October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough

 

Title: October 30, 2026 - OSHER Tour-Mussel Slough and Stone Corral 
Hike Info : Description : Background 

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

 GPS Tracks - Note: The GPS Dropped the tracks from Fresno State to the first site, the Mussel Slough Tragedy Landmark.

 

Description:

Sherri pondering

OSHER Catalog Description: Presenter: Dan Carrion Historian Dan Carrion, a former Fresno State Theater Department staffer, will guide this adventure, which begins with a bus trip from campus to the Hanford area for the 1880 Mussel Slough shootout site and the cemetery where three people who died there are buried. Next, it’s Hanford's Courthouse Park to explore some sites of interest and have lunch (on our own), possibly enjoying a cold treat from Superior Dairy’s pink truck that’s open while the cafe is being renovated. After a visit to Stone Corral, site of the final shootout of Sontag and Evans, the trip’s historical aspect ends in Reedley, visiting several historical sites, before returning to campus . [Notr: Permission could not be obtained to visit the private property which the Stone Corral is located at. So this did not take place.]

Also see the Background section for more detail on the various markers.

I got up at 6:00 and did not move very fast, then had breakfast before Sherri got up. I then put the finishing touches on what I am taking. We got to Fresno State by 7:40 and joined the rest of the group going on this trip. The trip is through OSHER. Dan has led these trips to explore the different parts of the Central Valley through the eyes of the area’s history.

 

Mussel Slough plaque

Grangeville Cemetery

Dan at Grangeville Cemetery

Hanford Cemetery

We will be chauffeured on a bus. The “we: is 38 of us. As we go along, Dan starts to give us a background on what we will be seeing and hearing. The theme is, in the 1880’s the railroads were powerful and corrupt. Laws which encouraged them to develop lines through the Valley and throughout California-that would be the Railroad Acts of 1864 and 1868-allowed railroads to have up to 10 square miles of area within 20 miles of the track they laid down. This meant that each mile which was laid down they got about 20 square miles. Consequently, they were huge land owners in the Central Valley.

 

 

Hanford Cemetery

That was a legit incentive I think. What got twisted is the intention was that the companies could then turn around and have people rent or buy these parcels. The problem is the railroads would change the terms, increasing the rent and sale price by 10 times or more in some cases. This created outrage by some of the settlers, leading to a violent confrontation at Mussel Slough when the railroad tried to evict a settler from his home.

Old Hanford-1926

After learning the details of the Mussel Slough Tragedy, we went on to the Grangeville Cemetery. We got our first bit of excitement as the bus driver tried to maneuver the narrow lanes of the cemetery without going onto the grass or worse, over a grave. He did not, but decided he was not going to go further-the groundskeeper came out to make sure he had not left the pavement. So he let us off while we explored and he worked on getting out of the cemetery-he was successful.

 

 

The reason why we stopped at the cemetery is that five of the eight people who died at Mussel Slough are buried here: Iver Knutsen, Daniel Kelly, Miles Hart, Edward Haymaker and Acrhibald McGregor. The groundskeeper mentioned another person or two which are buried here as well, but not connected to Mussel Slough. The grounds do show the pride of being well taken care of.

We get back on the bus and head to the Hanford cemetery. You guessed it, two more of the Mussel Slough deaths are buried here: JE Henderson and James Harris. We looked around a bit more before moving on.

We are up ahead of Dan’s schedule, so he takes us to old downtown Hanford. I am thinking that around the park and the old jail is the old downtown. But there is an area even older, at West 6th and South Irwin Streets. He shows us where the old railroad station-right beside the tracks. Not where Amtrak runs, but the older freight tracks. Some of the history of Hanford is having its downtown burnt twice as all of the buildings were made of wood. The third time Hanford was built was with brick. He points out an old brick building which fronts 7th St as one of the older buildings in Hanford. This is also one of the favorite watering holes of E Clampus Vitus, the Sequoia Club.

Superior ice cream

We are still up ahead of schedule, but this is a good lunch break, so we head to a local strip mall which has three restaurants close by: Pho Wynn, La Taqueria Pata Salada, or Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Sherri and I chose the Mexican place-did you expect anything else? (I suspect Sherri left alone would have gone to the Pho place.) The meal was hearty, not spicy at all. We will be content for the rest of the day.

Then it is on the Hanford Civic Center Park. You have the old jail there, a replica of the Bastille. Also the Hanford Civic Auditorium, complete with an old World War I canon in front. About 30 years ago, Hanford brought in things to make it more kid friendly, such as a carousel. But what we all flock too, and flock is not an exaggeration is the Superior Diary pink trailer. Sherri and I share a small mint ice cream dish-which is two good sized scoops with some fudge syrup. It tastes good, but I will be glad when the brick and mortar opens up. Somehow, it tastes better over there.

 

Poole Ferry

Sherri had waited in line behind Anita, Dan’s wife. Each shares a love of sourdough baking. Consequently, they both enjoyed each other’s company and promised each other recipes.

Dan gathers us while we are savoring the ice cream and talks about Major James Savage and his relationships with the Indians and settlers of the area. Savage knew how to get along with the natives and would broker when disturbances happened between the two. What he could not remedy was the greed of certain folks who thought that they could take whatever they wanted. This was how the demise of Savage came about as he was shot dead by a judge which he helped get appointed. We will learn more about this later on.

Smith Ferry

Now it is time to reboard our bus and head to the final three spots for this afternoon. The first being in southern Reedley. Here Dan talks about two ferries: Poole and Smith. In our age of dams, bridges and highways, we forget how important and challenging river crossings would be. There is a wide variance in the depth and swiftness of water in the Central Valley. In the late 1800’s a wagon would easily get swept away with all of your goods in an ill-fated river crossing.

There were two crossings close together. One would be pretty accessible during certain times of the year and one was pretty much all year. These were Poole and Smith Ferries. They were competitors with each other, within a mile or two. It was here that Savage was killed. The monument the E Clampus Vitus people put up is a single large granite block with information on each ferry; one on one side of the block and the other on the other side.

After the ferry monument, we went on to a bridge crossing, which substantially replaced the ferries over the King’s River. The bridge was called the Wagon Bridge. This bridge was wooden, but survived several floods until it was replaced in 1929 with a concrete bridge.

Our last stop is at Hillcrest Farms. On the southeast corner, outside of the fence is an E Clampus Vitus memorial to Major James Savage. It has a biography of him on it. I am not sure that this is a special place for Savage. Still he deserves his own place away from other remembrances. He was a man with flaws and of his times-aren’t we all. But he did die while defending a people who were trying to live in peace away from the encroaching white man. He does deserve his own place. [It is noted that there is a second James Savage about half a mile away on private property.]

We got back to Fresno State about 5:15. Derek, our bus driver is appreciated by all 38 of us as he has done a good job of driving us around, sometimes in places which I would guess he wonders why he signup for this. All of us also appreciate the work which Dan did in preparing for this trip.

Sherri and I get back home about a quarter to six, just glad to rest for awhile. Who knew that riding around in a bus all day could be so tiring?

Background

Headstone Symbols: There are common symbols used on many headstones. Sherri and I first came across this when we saw a bookmark at the gift shop at the Atlanta Oakland Cemetery, There are websites which also give an explanation. Here are three of them:

• Stone Letters - Has good pictures

• Merkle’s Monuments - Guide to Common Headstone Symbols

• Memorials - a pretty comprehensive list

Monument References:

• Mussel Slough:

  • California Historical Landmark

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

  • GV Wire

• Poole and Smith Ferry

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

  • Wikipedia on Smith Ferry

  • Kiddle for Kids

    • Smith Ferry

    • Poole Ferry

  • Gribblenation. There is a second entry dealing with Poole Ferry.

• Wagon Bridge

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

• Major James Savage

  • Historical Marker Database (HMDB)

October 24, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49

 

Title: October 24, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49
Hike Info : Description :  Background : Extra Photo's 

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking Car : Touring

Trail head:   Rock SP Picnic Parking Lot

Trail:  South Nature Trail

Destination: Loop

Distance:  1.37 miles

Start Time: 11:10

End Time:    1:00

Travel Time: 1:49  (0.75 mph)

Moving Time:  1:07  (1.23 mph)

Elevation Rise:  247'

Descent: 219‘

Maximum Elevation: 2,426'

Minimum Elevation: 2,308'

GPS Tracks

Description:

Our last day on this short trip. We are planning on going to Indian Grinding Rock State Park and then continue down Highway 49, assuming I can find all the correct turns, which as it turns out is a bit problematic. I woke up at 6:40 and confirmed there was no lightning yesterday. At least around Placerville we knew there was none. Then off to breakfast. The hotel provided food that was adequate and got you fed. But as was pointed out in one review, there was no meat protein. As Sherri found out, there was no fruit to go with her yogurt.

When we got back to the room, Sherri still needed to do a few things. We were able to leave Jackson around 10:20, sort of. More about that in aa few sentences. We head out of Jackson on 49. I kept looking for a sign saying either Volcano or Indian Grinding Rock SP. When we passed Mokelumne Hill, I started thinking we had missed a turn. We had-in Jackson. We go back to Jackson, this little misdirection cost us about 45 minutes.

Petroglyphs on grinding rock

Once back at Jackson, we find Broadway and are on our way. It takes us about half an hour to get to Indian Grinding Rock State Park. We thought about doing the North Trail and revisit it from 13 or 14 years ago. But we thought we wanted to see the grinding holes first. Later on we found out that was a good thing.

Inside of Teepee

This rock is the largest with the most grinding holes in North America, at least that is what I think the sign said. Not only are there grinding holes-and there are many of these-but there are also petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are not very obvious. We see what looks like scratches, but may be something else. When we walked around the rock-it was fenced in with a sign asking us to be respectful and not walk on the rock. On the far side of the rock, there are several places which you can see that there was carving in the rock. We are pleased with ourselves on two counts. First we were smart enough not to be content with just the normal view and secondly that we could recognize the carved images.

We decided to continue our walk and decided to so the South Nature Trail. We come to the roundhouse, which the MiWok nation still uses. This month’s OSHER Book Club book was called The Round House by Louise Erdrich. It was about a crime on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. So nothing about this one, but there was a certain amount of resonance to seeing a roundhouse up close and in person.

South Nature Trail

We picked up a trail guide-there are thirteen stops on this trail. The guide will explain the stops. It goes into both the native American culture of this area and the natural life we are passing through. The second is the MiWok village. They have created some teepeees which I look inside. This is where the North Trail joins this trail. But there is a sign saying the trail is closed. So it was a good thing we did not do that trail. We will be content with the South trail.

The trail is gentle. This is not to say there are no ups and downs. But they are not very strenuous. Then there are the places to stop and observe nature. The nature stops both inform and allows one to pause and enjoy nature. The stops informed us about things like wild roses, madrone, oaks, and manzanita. It is good to enjoy both an outing and enlarge one's understanding.

 

 

 

We made it back to the car at 12:50 where we had our peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for lunch. While Sherri was eating one of the apples she got yesterday, I took a quick trip to the museum. I confirmed what we saw on where the Nisenan tribe was, then circle, briefly looking at the exhibits. I asked the ranger about the petroglyphs. She took me over to a drawing which showed the various carvings in the rock. Evidently we saw some of the harder ones to see. She pointed out one of the more obvious ones which we missed. Oh well. All of this in ten minutes.

We take off by 1:20. I had plotted a route to take us over to Mokelumne Hill before hitting 49. But this seems to be the theme: I missed the turn off for my route. Is this a sign of me getting old? Tomorrow is my birthday. I am getting suspicious when we pass through the town of Volcano. When we went through this town a decade ago, we were impressed. Today, we were just as impressed. We will need to check out the couple inns in town.

The road out is fun and interesting. But definitely not the route I planned. We climbed up, watching the trees turn color. Once again, I asked Sherri to inquire Google Maps to see if we are in the right place. No, but if we go up about two more miles we can get a road which will return to Volcano.

Sonora Trick or Treat

When we get to the junction, Sherri notes there is a sign saying we are at Daffodil Hill, a place she has heard about from her youth. But the site was closed. While I studied a map, Sherri got out and looked at a historic plaque which commemorated this site. While Sherri was reading a man came out. I could not make out what was going on, but I was concerned because either the person could be very friendly or he would be hostile and wondering what these people are doing in his driveway. After a minute, it became evident that he was the friendly type.

After I figured out where I wanted to go, I went out and joined them. He explained both what Daffodil Hill was and its demise when there became too many fights over parking for one thing, the owners decided to close the area. He came on as a caretaker and now lives here. After 10 or 15 minutes we took off.

View from Fremont Fort Monument

We rolled along, enjoying the hills and went through Volcano again. Then I found the turnoff I missed and got on 26. For the next 45 minutes we went on 26. One special place we went through was West Point-not New York. The specialness is the name, this town is similar to other foothill towns. We enjoyed the autumn colors along the highway.

Full Moon

At Mokelumne Hill, we rejoined highway 49. Sherri started to see what we could do in Sonora. She found the best of all worlds: a bookstore which serves ice cream-The Thirsty Prospector. When we wheeled into Sonora, we found a parking place and walked back to the bookstore. Unfortunately, the person who runs the store was sick and the store was closed. We were getting a bit hungry and had seen El Jardin coming into town. We had eaten here on a previous trip and knew it was pretty good.

After getting content with Mexican food, we wandered out onto the sidewalk. Evidently Sonora was having an evening where the businesses were giving out candy to kids in costume. Both sides of the street, which was Highway 49, was full of kids and parents. Such fun and joy seeing small town excitement like this. Of course, it is a bit of a wade going through the kids for half of a mile back to the car.

We leave Sonora a bit before 5. First going down 108 before meeting 49 again. The sun was starting to set as we came to the Fremont Fort marker which overlooks the Lake McClure area. There we stopped. A short way after Mariposa, we stopped at a vista point and shot the full moon. Then it is on to home, getting there about 8. I ended up in bed by 1035

Background

Quailty Inn, Jackson. We chose this place because it seemed the most affordable place to stay within an hour’s drive of Placerville and still be along Highway 49. There were not many units being occupied as it is the off season. The room was clean and the various things worked. The bed was comfortable, a bit creaky. The room was quiet, even though the room was down from 49. The hotel’s breakfast was basic: eggs, waffles, and cold cereal-there was no sugar free syrup. But they did have chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Would we stay here again? At the price, I would say there is no reason not to stay here.

Extra Photo's

View from Fremont Fort

Sunlight through trees

Chaw'se Roundhouse

Chaw'se Roundhouse

Looking up a Madrone

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Sonora Trick or Treaters

Full Moon

Full Moon

Glow from sunset

 

 

 

 

October 23, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49

 

Title: October 23, 2026 - Going Down Highway 49
Hike Info : Description : Background : Animals 

Hike Info:

Type: Car, Touring, Hiking

Trail head:  Shady Glen on Highway 49 near Auburn

Trail:  Robie Point Firebreak Road

Destination: Robie Point

Distance:  1.96 miles ¹

Elevation Rise:  890'

Descent: 890‘

Maximum Elevation: 1,226'

Minimum Elevation: 1,054'

¹The GPS was not turned on. The track shown is from plotting our route on Google Earth. Also the plot was one way. The mileage and elevation gain and loss are computed from this one way plot.

Description:

Stone wall next to road

I slept in until 6:40 this morning. The shades are really dark and I lost track of time until I looked at the clock. My computer was really slow. But it turned out there was no lightning in the area I looked at. There was some which was up in the Stanislaus, so I let them know. By this time, it is about 8:15. I took a shower and got packed up.

We are going to our friends up here in Sacramento for breakfast. Jamie has had some medical issues, but seems well enough to have us over. Sherri is doing her morning routine and we do not leave until after 10.

Peter gets all of us a breakfast burrito. It is both good and large. It was good talking with both Peter and Jamie. We last saw them in March. After an hour and a half, the conversation lagged and it was time for us to be on the road.

 

North Fork American River

Our first stop is Costco in Citrus Heights. Not to stock up on munchies, but to make sure we have enough fuel for the remainder of our trip. Then we went on up Highway 80, as if we were going to Reno. But we turned off well before then at Auburn. It seems like a nice little town to wander through. Except we need to find a place to park. But we do not find any place. We circle around Auburn before giving up and heading down Highway 49, the start of our return trip.

Bridge and North Fork

A little ways out of Auburn we come to a sign saying Auburn State Recreation Area. There is a turn out with what looks like a trailhead. This is the start of the Robie Point Firebreak Trail. Google Maps calls this Shady Glen, but I cannot find any other references to this name. It looks more like a road than anything else. The start has a pretty steep down slope. Then it is just a slight downhill. We are wondering how well we will be going back up this. While there are not true autumn colors, mixed in with the greens there is some yellows peeking through.

In the distance, there is an enormous steel, green bridge, which I think it must be for Highway 49. Later on, looking at a map, I realize it is for a road called the Old Foresthill Road. Wonder how it rated such a bridge. This crosses the North Fork of the American River. We continue our walk and come out at Robie Point parking area. The last third of a mile is mostly uphill. We go on to the top of a knoll, but there does not seem to be a very good view as the top is surrounded by trees.

Sherri on Robie Pt Trail

We do a return trip back to the car, getting back at 2:05. We travel for about 20 minutes when we get to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. We have a Senior/Golden Bear pass which admits us into most California State Parks during the off season. We walked around a bit, not far, and read various signs talking about the discovery of gold in California. They emphasized that Sutter was not wild about this as he was well on the way to setting himself up and feared the loss of his workers to gold fever as well as the influx of people who would disregard any property rights he had. There was a phrase on one of the signs which did not get explained. The sign noted that Sutter did not own the land, but had coerced the Nisenan into allowing his mill to be built there. While Wikipedia does not directly address this, it does not Sutter’s inhuman treatment of Indians. Also that he broke his promises to the Mexican governor about what he was going to do, so it is not far fetched to think that Sutter would not have been honorable to the Nisenan.

Sutter's Mille

Sherri really wants to stop at an apple store-not an Apple Store--to get a box of apples to cook with and enjoy. We are aiming for 24Carrot Apple. Later on, I realized that we had gone to another place further up called Rainbow Orchards. Our friend Cathey had recommended this one. After buying the box, Sherri has some apple cider and an apple donut. We also finished off the burrito from this morning for our evening meal. I think this will be enough for me.

By this time it is closing in on 4:30. We talked about various options. It did not seem like Placerville had a reasonable hotel-the rooms were going for over $200 a night. We thought about various places to go and settled on Quality Inn in Jackson. That should be pretty simple, right? After all, it is just an hour down Highway 49.

Things were going along fine, for a while. We went down Highway 50 to Placerville and got onto 49. We were rolling along quite nicely until we got to the town of El Dorado, We came to a stop sign. The truck on my left turned left and after stopping, I went straight. About five or six miles later I realized that I had not seen any highway 49 signs nor did it look like highway 49. I asked Sherri to confirm we were on 49 and she could not.

With the help of Google Maps we figured out that we were not on 49. The best way was to go through Shingle Springs and then Lapote, hitting highway 16 until we reached 49 again around Sutter Creek. And that is what we did. A bit of a different country than what we were used to.

When we get into Jackson, we find the Quality Inn-down a steep driveway. It does not seem to be well used tonight. We got a room, Room 104. My little detour cost us about half an hour, so we arrived at about 6:15. We rested much of the rest of the evening. Sherri had a sandwich, I just munched on peanut butter pretzels and granola. By 9:50, I am ready for bed.

 

 Background

Western States Trail. The History Expeditions web site has an extensive write up on this trail. The route was used by Native Americans, then by those going from the silver fields of the Comstock mines to the California gold fields and back. It is now the trail which the Western States 100 mile Endurance run is held from Lake Tahoe to Auburn.

Submitted to TripAdvisor:

Hampton Inn, Rancho Cordova. We stopped here because it is close to some friends of ours and had a king sized bed available. We got there in the early evening and stayed for one night. The room was clean and the bed was very comfortable. We cannot speak much as we had breakfast with our friends. It was quiet, being on the third floor. There was a slight negative. You are charged for parking, which is on their website. What the website does not say is that there is also tax on top of the parking fee. When I brought this to the hotel’s attention, they provided compensation in the form of Honor points.

 
Animals