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Posts published by “Brad Wiley”

Anderson Valley Vistas

Sometime in the nineteen seventies, after I had started running my own sheep band at the home ranch, Sam Prather and I began exploring a partnership to purchase and run a larger band somewhere suitable in…

Sheep Farming with Sammy

Running sheep on the hillsides framing Anderson Valley provides the herder with a way of seeing Anderson Valley very different than from your car as you check up on the neighbors on your way to…

Counts Counts: Voting in Navarro, 1972

One day last summer I was showing a recent Valley settler neighbor the historic sights of Navarro town and reminiscing about "the good old days." Part of the tour, of course was up Wendling Soda…

Last Remnants

As I noted in my last article the Long Highway through six generations of The Town wound further than I imagined. This one, however, is definitely the End of the Road for me. Constable Reilly's…

The Navarro Saga: More Memories

Well, it's been a longer journey than I anticipated through my recollections and reminiscences warehouse 49 years of residence in Navarro has provided me. My original plan was three articles; this one is number ten.…

The Navarro Saga: Random Reflections

It's been an exhilarating two months recollecting and recording past and present times in Navarro. A French philosopher once said something like "...the more things change, the more they stay the same." Does this metaphor…

Buzz & Barbara, Hippies?

After my last piece's exploration of slow pitch softball in Anderson Valley and the Rest of the World two generations ago, it's been a comfort to return to Navarro around 1975 during the hippie 'Renaissance"…

Hippietime Navarro: The Iteville Clams

No one among my early seventies local history educators ever mentioned town-wide sports in Navarro. In my generation the Navarro Clams slow pitch softball team evolved from  Valley-wide informal sports activities circulating around Boonville.  Formal…

Navarro in the 70s: The Hippie ‘Renaissance’

For those of us lucky enough to live here in The Valley one of the enjoyable pieces of reminiscence among friends and neighbors is the “who was the first hippie” discussion. The first settler, the…

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