Some History

My great-grandfather was born in Scotland, came to California around the horn, grew up in San Francisco and then joined relatives settling in the Central Valley. In the summer of 1877, after the snow melted, he borrowed a donkey from his brother-in-law and took a large flock of sheep up into the Sierras to graze. Along with the money he earned, he borrowed some more, bought land, joined others in building the community irrigation canal, built his home from wood he brought down from the Sierras and became a farmer and rancher in the San Joaquin.

In 1901 or thereabouts he bought a Stanley Steamer, and saw the coming of planes, movies and radios. He believed in education and sent several of his children to college in an era when that was rare. He lived long enough to learn about concentration camps and atomic bombs and wondered what it was all about. He was curious about everything and wanted to know where things were going. It's in that spirit that this blog is written.