California Indian - Portraits from the North Coast 1890-1925 (15 pages)

NOV./DEC.1991 THECALIFORNIANS PAGE 5 ROML_EDMCOR_& Dear readers, This time last year there seemed to be little to celebrate: the economy was ricketing around shaky-kneed, but no one was sure how bad it really was, and there also loomed a war in the Mideast of uncertain dimension. Would it be resolved quickly and decisively, raid-on-Entebbe style, or would it become another Vietnam — or even Dunkirk? This year, if nothing else, we can celebrate the holidays with our loved ones without quite so many wild cards to make us jittery. For the moment, America faces no “fighting” war, and we no longer have to wonder about the economy: it’s obviously in bad shape, so we can relax and worry wholeheartedly, then devote full attention to how we can creatively muddle through this rough patch. Though times and economic trends change, the human component remains pretty much the same. In this issue of The Californians, vaquero working stiffs — like their urban counterparts in Bishop HanD D e 0 ny na’s day — simply do what they can to improve their lot as economic circumstance fluctuates. When Tejon vaqueros sought to have their monthly $40 wage raised to the princely $45 that San Emideo buckaroos were earning, the few hairs remaining to the Tejon’s respected old majordomo Don Jesus Lopez stood on end, and the game was on. Circa 1920s San Francisco union men faced an even tougher opponent — the major shift in social consciousness accompanying the post-World War I economic slowdown. Deep socioeconomic changes once again called the tune to which Americans danced during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when even such a basic family leisure institution as the autocamp evolved from tourist haven to low-cost residence for hard-times transients and families on the road. As authors Hardwick and Holtgrieve remind us in their article revisiting the autocamp, nothing, good or bad, lasts forever in California. Nothing, that is, except the spirit of the California people, which this magazine exists to explore and honor (as, after all, our name implies). As 1992 begins, there is something worth celebrating: peace, and just a little wiggle room to let us all keep on keeping on even ifa bit differently than before. All of us at The Californians wish for you the joy of the season, that your challenges become your satisfactions and your burdens bring their balance in hidden blessings. Lidl Sana Bee Michael Sherrell Jean Sherrell Publisher Editor P.S. Swanee, our Morgan trail mare, is still for sale (see ad in “California History Today”) but we'll come down on the price for anyone who promises to use her on the trail or for working cattle and not just stick her in a stall. Editor: Thank you for your nice magazine. You hit the nail right on the head in my view. ’'m sure we will enjoy it very much. We are interested because all our people go way back in California history. My great grandfather was the first mayor of Santa Rosa, another made boots in 1849 in San Francisco for miners. Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Forestville, Guerneville, etc. are all special to us because we all go way back there. Most of our people came overland by ox team or around the hor, so I guess you could call us native Californians. Ray Williams Klamath Editor: In the Nov./Dec. 1990 issue (vol. 8 #4), on p. 58, reference is made to hot sauce. As a fourth generation Californian, 1 have an “asbestos tastebuds” preference. I would appreciate the recipe for “Mike’s Hot Stuff.” Rev. Darryl Newhouse Pacific Grove Glad to oblige. (Whenever you're in the neighborhood, I can see we should get together for some serious cooking.) Take about 5 of those big (6” or so), hot, dried chile pods and remove stems, leaving seeds in. Rinse, then boil with three or four tablespoons of minced garlic, half of a large white onion minced up fine, and a couple scant shakes of salt in just enough water to cover plus a third cup of cider vinegar. When it's about half cooked down reduce to simmer. When liquid is almost gone, drain and put chile mix in blender. Add just enough fresh water to barely cover and blend well. Put in an innocent-looking glass jar, mix in more crushed garlic if desired, close tightly and label prominently. Enjoy your genuine “Mike’s Hot Stuff.” —Jean S. Editor: At one time or another I must have subscribed to just about every magazine in existence, except Road & Track and True Confessions. Most disappointed me. Some went out of business without warning and left me holding the bag. Expensive, not to mention highly annoying. I have now allowed all but three subscriptions to lapse: Californians, American Heritage and Cat Fancy. If I had to choose just one, it would be The Californians. There is a notable absence of twice-told (inaccurate) tales. The articles are written in good English — never do you abrade me by adding an apostrophe in the wrong place — and you and your contributors do your homework. The research shows! Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. . particularly enjoy your book reviews, and the recent in-depth article about two of my favorite writers: Lawrence Clark Powell and Kevin Starr. Thank you for hanging in there, despite financial difficulties, and continuing to bring your readers a wealth of pleasure. You enrich my life far more than you will ever know. Helen Grast Glendale Michael and I deeply appreciate your very gracious note. Thanks! —JeanS. Edicor: Dr. Owens’ expose of Ivan Petrov’s docufiction on Russian fur hunters and California missions was fascinating. . was one of his students in 1976 and profited greatly from his teachings regarding the use of archives in historical research. He arranged a visit for us to the Bancroft Library and while there I developed an interest in Hubert Howe Bancroft and his Works that has never left me. The Tarakanov paper is, as Owens points out, most likely fiction, but in an attempt to point up the importance of the discovery either Dr. Owens or the editors of The Californians was unfairly engaging in Bancroft bashing and have decided to try to bring down Bancroft a notch or two by claiming 1) he used the docufiction in at least two of his volumes, 2) he was duped, 3) he was carried away by his enthusiasm for color and excitement, and 4) his history regarding this subject was false in many details and shoddy in other details. If it was indeed true that “Petrov played to the great California historian Hubert Howe Bancroft’s enthusiasms, and BanLetters continued on page 51

NOV./DEC.1991 THECALIFORNIANS PAGE 5 ROML_EDMCOR_& Dear readers, This time last year there seemed to be little to celebrate: the economy was ricketing around shaky-kneed, but no one was sure how bad it really was, and there also loomed a war in the Mideast of uncertain dimension. Would it be resolved quickly and decisively, raid-on-Entebbe style, or would it become another Vietnam — or even Dunkirk? This year, if nothing else, we can celebrate the holidays with our loved ones without quite so many wild cards to make us jittery. For the moment, America faces no “fighting” war, and we no longer have to wonder about the economy: it’s obviously in bad shape, so we can relax and worry wholeheartedly, then devote full attention to how we can creatively muddle through this rough patch. Though times and economic trends change, the human component remains pretty much the same. In this issue of The Californians, vaquero working stiffs — like their urban counterparts in Bishop HanD D e 0 ny na’s day — simply do what they can to improve their lot as economic circumstance fluctuates. When Tejon vaqueros sought to have their monthly $40 wage raised to the princely $45 that San Emideo buckaroos were earning, the few hairs remaining to the Tejon’s respected old majordomo Don Jesus Lopez stood on end, and the game was on. Circa 1920s San Francisco union men faced an even tougher opponent — the major shift in social consciousness accompanying the post-World War I economic slowdown. Deep socioeconomic changes once again called the tune to which Americans danced during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when even such a basic family leisure institution as the autocamp evolved from tourist haven to low-cost residence for hard-times transients and families on the road. As authors Hardwick and Holtgrieve remind us in their article revisiting the autocamp, nothing, good or bad, lasts forever in California. Nothing, that is, except the spirit of the California people, which this magazine exists to explore and honor (as, after all, our name implies). As 1992 begins, there is something worth celebrating: peace, and just a little wiggle room to let us all keep on keeping on even ifa bit differently than before. All of us at The Californians wish for you the joy of the season, that your challenges become your satisfactions and your burdens bring their balance in hidden blessings. Lidl Sana Bee Michael Sherrell Jean Sherrell Publisher Editor P.S. Swanee, our Morgan trail mare, is still for sale (see ad in “California History Today”) but we'll come down on the price for anyone who promises to use her on the trail or for working cattle and not just stick her in a stall. Editor: Thank you for your nice magazine. You hit the nail right on the head in my view. ’'m sure we will enjoy it very much. We are interested because all our people go way back in California history. My great grandfather was the first mayor of Santa Rosa, another made boots in 1849 in San Francisco for miners. Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Forestville, Guerneville, etc. are all special to us because we all go way back there. Most of our people came overland by ox team or around the hor, so I guess you could call us native Californians.

Ray Williams Klamath Editor: In the Nov./Dec. 1990 issue (vol. 8 #4), on p. 58, reference is made to hot sauce. As a fourth generation Californian, 1 have an “asbestos tastebuds” preference. I would appreciate the recipe for “Mike’s Hot Stuff.” Rev. Darryl Newhouse Pacific Grove Glad to oblige. (Whenever you're in the neighborhood, I can see we should get together for some serious cooking.) Take about 5 of those big (6” or so), hot, dried chile pods and remove stems, leaving seeds in. Rinse, then boil with three or four tablespoons of minced garlic, half of a large white onion minced up fine, and a couple scant shakes of salt in just enough water to cover plus a third cup of cider vinegar. When it's about half cooked down reduce to simmer. When liquid is almost gone, drain and put chile mix in blender. Add just enough fresh water to barely cover and blend well. Put in an innocent-looking glass jar, mix in more crushed garlic if desired, close tightly and label prominently. Enjoy your genuine “Mike’s Hot Stuff.” —Jean S. Editor: At one time or another I must have subscribed to just about every magazine in existence, except Road & Track and True Confessions. Most disappointed me. Some went out of business without warning and left me holding the bag. Expensive, not to mention highly annoying. I have now allowed all but three subscriptions to lapse: Californians, American Heritage and Cat Fancy. If I had to choose just one, it would be The Californians. There is a notable absence of twice-told (inaccurate) tales. The articles are written in good English — never do you abrade me by adding an apostrophe in the wrong place — and you and your contributors do your homework. The research shows! Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. . particularly enjoy your book reviews, and the recent in-depth article about two of my favorite writers: Lawrence Clark Powell and Kevin Starr. Thank you for hanging in there, despite financial difficulties, and continuing to bring your readers a wealth of pleasure. You enrich my life far more than you will ever know. Helen Grast Glendale Michael and I deeply appreciate your very gracious note. Thanks! —JeanS. Edicor: Dr. Owens’ expose of Ivan Petrov’s docufiction on Russian fur hunters and California missions was fascinating. . was one of his students in 1976 and profited greatly from his teachings regarding the use of archives in historical research. He arranged a visit for us to the Bancroft Library and while there I developed an interest in Hubert Howe Bancroft and his Works that has never left me. The Tarakanov paper is, as Owens points out, most likely fiction, but in an attempt to point up the importance of the discovery either Dr. Owens or the editors of The Californians was unfairly engaging in Bancroft bashing and have decided to try to bring down Bancroft a notch or two by claiming 1) he used the docufiction in at least two of his volumes, 2) he was duped, 3) he was carried away by his enthusiasm for color and excitement, and 4) his history regarding this subject was false in many details and shoddy in other details. If it was indeed true that “Petrov played to the great California historian Hubert Howe Bancroft’s enthusiasms, and BanLetters continued on page 51