surge that never materialized. Initial projections of 5,000 residents proved grossly over-optimistic. Instead, Alpine’s population dwindled to just 685 residents by 1870 and hovers around 1,100 today. The county struggles economically due to high federal land ownership (96%) and limited tax revenues, leading to one of the highest per-capita government costs in the U.S., and relying heavily on state and federal subsidies.
An Oh-So-Alpine Story
In 1978, tiny Alpine County faced one of its biggest challenges – an attempted “take-over.” DA Chris Smith rode to the rescue.
A Window in Time to Carson Valley, 1859
Back in 1859, Carson Valley was a pretty dysfuncational place. Judge Orson Hyde had departed in November, 1856. And after September 1857, with the exodus of over 200 early LDS settlers (who followed Brigham Young’s call to return to Salt Lake), the trappings of regular law and order had largely vanished. […]
The Saga of “Pig” Brown
When an 1870 survey crew visited early Ft. Lauderdale, they discovered only two settler families living at New River. The intrepid Isaiah Hall was the topic of our previous story. But what was the backstory of the second family, that of “Pig Brown”? Ah, that’s another fun tale! Patriarch John Joseph Brown was about 48 years old when […]
Hilariously High Hopes for Alpine in 1864
Hilariously High Hopes for Alpine County in 1864 We don’t know exactly who “Forty-Niner” was. But on February 10, 1864, someone penned a letter to the Sacramento Daily Union under that pseudonym. What we do know is that he was a resident of Silver Mountain City. And he was a little ticked off. […]
A Forgotten Bit of Silver Mountain history . . . .
A Forgotten Bit of Silver Mountain history It felt like a minor miracle when this slim legal document turned up on eBay. If the handwriting looked familiar, it should have; this was penned by none other than Lewis Chalmers – sometime hero, part-time villain, and all-time star of Alpine County’s early mining dramas. […]
A Long-Lost Woodfords Mill
Thomas Knott Really Should Be Famous He hung out with Snowshoe Thompson. Built a sawmill in Carson Canyon way back in 1853, before it became Woodfords. Got stiffed by John Reese for a whopping $2 grand after building two more mills in Genoa. And left behind one of the most important (and most overlooked) historical accounts chronicling his life in early Carson Valley. […]
More Ft. Lauderdale Pioneers
By 1870, Ft. Lauderdale was empty — well, the original Lewis farm, Richard Fitzpatrick’s burned-out plantation, and the trio of military forts that had given Ft. Lauderdale its name – all were gone. It was still a troubled time; the bloody Civil War was thankfully five years in the rear-view mirror, but much bitterness still remained. […]
Pioneers of Ft. Lauderdale
Think back, to a time before Ft. Lauderdale was the world’s cruise ship capital and the epitome of spring-break cool. Back before freeways. Before air conditioning. Back even before 1838, when the town’s first “tourist” — Maj. William Lauderdale – threw up a hastily-built fort beside the Rio Nuevo, hanging around for only […]
The not-so-famous E.T. Barnum
You’ve undoubtedly heard of P.T. Barnum, world-renowned showman and circus guy. But have you heard of E.T. Barnum? Probably not, unless you’re into penal history. E.T. Barnum, you see, was in the jail accountrements business. From 1866 on, if you were in need of a heavy-duty jail cage, plate-iron cell lining (something to stop prisoners from […]