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 Sands Divorce Scandal

A courtroom divorce was almost unheard of. Ed Sands got one, then left for Reno to start over.