Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 052-4 - October 1998 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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“Old Block” (center) and friends in his cabin (by Charles Nahi). Alonzo Delano by Priscilla van der Pas Adapted from a Foreword by Marguerite Eyer Wilbur to Old Block’s Sketch Book by Alonzo Delano ANY NEVADA COUNTY RESIDENTS HAVE NEVER heard of Alonzo Delano, or if they have heard of him, don’t know much about him. But nearly everyone knows about Lola Montez, who lived in Grass Valley at the same time as Alonzo, or “Old Block,” his pen name. Alonzo was a miner, banker, Wells Fargo agent, writer and humorist, known for his huge nose, which he often poked fun about. Before he turned to writing, Alonzo lived for more than a quarter of a century in Aurora, New York. He was born there in 1806, the tenth of eleven children of an old French Huguenot family, Dr. Frederick Delano and his wife, Joanna Doty. In 1831 Alonzo married Mary Burt, also of Aurora. Several years later he moved to South Bend Indiana, where he opened a general merchandise store. From there he went still further west to Ottawa, Illinois. When the discovery of gold in California caused a widespread exodus of young men toward the coast, Alonzo Delano joined a party of overland travelers in the capacity of captain. Leaving his wife Mary and young daughter Harriet behind, he started out from St. Louis, Missouri, in April 1849, bound for California. «>» Incidents of this trip are delightfully told by him in Life gn the Plains and Among the Diggings, a classic among overland narratives. Five months later Captain Delano’s party reached Sutter’s Fort. He wrote this verse about the trip: te r > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin OCTOBER 1998 VOLUME 52 NUMBER 4 Py Two schoolboy friends, with buoyant hearts, And grown to man’s estate, Repaired to California’s shore, To fill their cup of fate. That he reached there with only four dollars in his packet did not disturb Alonzo. He was young, energetic, and highspirited. Near the fort was the newly formed town of Sacramento City, with a floating population of some 5,000 individuals, crudely housed in canvas tents, or built of whatever they could find. It was a warm sunny September day; with his friend, Alonzo spread his blankets under a large oak tree near J street. There, for a few days, he lived frugally on hard bread, butter, and bacon, and then joined the exodus to the mines. His first venture on the Yuba netted him $600 for two weeks’ work. Subsequent claims, however, did not pay so well. So Alonzo tried to make a livelihood in various ways. He speculated in land, he traded with Indians, and he became a newspaper correspondent. Then he moved to Grass Valley and mined at the rich quartz veins on Massachusetts Hill and Gold Hill. He made enough at this time to return in 1851 to Aurora to visit his family, but the following year he was back again in Grass Valley. For a time he was the victim of bad luck. His mines no longer paid, so he became an agent for Wells, Fargo and Company in Grass Valley. The Bank Panic of 1855, and a disastrous fire not long after, almost destroyed the young community, but slowly the town revived. Alonzo showed his faith in its future by opening a bank, which prospered. But he was always more interested in roaming the hills and writing than banking. This was the period of his greatest literary activity. A contributor to the Sacramento Union, California Farmer, the Grass Valley Telegraph, the New York Times, Hutchings’ California Magazine, and The Hesperian, he was becoming popular far and wide for his tales of mining life. Pen Knife Sketches, or Chips of the Old Block (a collection of mining tales), and a volume of verses called The Miner’s Progress were published in 1853 at Sacramento. The following year Life on the Plains and Among the Diggings appeared in New York, and a second volume of verses, The Idle and Industrious Miner at Sacramento. Two