gold mines
The Profitable Mine That Led to Loss
The Kings River mine paid handsomely — and financed the venture that lost it all.
Stories
True stories of the Plasketts and their neighbors — bears and gold, shipwrecks and weddings — drawn from letters, newspapers, and family memory.
place history
Return to Mill Creek: Walking Mabel's Childhood Home
A hike up the Mill Creek Trail toward the old Sans sawmill site — the canyon where Mabel Sans Plaskett grew up.
story
Phil McGuire the Instant Portrait Artist
Phil McGuire of Gorda could look at your face and hand you your portrait minutes later.
story
William Lucas Plaskett with Fremonts Party at Carson Sink
At Carson Sink in 1848, the Plaskett wagon company fell in with John C. Frémont's party.
story
William Lucas, Doctor of the Cholera Camps
No physician within a hundred miles — so the William & Mary man nursed the cholera camps of Sacramento, and set the coast's bones ever after.
story
William Lucas Plaskett Revolutionary War Family
His father fought the Revolution; his uncle crossed the Delaware. William Lucas came from fighting stock.
story
Linwood Mitchell Brings Luther Burbank Plants to Coast
In 1898 Linwood Mitchell packed Luther Burbank's cuttings down the coast and planted a legend.
story
Marion Plaskett Apple Tree Famous on Coast
One gnarled survivor of Marion Plaskett's orchard fed the whole coast apples of impossible size.
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Albert Barnes Orchard on Pepperwood Ridge
Sarah's brother Albert Barnes proved up a quarter-section on Pepperwood Ridge and set it to fruit trees.
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Marno Dutton Recalls Giant Apples at Cruikshank Orchard
Marno Dutton remembered Cruikshank apples so big a child could eat only half of one.
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Mendocina First White Child
Born in Anderson Valley in 1856, Mendocina Plaskett was the first white child born in Mendocino County.
story
Too Thickly Settled
When neighbors appeared on the San Joaquin horizon, William Lucas decided it was time to find emptier country.