Henry Kilsdonk
gold mines
The Los Burros Mining District and the Lost Town of Manchester
Organized 1876, transformed by Willey Cruikshank's Last Chance strike in 1887 — and gone by 1897, burned and grown over. The rise and fall of the coast's gold district, and the lost town of Manchester.
mabel article
History of Coast Schools Concluded
Part two: Pacific Valley School — kept since 1880 on the east side of the highway at Plaskett Creek — and the teachers who came to the edge of the world.
mabel article
Lumber Mills Once Buzzed in the Lucias
Where the Nacimiento road tops the divide, Mill Creek springs to life — and once powered the sawmills of the Lucias, including her father's.
mabel article
Mabel Relives Days of Her Youth Spent on Mill Creek
'Mill Creek is my favorite, filled with memories of my childhood' — Mabel returns to her father's sawmill country. Companion to our Return to Mill Creek photo story.
mabel article
South Monterey County Writers Part II
A 2007 appreciation of Mabel herself — 'Belle' Sans Plaskett with her horse Cleo — by historian Susan Raycraft.
place history
History of Coast Schools Part 2
story
The Sans Divorce Scandal
A courtroom divorce was almost unheard of. Ed Sans got one, then left for Reno to start over.