Like most brother’s so close in age, Adam and I used to get in physical altercations. Sometimes I’d be the one who’d start it — other times Adam would start them. What we were fighting over at the time is now lost to me, however it became quickly evident that Mom had enough of our…

While doing some research about Del Norte resident L.F. Cooper, I found out he and others were invested in a mining operation in a neighboring county. Furthermore the mine exists today. Somewhere between 1896 and 1898, copper deposits were discovered in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border. Named the Blue Ledge for it’s distinct coloring, the…

Nevada lawmakers have been busy this week, hearing bills and creating laws to better the lives of residents in this great state. Problem is — so far I see nothing that creates jobs — something Nevadans are desperate for. Health care workers could have a state-mandated to-do list if a new bill becomes law. Las…

Del Norte County yielded several types of metal to miners who worked here more than 100 years ago. Gold mining began in 1851, and by the late 1800s remained one of the “most important” of its industries, according to A.J. Bledsoe, who published a history of the area in 1881. By that date, Bledsoe included…

After the Klamath Reservation was occupied by members of the Tolowa tribe during the late 1850s, the Office of Indian Affairs took action against several of its staffers, citing them with wrongdoing. The first to go was Subagent J.P. Heintzelman. Indian Superintendent Thomas J. Henley had determined that the movement of the tribe to Klamath…

It was October 10, 2007 when Nevada Senator Harry Reid took to the senate floor and assailed Rush Limbaugh over comments he made regarding phony soldiers. Reid had his facts wrong saying Limbaugh had called members of the military “phony soldiers.” What Limbaugh actually said was in response to a caller, who stated: “And what’s…

It’s hard to imagine a city with 10,000 people was once located in the Owen’s Valley. Harder still to imagine — they were mostly American citizens, detained by their own government. Camp Manzanar was authorized following Pearl Harbor. In early 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, calling for people of Japanese ancestry to be…

The first time I met the Brooklyn, New York, native Norm Nielson, I was working at KONE in Reno with Paul Stewart. Paul and I were putting together an advertising campaign using Nevada as a historical back drop. It was Paul’s idea and he asked me to help him gather facts and write scripts. It…

Located jus’ north of Las Vegas on U.S. 93, Caliente started with two escaped slaves, Ike and Dow Barton, raising cattle and hay in 1860. They sold out to Charles and William Culverwell, who owned a simular operation near the mining camps of Pioche and Delamar. With the 1901 arrival of the Salt Lake Rail…

She was my sister, Deirdre’s God-mother and our neighbor across the street when we were growing up. She was also a teacher for nearly 34-years and the member of a Del Norte County pioneer family. By 1964 she had retired from teaching elementary school and when the flood raced through the town of Klamath that…