Books Boulder Creek Columns History 

Remembering the White Cockade Scottish Pub: Recipes, Photos, and Recollections

One Hundred Thousand Welcomes! A Legendary Boulder Creek Watering Hole Remembered. By Julie Horner In days past, anyone traveling deep in the forest along Upper Highway 9 in Boulder Creek might spot The White Cockade Scottish Pub biding beside the roadway with its front door painted bright blue and emblazoned with a white X, the Saltire, representing the St. Andrews… Read More
History Local News 

Waterman Gap Lumber Mill Turns 100

By Julie Horner with Scott Tucker and Derek Whaley On Sunday, November 5, 2023, local tree professional Bruce Baker took a group of local history buffs, backcountry trail hands, and the generally curious to the ruins of the Santa Cruz Lumber Mill near Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The Santa Cruz Lumber Company was formed by Santa Cruz native George… Read More
Chinese Pioneers Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs Columns History 

Chinese Pioneers: Exhibit at Belardi Gallery in Felton

Contributed by the San Lorenzo Valley Museum Now through November 12, visitors can view a temporary exhibit titled Chinese Pioneers: Power and Politics in Exclusion Era Photographs at the Faye G. Belardi Memorial Gallery in Felton. This exhibition explores the social, political, and judicial disenfranchisement of Chinese Californians — as well as moments of Chinese agency and resilience — in… Read More
Felton Covered Bridge 1920 1930 History Local News 

A History of the Founding of Felton Covered Bridge Park

By Lisa Robinson Imagine driving into Felton across the covered bridge. Before 1938, that was the county road. Signs, attached to the bridge, cautioned drivers of vehicles over 10 tons. “Every time a heavily loaded truck crosses the covered bridge it gets spooky. It creaks, and groans and acts like it was about to pass all in.” But that all… Read More
Derek Whaley PhD Books History Local History Local News 

All Aboard the Laurel and Glenwood Line

Historian Derek Whaley Celebrates New Book By Julie Horner Sidetracked: Laurel and Glenwood, by Derek R. Whaley, PhD is the third in the Santa Cruz Trains series of authoritative books about the history of Santa Cruz area trains, tracks, tunnels, stations and stops. Released in March 2023, the 127-page softbound volume brings the colorful lore of the ridgetop railways of… Read More
History Local News 

Historic Steam Donkey Installation Ceremony

Tree Faller Bruce Baker and San Lorenzo Valley Museum Director Lisa Robinson celebrate receipt of a steam donkey logging era artifact at the museum in Boulder Creek, California. By Julie Horner On Friday, September 1, 2023, the San Lorenzo Valley Museum officially celebrated the receipt of a steam-powered timber industry winch called a “steam donkey.” The late 1800s/early 1900s logging… Read More
steam donkey in boulder creek History Local History Local News 

Journey Through Time: Historic “Steam Donkey” Logging Artifact Finds New Home

By Julie Horner A historic steam-powered logging winch, or “steam donkey,” has been moved from deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the San Lorenzo Valley Museum in Boulder Creek. SLV Museum President Lisa Robinson took receipt of this logging industry artifact on Friday, June 23, 2023, from tree professional Bruce Baker and a team of expert movers and heavy… Read More
mountain echo fig leaves Columns History Local History 

The Mountain Echo Fig Leaf Editions

By Ronnie Trubek 18 year old newspaper model, Miss Helena Farrell, displays three issues of the Mountain Echo, the Boulder Creek newspaper, published November 11, 18, and 25, 1916. After the turn-of-the-century lumber boom collapsed, Luther McQuesten, the final publisher and editor, would not buy newsprint due to “the high cost of papers and the delinquency of quite a few… Read More
quail hollow ranch park Columns History Local History Local News 

A Visit with the Last Private Owners of Quail Hollow Ranch

Harry and Maude Owen – Quail Hollow Ranch 1957 to 1974  By Richard James and Jim Bahn In November of 1957, Hayward, California rancher Harry Owen and his wife, Maude, purchased Quail Hollow Ranch from Sunset Magazine owner Larry Lane. Harry Owen, a descendant of an old time California ranching family, sold his Hayward ranch as urban development began to… Read More