Today a casual traveler driving east from the Comptche Store would never imagine the busy logging scene along the valley floor that went one 140 years ago. The headwaters of the Albion River in our…
Posts published by “Katy Tahja”
There is a feeling today with some groups that ethnic history should be written by natives of that group. I see that as a fine idea going forward but dedicated ethnologists and archaeologists left us…
If you were a native person in Mendocino County before the arrival of white folks, what trade items would you share with other natives, and what would you want in return? I docent at the…
The current exhibit at the Kelley House Museum, “Northern Pomo: Mendocino’s First People,” explores the history and rich culture of the local Indigenous people through the oral traditions passed down through generations and with stories…
As a historian researching the history of mineral and hot springs locally I became enthralled and entertained browsing through “Durham’s Place Names of California’s North Coast” covering Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake and Trinity counties.…
While the Mendocino Coast has seen many shipwrecks along its shores, and enjoyed salvaging the cargo that washed up, the sinking of the “SS Dorothy Wintermote” in September of 1938 stands out in the memories…
It’s not often I will travel hundreds of miles to see a place I’ve wanted to see for decades with sorrow in my heart. That’s what happened when I went to see Hetch Hetchy 20…
At Burning Man sometimes something happens that is so totally unexpected and delightful you shake your head in wonderment. Interviewing the medical director of Emergency Services at Burning Man this year we both got a…
Imagine this: It’s 1888 and you are a small child living on a ranch on the Mail Ridge Road in northern Mendocino County. You see the dust of travelers coming along the roadway and run…