Chico

I originally thought we were only stopping here to tour a well-known mansion. Little did I know that I would stumble on a man who had so much impact on the state.

In 1841 John Bidwell was a member of the first wagon train ever to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. His first job when he arrived here was at Sutter’s Mill, where he learned what was needed to look for gold. He decided with these new skills to try his own luck, and in 1848 he was among several miners who discovered gold in the Feather River. He used his earnings from this discovery to purchase 26,000 acres of land on both sides of Chico Creek, built an adobe residence, a general store, and began farming his land.

His agricultural plans were massive. He planned to try plants from all over the world in this rich land and climate and see what would work. He knew that his plans would require a lot of manpower, so in 1860 he hired a surveyor to lay out the town of Chico across the creek from his larger land holdings. To attract people to come he donated some of his land for public buildings, parks and churches. I would have assumed it was a real estate play, building public infrastructure so he could sell other land to folks at an exorbitant price. But apparently all he wanted was for people to move there so he would have a labor supply for his farming ventures. It worked. By 1860 he had an actual operating city. The massive tree in front of the mansion is an example of his work. He planted this Georgia Magnolia 150 years ago, and it appears it was a success.

He began construction of Bidwell Mansion in 1865 and completed it in 1868. This 26 room mansion was state of the art. He had electricity, running water and central heating. While he generally lived frugally he did want to show off his wealth in his home. Every one of the bedrooms on the 2^nd floor had a sink, which was an extravagance that would clearly communicate to the guests he was entertaining that he had significant wealth.

We got to tour his mansion and see several artifacts owned and used by Bidwell himself. There were a half dozen additional bedrooms on the 3^rd floor, but none of them had sinks. It turns out that in order to have running water in the 1860’s you had to engineer it yourself – there were no municipal water supplies or electric pumps. A water tank was in one of the rooms on the 3^rd floor and gravity made the water run on the 1^st and 2^nd floor – but no such ability on the 3^rd floor. As we headed out I spotted what appeared to be bleacher seating on the landing outside the rear door of the home. I could not really figure out what they were – the ranger told me – pie cooling racks!

In addition to his considerable contributions in the area of agriculture, Bidwell was a busy guy. He was a US Congressman from California from 1865 to 1867. His wife Annie was a Presbyterian and would not marry him since he owned and operated a saloon. He closed the saloon, became a prohibitionist, and only then would she marry him. Because of her beliefs he became a strong advocate for the right of vote for women. They tied the knot in Washington DC during his Congressional term, and both President Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant were wedding guests.

Because of all this social and political action, the Bidwell’s entertained some interesting folk in their home. Annie entertained Susan B. Anthony in her parlor. Susan gave her a personally autographed 4 volume set of The History of Woman Sufferage which was in the bookcase for us to peruse. The likes of John Muir, Rutherford B. Hayes and William Tecumseh Sherman were also guests of the Bidwells, in addition to many other famous people. Apparently Sherman only stayed two days and then moved into town to a hotel. The Bidwell’s prohibitionist’s stance did not fit well for him. He is quoted as saying “Casaba melons for meals daily, but not a drop to drink.”

He actually ran for President in 1892 on the Prohibition Party Ticket and scored 264,133 votes, the most ever of any candidate for the Prohibition Party. Bidwell introduced trees from all over the world into Chico. He began what is now the tradition of heavily tree lined streets. Being a known agriculturalist he actually testified in the Woodruff v North Bloomfield Mining Gravel Company case we learned about that ended hydraulic mining in the state. Interestingly in 1845 he was working for John Sutter, and it was then that he filed a map of Rancho del Arroyo Chico with the Mexican Government and obtained a land grant.

From Bidwell’s land purchase and individual work to create a town, Chico now boasts a population near 90,000. We wandered around town taking in all the remaining evidence of Bidwell’s impact. We strolled the site of the original Bidwell general store and that of the school. The school site has now become UC Chico campus. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is the only remaining church on the original site originally given by Bidwell.

The lands straddling Chico Creek are today Bidwell Park. We headed up to what they call Upper Bidwell Park and hiked up to the rocky bluffs overlooking Horseshoe Lake. Apparently this is where all the folk of Chico come on a nice day, at least all the students. We were lucky we even found a spot to park!

We visited the home of Dr. Oscar Stansbury. Just after graduating from medical school he received a letter from his cousin asking him to take over his overly demanding medical practice in Chico. Agreeing, he relocated to Chico, and in 1877 wed his fiancé Libbie Manlove. In 1883 he commissioned Sacramento architect A. A. Cook to build this classic Italianate Victorian home.

The folks of the Stansbury Home Preservation Society claim that this is the most original Victorian era home in California. The reason is that Libbie, in her will, had instructed that the home be managed by her daughter Angeline during her lifetime, and then turned into a museum showcasing her husband’s practice. Angeline lived in the home until her death Christmas Day 1974 preserving it as mostly as it had been during her time as a child living with her parents.

Most of the furnishings in the home were original. Our docent indicated that while there were not many of the signs of significant wealth present in the Bidwell mansion there were some very clear indications of wealth. Each of the bedrooms as well as Dr. Stansbury’s office had a large closet. Most homes of the day used wardrobes rather than having built in closets as taxes were based on the number of rooms in a house, and any space with a door was counted as a room, including a closet.

We visited the National Yo Yo Museum. While not a standalone museum – it was actually the back portion of a really cute gift shop – I still enjoyed picking through all the old examples of yo yos. Apparently Chico ended up being the hotbed of yo yo championships and the museum has displays of many trophies as well as information on the champions themselves. This yo yo that was nearly as tall as I was got awarded Guinness world record status in 1982.

At the Chico Museum we learned that in 1859 a 54 pound gold nugget was discovered in the Feather River area near Chico. The museum claims that this nugget was the largest nugget ever discovered in North America.

Finally we visited the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Founded in 1979 by home brewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi it has grown to become the 2^nd largest craft brewery in the US. Only Boston Brewing, makers of Samuel Adams Lager is bigger. In fact its 1.2 million barrel annual production makes it the 7^th largest brewer in the US even when you include all the commercial brands.

The tour was great fun and we learned a couple things we didn’t really know. We learned that there are two different strains of yeast that are used in the brewing process. Lagers are produced with one of the strains and ales are produced with the other. When the Brewery was founded nearly all beer produced in the US were lagers. Sierra Nevada introduced their India Pale Ale which at first was not widely embraced by the public. However, enthusiasts soon began to relish the bold flavors and soon many craft brewers began producing ales.

One of the breweries claims to fame is that they have grown to be the 2^nd largest craft brewer with no advertising. From what I have seen I can’t argue with them on this matter. Our tour guide indicated that there has never been any print, radio or TV ad

vertising for Sierra Nevada. All their growth has come from word of mouth testimony from their customers.

There was no skimping at the tasting room at all. Our guide walked us through a narrated tasting of 6 of their most popular labels. Between the expressive tour guide and the depth of the tour it was a very fun experience.

Talk to you soon!