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Category: History

Felton Flume Columns History Local History 

Flumes: Lifelines of the 19th-Century Redwood Rush

Mary Andersen
By Mary Andersen In the Santa Cruz Mountains during the 1800s, the air frequently hummed with the thunder of falling redwoods and the distant roar of rushing water. Felton, then a nascent lumber boomtown on the San Lorenzo River, stood at the heart of this industrial activity. Here, flumes – ingenious wooden waterways engineered to defy gravity – transformed the… Read More
Santa Cruz Has Everthing But You Frank Robinson Brentlinger Columns History Local History 

Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You

Lisa Robinson
By Lisa Robinson In 1926, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported “At last – a Christmas greeting card typical of Santa Cruz!” The cards were devoid of snow or snow-covered holly berries. In fact, the Sentinel pointed out, Santa Cruz was a city “where snowstorms are as scarce as seagull’s teeth.” View the full Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper clipping below. Local… Read More
San Lorenzo River history Columns History 

Portolà Expedition: The 1769 Naming of the San Lorenzo River

slvpost.com
On a chilly, fog-draped evening in October 1769, a group of Spanish explorers set up camp along the west bank of a river near towering redwoods. Led by Captain Gaspar de Portolà, this adventurous group — California’s first European overland expedition — had found a waterway so impressive they named it “Río de San Lorenzo” on October 17, after their… Read More
Facetime at SLV Museum Boulder Creek History Local News 

FaceTime: Portraits from the Past at SLV Museum

slvpost.com
A portrait exhibition titled FaceTime opened in June at the San Lorenzo Valley Museum’s Grace Episcopal Gallery in Boulder Creek. The exhibition features artwork and photographs of local residents spanning one hundred years from the 1870s to the 1970s. Alice Hesse, featured on the exhibition flyer above, graduated from Boulder Creek High School in 1921 and from UC Berkeley in… Read More
Boulder Creek Fire gets a new rig Columns History 

Boulder Creek Fire | Local History

slvpost.com
In March 1982, the Boulder Creek Fire Department took delivery of a “new rescue truck.” Pictured above, l to r: Bud Tomlin, Jack Kunz, and Jay Baker.  (Santa Cruz Public Library Special Collections) The Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department, established in 1892, emerged in response to two devastating fires in 1891 that nearly destroyed downtown Boulder Creek and the nearby… Read More
Western States Automic Vault Columns History Local History 

A Mid-Century “Atomic” Vault in the Santa Cruz Mountains

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By Ronnie Trubek In 1953, the Zayante Southern Pacific Railroad tunnel was purchased by the Western States Atomic Vault Corporation, touted for use as a storage place for vital documents and other priceless valuables in case of nuclear attacks. The Southern Pacific train route that ran through the tunnel had been abandoned since November 1940. But, the Zayante tunnel remained… Read More