08-13-2021, 11:08 AM
As We Were Told by Coarsegold Historical Society
The theory behind this book was to get all the old timers in Eastern Madera County and have them tell their tales. The Coarsegold Historical Society (Coarsegold is another small town in the area) got a hundred or so people and interviewed them. I'm guessing all the interviewees were in their late 70s or 80s. Since the book was written in 1987 or so, a lot of these people had knowledge going back to the founding of the area. They talked about the mines. They talked about homesteading and ranching. There was a lot of talk about the Sugar Pine Lumber Company Flume which still fascinates me. The book was a treasure trove of information about Eastern Madera County. I'm going to bore tQ for months will all the anecdotes I found.
But it's a slog. It's almost 400 pages long of an oversize book. Think an encyclopedia volume size. The book is just interview after interview or written history. Sometimes they start with a family tree but most of the time it's a just a recitation of who the parents where and how many children they had and which children had children. And since most of the people in the book were quite fertile you start with families of 7 or 8 kids. It would also have been nice if they grouped the chapters according to locations, have all the Raymond families together and all the Oakhurst families together, etc. But no. It wasn't even in alphabetical order.
I think the worst part for me, being new to the area, is that there is a lot of local knowledge I just don't have, yet. They talk about places as if I should know where they are. Take for example the Polk School. A lot of the people in the book went to the Polk School. They also say it was at the corner of the River Road and the Raymond Road. Roads in my area are no longer known by names. It's all number. I eventually did realize they talked about Road 400 and Road 415 as the River Road and The Raymond Road respectively. It would be better for me if the book came with a map with all the ranches and homesteads listed on it. I did spend a lot of time with Google Maps open trying to track things down.
I'm glad I read it. I'll probably have to read it again. I'm currently reading a copy from the library. If I want to buy my own, Amazon has one for $500.
I don't recommend it except for me.
The theory behind this book was to get all the old timers in Eastern Madera County and have them tell their tales. The Coarsegold Historical Society (Coarsegold is another small town in the area) got a hundred or so people and interviewed them. I'm guessing all the interviewees were in their late 70s or 80s. Since the book was written in 1987 or so, a lot of these people had knowledge going back to the founding of the area. They talked about the mines. They talked about homesteading and ranching. There was a lot of talk about the Sugar Pine Lumber Company Flume which still fascinates me. The book was a treasure trove of information about Eastern Madera County. I'm going to bore tQ for months will all the anecdotes I found.
But it's a slog. It's almost 400 pages long of an oversize book. Think an encyclopedia volume size. The book is just interview after interview or written history. Sometimes they start with a family tree but most of the time it's a just a recitation of who the parents where and how many children they had and which children had children. And since most of the people in the book were quite fertile you start with families of 7 or 8 kids. It would also have been nice if they grouped the chapters according to locations, have all the Raymond families together and all the Oakhurst families together, etc. But no. It wasn't even in alphabetical order.
I think the worst part for me, being new to the area, is that there is a lot of local knowledge I just don't have, yet. They talk about places as if I should know where they are. Take for example the Polk School. A lot of the people in the book went to the Polk School. They also say it was at the corner of the River Road and the Raymond Road. Roads in my area are no longer known by names. It's all number. I eventually did realize they talked about Road 400 and Road 415 as the River Road and The Raymond Road respectively. It would be better for me if the book came with a map with all the ranches and homesteads listed on it. I did spend a lot of time with Google Maps open trying to track things down.
I'm glad I read it. I'll probably have to read it again. I'm currently reading a copy from the library. If I want to buy my own, Amazon has one for $500.
I don't recommend it except for me.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm