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Posts published by “Brad Wiley”

Settler Icons: Lyle Luckert, Part II

Thinking back on the Lyle memoir I wrote last week, I realized there were clues he and Grace were getting restless living in Anderson Valley. …

Another Frontier Icon: Lyle Luckert

George Zeni’s family represented, in my explorations into American family sagas, one pattern of immigration and settlement in our country.  Find the best piece of…

Anderson Valley Archetypes: George Zeni

This story owes a great deal to an article George’s Fish Rock neighbor Steve Alden wrote for the Mendocino Grapevine in July, 1984.  Steve’s recollections highlight much…

Greenchain Vaudeville

In the last episode of the House of Morgan saga I described my millworker career from the humble Point job up to the celebratory Greenchain…

Pulling With “Highload”

In the last episode in the House of Morgan saga I reported luck more than skill had elevated me on The Greenchain to position #4,…

‘Highload’ & His Mythic Gyppos

Sometime during the Summer of '73, after the unionization strike dust had settled at Philo Lumber, and I had resettled into the routine pulling strips…

Union Organizing in Anderson Valley

Last week's Philo Mill story left off at the encounter between the  mill Boss, Jack Davies and the sitdown strike participants gathered  sheepishly on the…

The House of Morgan: Strike?!

Previously, I described how a small sawmill from the Timber Boom Days after World War II operated and my first week on the job at…

Gary Womack: RIP

Gary Womack, 1940-2021, was not of our Valley; he was born and raised in a small town in southern Oregon few of us have ever…

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