Terry...I'm sure there might be someone on this list that can just jump right in and say which Ratto the theatre was named for and possibly lots more details. If you don't get your information, I'll work on getting you an answer. Might take me a while. Jackie in California [email protected]

Thought someone might find this of interest... Class of Twenty Receive Diplomas of Graduation The commencement exercises for the Jackson Union High School were held last evening at the Ratto theatre and was largely attended by friends of the class of twenty that received their diplomas of graduation. An interesting program had been prepared for the occasion and came to an end with a reception that was accorded the young people. Those who successfully completed the high school course of study were: Edward ARATA, Roderick BIERCE, Delia BONNEFOY, Dorothy BURROW, Enrico CASSINELLI, Anne GLAVENICH, Edna GHIGHLIERI, Gladys GUISTO, Helen LESSLEY, Olive MASSA, Irma MYERS, Izetta NIELSEN, Charles OLIVER, Andrew PODESTA, Evelyn POGGI, Lucille PURCELL, Edward PURCELL, Marguerite TALLON, Carlyne TISHER and Gordon WILLIHAN. Jackie in California [email protected]

Hi Jerry...Are you interested in newspaper article on the death of Joseph S. Martell, known as Steve? Died 1925? Have your address, so let me know. Betty...Is one of the Mugford's you are looking for a William Mugford? Jackie in California [email protected]

Hi Norma...are you in need of obituary from 1927 Amador newspaper on Byron Flagg? If you're interested, send me your snail mail address. Jackie in California [email protected]

Hi Carolyn...printers on microfilm readers at our county library are working but not great copy. Are you interested in newspaper article and picture of Wallace Kay from March 1906 obituary? If you're interested, let me know. I have your address (and this time I won't send it by way of Abbie!!). Jackie in California [email protected]

Hi Abbie...Are you interested in copy of newspaper article on James Franklin Scott who died 1923? I already have your address if you're interested. Jackie in California [email protected]

Jackie, The graduatin article interested me. Do you know anything about the Ratto theatre? Who was it named after or anything? Terry Ratto

Thanks. I'm in the mood. I just read BURY ME AT WOUNDED KNEE. (Yes, I know I'm a bit late), followed by THE PLAINS ACROSS, by Unruh. One gave me the Indian side of things, the other the emigrants' side, all very interesting. We keep looking for James Curry who is said to have made that trip in the 1850's and disappeared. Joyce -----Original Message----- From: Ron A Young <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, July 11, 1999 1:23 PM Subject: [CAAMADOR-L] Recommended Reading >For those individuals who enjoy reading history and in this case history >of the California Gold Rush I would like you to look at the great book: >THE WORLD RUSHED IN...The California Gold Rush Experience by J. S. >Holliday. > >The book was copy written in 1981 but is still in pring. I picked up a >paperback edition of the book at Barnes & Noble within the last six >months. It is published by Simon & Schuster a Touchstone Book. > >To quote from the book's cover..."Far and away the best, most exciting >and most informative book on the California gold rush that I have ever >read. It is superb reading..the classic we have expected and awaited." >--Alvin M. Josoephy, Jr., author "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" > >The author builds upon the copious journals of sold seeker William Swain >from the dangerous journey across the plains and mountains to the rugged >mining camps of northern California. It took J.S. Holliday thirty years >to write this most interesting and compelling narrative. > >Those of you who feel so inclined to look at and read this wonderful book >may well want it in your library... I know I did and from a historical >point is at an equal with MEN TO MATCH MY MOUNTAINS by Irving Stone. >Although I was born and raised in California and lived in Sonora for a >few years, this book brought to light just about every name you see for >streets in San Francisco and Sacramento. It really is a great book. > >Ron Young > >___________________________________________________________________ >Get the Internet just the way you want it. >Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! >Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. > > >==== CAAMADOR Mailing List ==== >Amador County, California CAGenWeb >http://www.rootsweb.com/~caamador/ > >

Jan... MOTHER LODE…The Story of California’s Gold Rush by Louis J. Stellman written 1934. Downieville "It was near the end of 1849, the great year of the Gold Rush, that prospectors who had followed the meandering course of the Yuba River into the higher altitudes reached what was known as the forks of the auriferous stream. Major William Downie was an intrepid spirit, questing forever onward, past the staked claimd and placered waters of previous pioneers. He led a little band finally into Sierra Country, and after many disappointments found gold where the streams divided. When he reached the place where Downieville now stands, at the foot of a long, winding grade, the days were short and brilliant with cold; the nights long and icy. They made camp at the forks of the Yuba. They knew they should have time to develop and reap the riches of this stream before the gold-mad horde would follow and before the deep snows interferred. By February, when the crowd had learned about their find and followed, the little pioneer group and made a clean-up and staked valuable quartz claims. They welcomed the newcomers, and the quickly gathering settlement almost immediatley became a town, laid out in streets by James Vineyard, an engineer, and goverened by competent officials. A meeting was held to determine a name for the new place, and by popular acclaim it was called after Major Downie, who discovered it. Thus Downieville, by some quirk of fate, escaped many of the intermediate stages between location and orderly establishment. It sprang almost full-armed into civic being, and despite a disasterous fire during its third year of existence it continued to grow and progress until it became one of the most important of the more northerly gold centers. Empire Mine The Empire and North Star mines, now combined, at Grass Valley, have produced approximately one hundred millions of dollars in gold, and are at present in active operation under the management of the Empire Star and Mines Company, which also operates the Murchie mine, a good producer. These mines have 125 miles of underground workings. Grass Valley & Nevada City Up in the northwestern corner of Nevada County perch the twin towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City, about four miles apart. The former is a thriving, up-to-date community with modern hotels, theaters, and stores. It has not depended solely upon mining, as was the case with its neighbor, but has developed the agricultural resources of its back country to the fullest extent and has profited thereby. Nevada City is like other purely mining towns. It has suffered from the decline of that industry, but is staging a rapid comeback, with gold at its present value. The two places, so close together, so nearly alike in fundamental interests, are as different as day and night. Nevada City makes up what it lacks in modernity by its picturesque charm, its savor of brave vanquished days. And if the recent hectic race toward improvement has not obliterated all of the architectural monuments to a superbly dramatic, historically important past, it should fill the location scouts of Hollwood with joy. For Nevada City was- and I hope still is- one of the half dozen towns in California that has changed very little since the fifties" Jackie in California [email protected]

Jan.. MOTHER LODE…The Story of California’s Gold Rush by Louis J. Stellman written 1934. The Comstock looked like a good vein-a real find. It was a lode fifty to a hundred feet wide and three or four miles long, running north and south on the eastern slope of the Washoe Mountains. Stone thought there would be silver in it-enough to pay for mining the gold. Johnny Stone tried to keep the assay reports to himself but he couldn't. It was too wonderful. Sixteen hundred a ton in gold. That was extraordinary enough but $3196 in silver! Judas Priest! The Nevada City Herald printed the first news of the Comstock Lode. The city papers took it up. Presently the whole world knew about it. The Comstock produced $80,000,000 in gold and hundreds of millions in silver. Jackie in California [email protected]

Art, The list of volunteers for the newspaper project should now read as follows: Radine Willis (Oct. 10, 1863-Oct. 1867) Unassigned (1868-Sept. 1871 Unassigned (1872-March 1875) Llew Jack (June 1878-1882) Pam Hajny (1883-1887) Bonnie Mugford (1888-1892) Steve Illum January 1893-Dec. 1897) Jackie Mosher (1898-1901) Abbie Yates (1902-1904) Donna (1905-1906) I know Donna has given us her last name before, but have misplaced that message. She'll fill that in for us shortly again, I hope. And, as you can all see, we yet have just a couple of unassigned microfilms. Please, if there is anyone else out there who can help with this project, please volunteer. We know Julie can start on one in mid-August. That will just leave one film unattended. Everyone is doing a super fine job . . . except for me. I'll try to get back to my film this coming week. My problem is that I want to spend enough time with it to reproduce many of the articles "in full" here on the Mailing List for all to enjoy . . . and I am a little addicted to reading most every article myself. Gets a little time consuming. Jackie, will you give me a list of the other newspapers on microfilm that you think might be on microfilm in the California State Library. Then, I'll contact them for a list. Then we can get going on those with new volunteers too. Doesn't anyone else have any old photos of things/people in Amador Co. history that you could post on the website? If you do, contact Art directly: [email protected] Steve

I was looking at Amador county on the map and noticed a Mt. Crossman. Located on the map just above Volcano. Who was Crossman that he got his own mountain? Terry

For those individuals who enjoy reading history and in this case history of the California Gold Rush I would like you to look at the great book: THE WORLD RUSHED IN...The California Gold Rush Experience by J. S. Holliday. The book was copy written in 1981 but is still in pring. I picked up a paperback edition of the book at Barnes & Noble within the last six months. It is published by Simon & Schuster a Touchstone Book. To quote from the book's cover..."Far and away the best, most exciting and most informative book on the California gold rush that I have ever read. It is superb reading..the classic we have expected and awaited." --Alvin M. Josoephy, Jr., author "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" The author builds upon the copious journals of sold seeker William Swain from the dangerous journey across the plains and mountains to the rugged mining camps of northern California. It took J.S. Holliday thirty years to write this most interesting and compelling narrative. Those of you who feel so inclined to look at and read this wonderful book may well want it in your library... I know I did and from a historical point is at an equal with MEN TO MATCH MY MOUNTAINS by Irving Stone. Although I was born and raised in California and lived in Sonora for a few years, this book brought to light just about every name you see for streets in San Francisco and Sacramento. It really is a great book. Ron Young ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

Does anyone know if any marriage records exist at the Columbia Catholic Church? My great grandfather Joseph Young (Jung) married Madeline Victoria Hildebrand around 1858 and were supposidly the first couple to be married in the then new Columbia Catholic Church. If anyone has any information on this couple I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance. Ron Young

Would like to know if anyone on the list has information on the family of Washington Hughes and Letitia Baker of Jefferson/Franklin Counties in Missouri. Washington went with his brothers-in-law to Amador around 1849 to look for gold. They returned to Missouri in 1850 with $5,000 apiece and moved their families to California. Washington and Letitia were found in Amador Co, Volcano District, in the 1860 and 1870 censuses. By 1880, they were in Douglas County, Oregon. Washington was listed as a rancher. One daughter, Sarah Amanda, married a Mr. Pugh and remained in Sutter City (according to a family history written by one of the grandsons). Vicki Faciane, Anchorage, Alaska

Jackie in Jackson, I recieved in the mail today a lovely story about a wedding for a William Southard and Miss Clara H. Calvin. It was real sweet of you, but I do not have any kin by those names , Did i get some elses paper????? If so give me the correct address and I will forward to them. Thankyou for thinking of me.Abigail. my e-mail [email protected]

Jan...will have to do your requests in sections, they all seem to be long. Jackie in California [email protected] MOTHER LODE…The Story of California’s Gold Rush by Louis J. Stellman The Calaveras Guards, one of the first militia companies in the mining regions, saved Mokelumne Hill from another war which was afterward lampooned by a local theatrical group as "The Battle of Campo Seco, or the Fall of the Six Nations". Campo Seco was on the Calaveras River, near Mokelumne Hill. It was a busy and profitable location where a large number of miners had washed gold amiably enough until some dispute stirred the ever-smoldering racial animosity of its cosmopolitan population. To do the outlanders justice, it was usually the American miners, with their arrogant intolerance of all "furriners," who started the trouble. Perhaps it was a realization of this fact that caused the organization of Mokelumne Hill's militia company, eighty strong, captained by Sheriff Clark and drilled most assiduously by Sergeant Pollock, an ex-soldier. They had bright new uniforms, rifles, sidearms, and a silk flag of considerable size, so they must have made a brave and imposing appearance when called on by a county judge to preserve order in Campo Seco. That camp was agitated to the point of explosion. As in the case of the French Hill affair, each side had gathered unto itself large numbers of supporters. The battle was about to break, made up of Americans on the one side and a coalition army of Italians, Mexicans, Chileans, and Peruvians on the other. But before the first shot could be fired a music of fife and drums smote the air, accompanying the tread of marching feet, and presently the Calaveras Guards in all their glory burst upon the scene, very much like the chorus in a comic opera. So brave and dramatic was their entrance that both sides involuntarily cheered and, forgetting their differences, rushed forth to bid them welcome. Perhaps the foreigners were a trifle awed by the semblance of power which a uniform represents, even as the Frenchmen had been by an antique cannon. But it is likely that they, like the Americans, were even more beguiled by the parade. At any rate the battle of Campo Seco proved a bloodless one and another "casus belli" was forgotten. Not long afterward, however, a second "civil war" broke out in Campo Seco. This was not a race dispute nor strife of nations, but a difference of opinion concerning horse-stealing. A man named Hill, was adjudged guilty by the crowd which made a demand on the sheriff for the custody of his prisoner. The sheriff rallied around him a body of citizens who believed in legal procedure. The prisoner participated in the debates, boldly admitting his propensity to make off with the property of others but asserting with a loud show of virtue that he had never shed human blood. The oratory continued until it was discovered that the sheriff had taken advantage of it to spirit away his prisoner in a carriage. The lynch inclined mob of Campo Seco started in pursuit. The sheriff tried to protect his prisoner but was overpowered. The horsethief, whether he deserved it or no, was strung up in the nearest tree.

Please BOL for John Dabney (J.D.) PERKINS, butcher then druggist in Ione. Bob Juch -----Original Message----- From: Joe and Pam Hajny [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, July 10, 1999 12:22 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [CAAMADOR-L] Steve I'm still reading 1883 microfilm. Remind me of some names to be especially looking for. Thanks --pam ==== CAAMADOR Mailing List ==== Amador County, California CAGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~caamador/

Mr Morgan and CO, cigar manufacturers are here and have purchased some ground from Woolford Bros. On which they propose to try the different grades of tobacco, and they will buy from below until they can produce their own supply...There will be some satisfaction in smoking cigars from this firm, as a man will know that Chinamen do not manufacture them... Did they actually pull that off and raise tobacco? There will be a big horserace on the 18th , the day set for the fireman's ball and picnic. The horses that are entered are Red Oak, Norris boy's horse, Rondo, Dr. Smith's horse, Monarch and the black mare Lodi and any other horses of Amador or El Dorado Counties... The oak leaf club is about to produce a play entitled "down by the sea" for the purpose of erecting a fense around the cemetary. A couple of "soiled doves" in company with a male bird of the same species, made themselves quite conspicuous in town last Thursday... --pam

I'm still reading 1883 microfilm. Remind me of some names to be especially looking for. Thanks --pam