Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 81

Section Section TRAVEL HOBBIES HOUSE OF THE WEEK HOMES GARDENS ART-MUSIC WEEKEND WORKSHOP- nave SCOUTS flfl FORUM -BOOKS EDITORIAL PAGE VOL CLXXII OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 1960 C-l NO. 164 v- 1 VI 1 -'-J rp 1 I call, I trust and believe that the honored recipient of this magnificent gift, will never cause its fair donors to blush with shame that we faltered in its defense or proved recreant to those great principals of liberty bequeathed by our forefathers and, which it is our duty to aid in transmitting unimpaired to posterity. Ladies, we again thank you." I I V.Vj 1 Jp4 -i A ft. I.n .1. i-tni minim.

1 Guards, home unit of theAlvarado Hundred. Capt. Ephraim Dyer is left of the drummer. EITHER party has a corner on politicos who make weird campaign or post-election statements. Some California Republicans, for example, Jiave made pronouncements in recent days which border on the fantastic.

Most ob-eryers are inclined to be charitable because they recognize the assertions as off-the-cuff remarks delivered in a fever of partisan enthusiasm. But when the politicians start reducing their remarks to writing- and issuing them after due deliberation it becomes something else again. Governor Brown provides a case in point. He. first set the stage by an offhand remark which seemed to suggest he hadn't lost a race yet.

It sounded fine except tfl old-timers who recalled that he had actually." been defeated in past tries for the Assembly, District Attorney and Attorney General and uras thoroughly clobbered when; he headed an earlier Democratic Presidential delegation. Then the Governor' followed up with a formal statement declaring he had been able to do better than Earl Warren did when he was faced with similar opposition in the 1952 Presidential primary. Brown went on to sayhe was pleased that the total Democratic vote would exceed GOP balloting for Vice President Nixon. Since Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than a million in California, the latter was simply a statement of the obvious. But it was the other part of the Governor's observation that caused the old-timers to get but their pencils and do some figuring oh the record.

No They found that in 1952 Governor Warren polled 46.9 per cent of the potential vote in the GOP Presidential primary. As this was written the unofficial canvass had ground to a halt, but only a handful of precincts was missing. The statistics showed that Governor Brown had annexed the votes of only "slightly more than 36 per cent of the state's registered Democrats and the rival Democratic delegation headed by George McLain was running a little above 16 per cent. Between them, they had lured only a shade more than 53 per cent of the Democrats to the polls. At the same stage in the count, Nixon had won the vote of more than per cent of the state's registered Republicans.

We don't know how the Governor will finally wind up in the official tabulation, but it was obvious he could come nowhere near matching the Warren performance. As to the significance of the fact that percentage-wise there was a heavier GOP voter response than Democratic last Tuesday, draw your own conclusions. Getting back to the Governor's statements for a moment it appears that either he is convinced that the voters have short memories or he simply forgets what he has said in the past on various subjects. Take the matter of the Democratic national committeeman. Only last month Brown declared that he would prefer that the national committeeman not be a public office holder "because I believe that we should divide the few rewards and honors that come from participating in public life." As late as Thursday Brown insisted that he was not taking a position as between candidates for the office.

Yet on Friday he jumped in with both feet, reversed the view he held! last month and picked Atty. Gen. Stanley Mosk as his nominee for national committeeman. The switch caught some Democrats by surprise, but not those who haver been keeping a tab on the Governor's flip-flops. Picturesque El Dorado Knave: Homeward bound from our Lake TTahoe cottage on June 1 we left Highway 50 at Pollock Pines and followed an old road to Sly Park Lake, a reservoir of clear, blue water, on one of the; earliest immigrant roads into California's gold fields.

The Kit Carson Pass trail through this region, crossing Stonebreaker Ridge to ford various branches of the Cosumnes River, Weber Creek and other streams in order to reach the gold towns of Pleasant Valley, Webercreek, Diamond Springs, Mud Springs, Shingle Springs, Clarksville and, eventually Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento, in the upper region the old mining towns have largely disappeared. From Ely Park Lake we followed a paved road The Alvarado Hundred At the corner of Smith and Vallejo Streets in the Alvarado section of recently revived Union City stands the old IOOF Hall that served as an armory for troops mustered in Alameda County during the Civil War. A "For Sale" sign hangs on its doors. This is the same building seen in the above photo showing the Alvarado Guards led by Capt. Ephraim Dyer.

The few Alvarado old-timers with whom we talked in Alvarado this past week were unable to tell us how old the IOOF Hall actually is. Some insisted it was built before the Civil War. However, the history books tell us that the Alvarado Guards had a "grand dedicatory ball" in their "new armory" on Sept. 23, 1864, in honor of Colonel Jackson and Lieutenant-Colonel Rowley the "greatest social event of the year." We also learn from the history books that Alvaradols most outstanding hero-patriot of the fta was Capt. C.

S. Eigenbrodt who had lived on a farm near Alvarado before he volunteered to march off to war with the "Alvarado Hundred." He was of German descent and a graduate of West Point. Captain Eigenbrodt was killed in action during the fighting in Shenandoah Valley on Sept. 2, 1864. The women who compiled the second edition of the "History of Washington Township" say "he left a sum of money to the town to be used for the founding of a library which was the nucleus of the Odd Fellows Library." Captain Eigenbrodt served one term as an Alameda County supervisor and was a member of Alvarado's IOOF Crusade Lodge.

The Alvarado Home Guard was organized in 1862 and was commanded by Capt. Ephraim Dyer, but was never called into action. Other officers were lst-'Lt. P. Johnson; 2nd Lt.

Joseph McKeown; 3rd Lt. H. C. Smith, and Orderly Sgt. Saving Stage Fare A Memorial Day visit to Red Bluff revived many memories for Leslie J.

Freeman, the former San Leandro publicist and present druggist in that tree-shaded village of Murphys, Calaveras County. "I remembe my father driving the stage between Red Bluff and Lyonsville, some 35 miles. The largest sawmill In northern California was at Lyonsville in those days. He was chartered to carry the U.S. Mail as well as passengers and the trip east was nearly always filled to capacity, although the west bound trip was usually empty.

The main reason for no load coming west was. because most of the mill hands would float down the flume on a board to Red Bluff in order to save stage fare. In the 1890s the flume was used to carry heavy boards and timber from the Lyonsville mill to the Sierra Lumber Company's, mill on the banks of the Sacramento, There was one spot about 10 miles from town where the flume was 92 feet above the ground. This was the place on the road called Grecian Bend. Another old landmark on the road was Hogs Back, where the ruts of the road made their way through a sharp stretch of rock that the stage wheels had to pass over.

The horses put up a real struggle to get a footing. Many times in the dead of winter the Sacramento River would overflow its banks and flood Antelope Valley, washing out the roadbed. At such times Dad would unhitch his horses from the buckboard stage, put the leather mail sack over his shoulder, mount one of his two horses and swim the animals to higher ground in order to get to Lyonsville. The mail had to go through. Floods were an annual condition until some 50 years ago a long fill and causeway was built through that portion of the country.

Its known to this day as the Kauffman Causeway, named after my uncle, Gus Kauffman. Uncle Gus gets the credit for halting those winter floods. Boyhood Memories "In those days," continues Freeman, "Jack Turner was foreman at the Lyonsville mill. I was only a boy at the time but I remember his being bit by a rattlesnake. He died before they could get medical aid to him.

His son, Coyle Turner, was my schooldays chum. Now Coyle owns much of the land near the old sawmill, his land being only about three miles from where my grandparents, the William Brazelles, farmed 100 acres of meadow land that they homesteaded. Grandpa Brazelle had a dairy ranch and supplied milk, butter and cream for the mill hands at Lyonsville. Just a stone's throw from the Brazelle homestead was the first school house in those -parts. It was there that my mother, the former Anna Brazelle, taught school before she married my father, James Roberg Freeman, i have a collection of old photographs showing the old school as well as the Brazelle ranch, the flume running through the ranch, and various views of Lyonsville and the mill.

There was an earlier understand, known both as the Yellow Jacket and Bell Mill. Dad was a frugal man. He saved his money from driving stage, mill work, etc. and finally entered business for himself. He bought the Luna Stables in Red Bluff from A.

J. Bogard, a brother to Sheriff' Bogard of Tehama County. After two' years he was able to buy tlie Fashion Stables on Main Street, across from the Tremont Hotel. He prospered and became a race enthusiast and was fairly well known as a horse trader. He had all kinds of buggies, rigs, wagonettes, and even funeral hearses as well as other equipment for any demand.

Red Bluff in those days had a large Chinese population. When one of the Chinamen would die they would hire all the rigs Dad owned. The burial ritual was an odd one, often told. All kinds of food Would be placed on the grave's motfnd. At night, I was told many times, hoboes would sneak in and snatch the bowls of food.

THE KNAVE. Pi to historic Pleasant Valley where still, stand buildings which antidate California's admission into the Union. A winding road leads to Somerset, Buck's Bar, Mt. Aukum, Whispering Pines, and through Shenandoah Valley to a junction with Highway 49 at Plymouth. To all nature lovers and descendants of Mother Lode miners there comes a nostalgic feeling on parsing through this historic region.

Hills and streams scarred by pick and shovel, weatherworn buildings in picturesque villages, forests and flowery meadows all along the roadway, all warm the heart with proud memories. While a minister in Placerville 45 years ago I was frequently called to these old communities for funerals and weddings. One funeral at Somerset was a memorable event. The old landlady of Somerset Inn (burned many years ago) had passed away and I was asked to conduct her funeral in the famous old inn. It was a late autumn day, and after the service the funeral train (horse drawn hearse and buggy) started up the range to the burial ground at Indian Diggins.

We crossed the Cosumnes at Buck's Bar and wound up the ridge to the cemetery. We entered the graveyard about 5 o'clock as a snowstorm was rising. I hurriedly read the burial rites and all jumped into their carriages and started down the ridge to our night's entertainment at Fairplay Hotel. Quickly the storm and darkness burst upon us. The horses were given their reins and led ps safely to shelter and dinner at the old hostelry.

The morning broke clear and sunny in a -fairyland of snow. Such were the recollections in my mind as we recently drove through Aukum, Whispering Pines and Shenandoah Valley. Shenandoah farmlands were among the earliest and most profitable in the Mother Lode. Here lived a home-loving and delightful people. John W.

Winkley. Historical Landmarks Everyone interested in California history will be overjoyed to learn that the State of California has printed a compilation of California Historical Landmarks a list that presently totals 722. The 96-page booklet has been printed under the auspices of the Department of Natural Re-, sources' Division of Beaches and Park and has for a cover a photograph of the Fort Ross State Historical Monument (Landmark No. 5) located near Jenner in Sonoma County. Included in the brochure is a separate listing of landmarks by county in addition to number.

There are 18 such markers in Alameda County, eight in Contra Costa County, 19 in Santa County. Each individual listing details the landmarks. The full name, street address, area or location, significance of the marker, and the' organization that placed the marker all is designated in the booklet. The booklet sells for 75 cents and is available from the Public Information Section, Division of Beaches and Parks, P. 0.

Box 2390, Sacramento. p-- P. Civil War days account for the Alvarado a company known as the "Alvarado Hundred." A part of these troops went East and joined a Massachusetts Regiment under the leadership of Captain Eigenbrodt. My father captained the home militia known as the Alavarado Guards. For years the old I.O.O.F.

Hall in Alvarado housed an American flag made by Alameda County women and presented to the company. It wasn't long after that presentation that the Alvarado Guards were ordered to Hayward. Strange to say, the historic flag many years later followed the Alvarado Guards. The IOOF Crusade Lodge was consolidated with the Hayward Odd Fellows and the precious flag now rests in a glass enclosed case in the Odd Fellows lodge hall in Hayward. For Posterity "Among our family records," E.

H. Dyer reports, "is the original address delivered at the presentation of the flag as well as Captain Dyer's reply. Although the person who presented the flag is unidentified, here was the message: 'Captain Dyer, officers and members of the Alvarado Guard. Permit me, in the name of the Ladies of Alvarado, to present to your behalf this banner, bright and beautiful emblem of our nationality. May it ever be your pride and earnest endeavor to guard and protect it from insult and dishonor.

May its folds never wave over a disloyal heart, unless it be victoriously over the traitors and enemies of our country. May your language ever be: "Hail, bright banner that floats on the gale; flag of the country of Washington hail! Red are the stripes with the blood of the brave. Bright are thy stars as the sun on the wave. Wrapt in thy folds are the hopes of the free. Banner of Washington, blessings on thee!" You may hot be called upon to take part in this mightiest struggle the world has ever seen, but if your country calls, I trust and know that you will stand by the flag, ready to fight the great battle of freedom with the watchword on your armor God, Liberty, and Captain Dyer responded as follows: "Ladies.

In receiving from your hands this beautiful flag, permit me in behalf of the Alvarado Guards, to tender to you our warmest thanks. As you have remarked, it is the symbol of our nationality. Around its folds cluster the cherished memories of the past the apprehensions of the present hour the hope of a bright and glorious future. No truly loyal American can look upon his country's flag without emotions of peculiar love and reverence. But, this flag presentation by loyal ladies of this crisis of our country's history, while our fellow countrymen are pouring out their life's blood in defense of its honor wilTever be regarded with more than ordinary affection.

Although as an organization we may never be called upon to take part in this great contest, yet should our country Frank Gilmar Home Guards Our search for information regarding the "Alvarado Hundred" led us to E. Hv Dyer of Berkeley, a son of none other than the Captain Dyer pictured in today's photo. It was Capt. Ephraim Dyer and his brothers who established the first successful sugar beet refinery in the United States at Alvarado in 1879. From family letters and papers, E.

H. Dyer has compiled an invaluable and fascinating genealogy and histdry of the Dyer family which includes much important description of Alvarado and southern Alameda Counity in the pioneer "California contained many southern sympathizers before and during the Civil War," Captain Dyer's son "Both sides needed California gold. Perhaps it was because of this that General Sibley of the Confederate Army was commissioned to invade Arizona and New Mexico in 1862. He got as far as Albuquerque before he" fcas turned back." Among the troops raisecf in California for her own protection wai.