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Posts I have written about local and regional history, people, places, documents, maps, Sacramento, Placer, and California.

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“The Chinese Boy,” a Book by Kevin Knauss

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When the Chinese boy is taken from her and given to the Chinese woman, who claims to be the mother, Ruth Anne spirals into suicidal depression. A smart and ingenious boy, he finds a way to escape back to his home with Caleb and Ruth Anne. His return is only temporary as the sheriff returns and takes the Chinese boy back to Sacramento to live with the Chinese woman. Ruth Anne travels to Sacramento and works with an old acquaintance to secrete the boy onto a train to San Francisco and a safe environment.

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California Indian Reservations Report, 1856

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In conducting the affairs of the superintendency, I have rejected entirely the idea of making treaties with the Indians, or recognizing in any way the rights which they claim to the soil.

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The Last Years of the North Fork Ditch

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Few people outside of the North Fork Ditch Company knew or understood how much work Loring K. Jordan put into the water system. He took over a fragile water canal, and in the face of increasing water demand, was able to keep the water flowing.

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Erasing the N-word from historical references

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It was wrong for government employees to use the n-word on official maps. Those people perverted history by inserting their bias against Black men and women. I’m not sure why the public display of the n-word was left in the exhibit that I visited. Perhaps, it was an oversight. I hope it was not a rationalization that the handwritten note of the n-word on the map was somehow historic in nature. While racism is historically significant, as historians we do not have to promote it in a public exhibit.

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Chinese, Europeans Dominate Mining on American River in 1860

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The mining industry was dominated by Chinse men. Of the 2,655 men claiming to be miners, 48 percent were from China. Men who came from a European country comprised 29 percent of the miners and 21 percent were born in the United States. Of the European miners, 304 listed a birth as Ireland, 141 from the United Kingdom, 99 from Portugal, 81 from regions within Germany, and 79 men of French birth.

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Salmon Falls Mining District Census for 1860

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The Salmon Falls census tract included the region known as Negro Hill. However, there were very few men or women of color recorded by the census taker in 1860. I’ve transcribed the census pages for 6 other townships in Sacramento and Placer counties for 1860 and this is the first instance I’ve come across where the census recorder listed a person’s color as mulatto. Clearly, the mulatto color designation is subjective relative to the census recorder. In the Salmon Falls census there are 19 persons listed as Black and 12 as mulatto. Of the mulatto individuals, 6 were children all under the age of 6, all born in California.

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Illustrations and Map of Central Pacific Railroad Construction in 1867

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Accompanying this very suggestive Map are several views on the Central Pacific Railroad, which still further illustrate the difficulties encountered in its construction. The first of these represent the Chinese laborers at work on the road up the Sierra Nevada. The Central Company has over 10,000 of this race in its employ. The picture gives some idea of the Herculean nature of the work of tunneling and excavating through the solid granite of the mountains.

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Early Sacramento Lisle’s Bridge, Cemetery, Gold Prospector

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The view above represents the fine and substantial bridge across the American River at Leslie’s Ferry. It was commenced in the spring of 1851 and completed in the month of September of the same year. It is the largest and most substantial structure of the kind in California, being 620 feet in length, 25 feet in width, and 30 feet above low water mark.

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Before Orangevale and Fair Oaks, Mississippi Township of 1860

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The 1860 census for Mississippi Township is enumerated on 8 pages. There were 93 residential dwellings in the township housing 320 individuals. Of the residents in 1860, 40 percent were born in the United States, 29 percent had a European birth, and 30 percent had immigrated from China. As would be expected in a California mining region of 1860, 82 percent of the residents were male.

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Mormon Island Drained of Residents by 1860

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European immigrants were dominated by people immigrating from Ireland, making up 40 percent. Next were individuals born in England (25.88%) and Germany (18.42%.) Immigrants from France, Scotland, and the Western Islands totaled slightly less than 14 percent of the population. The population of Chinese individuals was close to the number of immigrants who listed England as their birth origin.

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