Posted by Michael Haran on Oct 11, 2008
I may be preaching to the choir but a few things need to be said. Electing Barack Obama is crucial now more than ever. We need this man to move our society forward which is, arguably and not discounting the economy, the most important benefit of his election. As president, Obama will have a mandate to re-direct our economy and to re-establish our leadership in the world.
With Obama as president we would again be seen as the leader of the world not just the free world but the whole world. People may not believe this but most people around the world are rooting for us; they want us to win because they want to be us; they look up to us; and why? – Because they are us and we are them. The U.S. melting pot is the model for the world because the world is us. In another 100 years, or whatever, the world will be the United States of the World. This is the real reason for our Muslim confrontations. Their Muslims never went through a renaissance like the European Christens did in the middle of the first Millennium. The governing of the world has to be secular or it won’t work and 1.3 billion people out of the system won’t work.
Our economic/political system is basically designed like a pendulum. Put simplistically when the country needs to rive up its economic engines traditionally the Republicans would lead the charge. As the pendulum swings to the right jobs and wealth are created as taxes for the wealthy are cut hoping for the questionable “trickle down” to simulate the economy. Inevitably as greed drives too much money into the hands of the wealthy at the expense of the common good, our social safety net begins to fray and our infrastructure begins to deteriorate. As cries of “throw the bums out,” become common the pendulum swings back to the left. The wealthy are taxed and the social fabric is sown. The problem was that this time the Republicans decided that they were above the laws that were put in place to keep the system working and to prevent the exact things that happened. When you put egomaniacs in power bad things happen, like ill-advised wars and the deregulation of Wall Street.
The current economic situation in the U.S. is governed by fear. It is the same fear that dictated the 1929 crash. The difference now is that we have an historical reference. Their have been 10 depressions in the U.S. since WWII and we have not only survived but have prospered after them. Remember, our economy is about in the $14.5 trillion range. We have a large amount of recourses. The closest economy to us is the EU at $10 trillion. We are still the big dog and you never want to bet against the big dog. The deflation which we are now going through is across the board – we’re all going though it. Once re-regulation is back in place equities will come roaring back.
Normally, when one economic growth cycle ends it settles into a relatively stagnant period. The normal real estate cycle is about five year. The market would go along then shoot up and then back off. This back off normally bottomed out above the prices at the start of the cycle so everyone was happy. What happen this time was that there was too much money looking for maximum returns with to few investment opportunities. The housing market was in the boom part of the cycle and all this money wanted to get in on it. The mortgage industry then changed the rules to accommodate this demand with disastrous results.
This deregulation caused an artificial housing boom which built too many houses for an artificial market. If these subprime loans were fixed rate and required people to have real income this problem would never have existed – but they weren’t and so now we are in this mess. Once the ARM loans adjusted the unqualified home owner defaulted. The defaults snowballed and the builders were left holding unsold homes, ergo too much supply for demand which translates to “bust.” Once the ARMs have been replaced with low, 30-year fixed loans and foreclosure prices have reached the “I just can’t pass up this deal” level while at the same time the lack of new construction affects a still growing population, the market will stabilize and homes will again appreciate.
This administration took a traditionally foundation industry and turned it into a giant, deregulated security. If this happened within, say, the hedge fund industry the average person would have never known about it let alone be affected by it. But when a foundation industry, like housing, food or clothing, gets deregulated everyone is affected. This current administration is not only dangerous and greedy they also seem very stupid.
What has to now happen is that to stop the fear the government has to step in and take control of, first, the financial institutions. We (the U.S.) shoul buy all bad debt dollar for dollar and take an equity position in the banks. The U.S. should do this for any bank around the world (the British have already do it with Barclays’ and The Royal Bank of Scotland). This would liquefy the credit markets which will allow the financial markets to start trusting one another and get back to business.
Second, we need a ground up U.S. stimulus package to grow jobs. Did some one say WPA? It worked before and it can work again. The other “project” which pulled us out of the Great Depression was WWII. Well, since in this day and age I doubt another WW would go over very well, we need another “boom” to drive our economy. How about this? Instead of putting all this money into foreign wars and the oil industry we put it into developing a working system of complete energy independence by, say, in ten years.
Now we really don’t know if global warming is completely man made since the earth goes through these warming and cooling trends about every ten thousand years, but since we have the technology to develop clean energy and stop using fossil fuels why on heaven’s earth not do it? We can do solar, wind, nuclear, clean coal, electric and air (the Germans are working on an air compression engine – you know kind of like a BB gun). This would lead to an economic boom every bit as big as the dotcom or housing booms.
The U.S. auto industry is in dire straights. They are now paying for making an inferior product and being blind to the future. Toyota and Honda have long made comfortable, fuel efficient, highway friendly cars that are inexpensive and last for years with minimal repairs while Detroit continues to produce an inferior product with planned obsolesces. You can only thumb your nose at an educated populace for so long until the chickens come home to roost. With the latest U.S. loan to the auto industry we now own a piece of these companies as well. As owners we should direct that Detroit stop sucking at the oil industry’s tit and build energy efficient cars that contain the latest technology regarding fuel efficiency and quality of construction. Why can’t we have a car that uses air as fuel?
We need jobs and we need our infrastructure rebuilt. If we gave every person in this country, over the age of 18, an equal share of the $85 billion (it’s now $120b) AIG bailout, each person would have about $250k after taxes. Now this would create an unprecedented economic boom in this country and, for that matter, the world. The only problem would be that this would do nothing for the country’s work ethic especially with the 18 year olds. So – if a WPA program was initiated it could be paid for by taxing the upper class that got rich off the past eight years and by cutting oil and war expenditures. This is known as the “bottom up” instead of the “trickle down” which worked like not at all. A WPA worked once and it can work again.
Obama is this generation’s JFK. He’s young and smart. John McCain is old (can senility and Alzheimer be too far behind?). At the beginning of this campaign I had respect for John McCain. Although I thought that either Hillary or Obama would be better suited to move our society and culture forward, I felt that if the Republicans’ were to win again, I hoped that it would be McCain.
He seemed to be a moderate and he seemed to put America first. Now I’m a Vietnam vet and my daughter is an Ensign in the Navy and I had respect for the man. Then he goes and gets this Sarah Palin for his VP. The question I have is what has made John McCain so bitter at the U.S. that he would put this woman so close to the White House? I can never forgive him for this. As far as I’m concerned he has betrayed us all.
As Obama has said we need change. We do need change to take us into the future of an ever shrinking world. But we also need to change back – change back to the market regulations which served us so well until greed and stupidity brought the system to its knees. “Throw the bums out!”
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Posted by Michael Haran on Sep 15, 2008
Published in the Healdsburg Museum’s Russian River Recorder
Autumn 2008
By: Michael Haran
In 1942 the Rev. Mina Ross Brawner, M.D. of Melbourne, Australia jotted down notes of her early childhood in Healdsburg. “In 1896, I vividly remember the old but big Redwood tree on FitchMountain standing outside the fence surrounding my mother’s home. There was room for 20 picnickers in the hollow trunk. Its top was so high that it seemed, when viewed from our home-side, to pass the distant mountain and blend with the sky.”
One day I came home from school to find the big Redwood on fire. Its open throat was roaring like a furnace. Mother told us that the lighting had ripped down from the clouds and struck it. The roar was terrible. We could stand on the hillside and watch the fire relentlessly burn the heart of our old landmark.
Villa Chanticleer
But another rainstorm came down extinguishing the fire and the old tree was saved. Then suddenly a fearful crash and roar, the tree came down. We rushed to the spot – mother and the three children who were home. Was the tree gone? The nook seemed filled with the fallen trunk and branches. Quickly I returned to our cottage and secured a tape-measure. Together we measured the top of the huge tree lying like a giant submarine on the ground. It was 90 feet long. Looking up to my surprise the tree seemed to be as tall as before.
In 1943 Rev. Brawner returned to Healdsburg to see if the old Redwood still stands. It was and she wrote “Old Stovepipe they call you now, and wonder how it happened. But you and I remember. You have kept your secret all these years, but tonight I am telling the world you battled against all obstacles – and won out. Oh, joy! The old Redwood still stands.” Old Stovepipe was renamed the General Eisenhower in 1972.
Some fourteen years later, in 1910, a San Francisco Frenchman by the name of Auguste Pradel and his wife Victorine bought 130 acres, from E. Dufore and his wife Hortense on the north side of Fitch Mountain in which the old tree still stands. They established a French resort to cater to San Francisco’s French community. In its day the Villa was the leading French Resort north of San Francisco with accommodations for as many as 200 persons.Pradel built a road, which is today’s Powell Avenue, from Healdsburg to the Villa, and a “wagon” road down to the river below Eagle Rock to what was known as “Frenchman’s Orchard” and later part of the Del Rio Woods subdivision A horse and buggy was sent to the depot on the arrival of each train to take people up the hill. Later a small bus replaced the horse and buggy.
In 1912, August Laurens (Pradel’s son-in-law) took over the facility and made many improvements in the bungalows. He raised money from local businessmen to “put the road leading from the city limits to the Resort in splendid condition.” One wonders just how “splendid” the road was as Felix Lafon remembered that his father’s model T Ford would have to back up on the steepest part of the road to get to the Chantecler. In 1921 this road and the CampRose road on the south side of FitchMountain were made public roads, rebuilt and connected making a six mile loop from Healdsburg’s city limit to city limit.
In 1916 Victor Cadoul and his wife Seraphie purchased the Chantecler Resort (renaming it the Villa Chantecler) for ten dollars in gold coin from the Pradels and expanded the facilities. An article in the June 18th edition of HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE headlined: “THE VILLA ENJOYS BIG RUN” told that there were “nearly 100 guest enjoying the pleasant surrounding and merchants report business in every line with the guest of Chantecler.” (sounded like the merchants got their road investment back). The building had a kitchen and a bar. The dining area was a large screened-in porch on the north side. Cabins were on the east side of the grounds (eventually rooms were built in one of the buildings to accommodate the large number of “single” guests). Overflow guest were put up in tents. It was about this time that the custom of taking guests on a weekly trip to the Italian-Swiss Colony at Asti began.
Ownership changed several times over the years. According to Madeline Delagnes, Cadoul ran the Villa until 1924 when he leased it to her parents Adrian and Marie Cayre. The Cayres kept the Villa until 1926 at which time Codoul once again took over the Villa. Madeline, in an August 29, 1980 HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE article, stated that Pierre Rouquier “built a beautiful home on what is now Borel Road at Samantha Court off upper Powell Avenue. According to Georgette Cadoul Etchell, Victor and Serephie’s daughter who still lives on Scenic Lane, her father built a small home on Borel Road because her mother didn’t want to live at the Chantecler any longer. Victor later sold the home on Borel Road to Pierre Rouquier and built another small home on Scenic Lane off N. Fitch Mountain Road.
Road to Villa Chanticleer
When Rouquier took title to the property he expanded the home adding a big room to the home and started the Bellevue Villa which eventually included a full service restaurant, 50 cabins and a bowling alley. Knowing that he now had competition, Cadoul made substantial improvements to the Villa Chanticleer including the famed dining room which was reputed to be the largest room between San Francisco and Eureka. Four years later, due to the lack of water available at the Villa, coupled with the depression that made him land pour, Codoul wanted out and he approached Madeline and her husband Lucien Delagnes who owned the Hotel Gotham in San Francisco.
According to Yvette Delagnes Conz, Madeline and Lucien’s daughter who still lives off Borel Road, in 1934 Cadoul leased the Villa to her parents (they bought the property a year later). The lease covered the 40 acres of buildings and the business, with Cadoul keeping control over the remainder of the 90 acres. Delagnes installed an outdoor “duck pin” bowling alley. On Sunday afternoons $25 in cash prizes were award to the best bowlers and also held the Healdsburg championship. New improvements also included new lighting fixtures. The resort boasted of two milk cows and a “help yourself” cherry orchard. A children’s playground and a playing card grotto under “Old Stovepipe” were also installed. As a predecessor of today, weddings were also held under the big tree.
Three meals per day, a room and wine cost $18 per week. When the Villa was overbooked Madeline would even set up cots inside the old tree. She liked to serve fresh vegetables and guests enjoyed gathering around to help string beans and snap peas. Seven course meals were served with a bottle of wine. During prohibition the wine was served in a cup. Lucien bought 50 gallon barrels of wine from Mel Pedroni for $35 per barrel.
Gil Delagnes, Lucien and Madeline Delagnes’ son who now lives in Windsor, said that when he was a child he would help Frank Vatalli count the money from the 10, penny, nickel and quarter slot machines that were set in and around the Villa. Gil’s pay allowed him to buy the model planes and cars that he loved to make as a child. His parent’s share of the slot machine revenue helped pay for the family’s annual vacations. Partaking in the slots were many local and state politicians who would visit the Villa during the summer months.During the 1940’s the Delagnes’ subdivided the 16.7 acres that currently comprise the Villa and the residential lots that now surround the property. Also in the 1940’s The Delagnes’ let the Pradel’s build a home on a northeast part of the property which they lived in until their death. In gratitude, upon his death Auguste left four thousand dollars for the care of the Villa.
The Villa Chanticleer circa 1912
In 1945, they sold the property to two San Francisco men Jack Kent and W. Johnson. This is where legend mixes with reality and fantasy with facts. Madeline claims that Kent mentioned to her that they planned to build a casino for “the Hollywood people.” “One fellow talked a lot of, you know, b.s. He was a liar – pouf! He was not bad looking, though.” She said that they wouldn’t sell until Kent dropped his plan to convert the property to a casino.
On the night of September 14, 1945, while 200 guests were dancing in the famed dining room a fire started in the kitchen. All the guests were safely evacuated but the dining room was burned to the ground. Kent and Johnson rebuilt the beautiful existing main building on a lavish scale and were nearing a reopening date.
Then, on May 11, 1947 a Santa Rosa man named Nick DeJohn (aka Nick Rossi), at one time allegedly involved with Al Capone’s Chicago mafia, was murdered in San Francisco. He had been strangled and was found in the trunk of his car. Soon after, an anonymous source informed authorities that Rossi was connected with a man who was planning a “night spot” at one of the resorts in Healdsburg. All fingers pointed to Jack Kent. Charges were never pressed and Kent vehemently stated, “I’ll give this whole place to anybody who can prove I ever met, saw, nodded, or even spoke to this gangster in my whole life.” But the idea of the Villa as an upscale gamblers’ joint was never fully erased. The six foot by six foot walk-in, impregnable safe that’s still in the Villa’s basement added to the speculation. Soon after DeJohn’s death, and with only the landscaping remaining to be finished, Kent and Johnson declared bankruptcy and all construction ceased. Coincidence?…
As for the Villa’s use as a brothel, The Villa was named Chanticler by Cadoul in the early 1920’s. He took the name from a French fable LeRonain de Renard which was/is a satire on human conventions and morals. Chanticler was a rooster in the fable. The name was derived from “chante claire” which means “clear singing” as in the rooster welcoming the dawn. A 1984 Press-Democrat newspaper article on the Villa claimed that the rooster is a French symbol for a bordello, a fact which is disputed by Yvette. As far as anyone knows this is as close to a brothel as the Villa has ever come.
When it was first built in 1910 by Pradel, the Villa was known as Frenchman’s Resort. In a May 1972 memo from City Administrator Edwin Langhart to the Petaluma sign maker included a sketch of what the Villa’s new sign (the one that now stands at the entrance to the Villa) was to look like. This sketch had only one e in the spelling; however, the new sign was delivered with the double e in the name. Whether the sign maker made an error or if he was instructed to make the change no one knows but the Villa Chantecleer now has the double ee and will so for ever more.
Villa Dining Room circa 1912
The Villa languished for eight years until SonomaCounty forced a sale for back taxes in 1955. With no bidders, two tradesmen who had filed liens for unpaid work for Kent and Johnson, reluctantly took title for the sum of the unpaid taxes. During this time the City of Healdsburg was in a quandary. They had been planning to use what is now the Longs shopping center on Center Street for a new city hall. After a report from a San Francisco consultant stated that the highest and best use was shopping, the City dropped its plans for a city hall at the site. The town had also outgrown the old American Legion Hall, which was also on the Long’s site, as a community center. When the Villa became available and the same consultant said that the resort would make a splendid community center, the City the 17.04 acre Villa for $45,000. The purchase price included the Villa, annex, 20 cabins (all but four were torn down) and all equipment. The City annexed the property and spent $150,000 finishing the landscaping and made upgrades.The 50 by 70 foot dining room has many large widows with views of Mt.St. Helena and CobbMountain. It is served by a kitchen with four big ranges, ovens and other appliances. On the other side of the lobby is the ballroom, with an oak floor and a large fireplace. Between these two is the Redwood Lounge, a horseshoe-shaped bar with 22 stools, and eight booths along the sides. The painting behind the bar was commissioned to Lloyd Wasmuth of Santa Rosa by Kent & Johnson. It is a technique called “juxtaposition,” in which every brush stroke is a small square. The painter took it home after the bankruptcy but the City bought it back for $250 and reinstalled it. The annex has one large meeting room and a small kitchen. There are picnic and barbeque areas for 200-300 persons, parking for about 200 cars, tot-lot, lots of trees – oak, redwoods, eucalyptus, acacia, madrone – and 10 acres of undeveloped land.
Since its purchase the City has invested, and is still investing, substantial amounts of money to keep the Villa up to date. In the mid 1980’s the Villa was losing about $10k per year as compared to about $50k per year today. Adjusted for inflation, this is relatively the same amount. The City is now working on new programs to generate revenue which will not only close this revenue gap but also generate an income surplus. As Healdsburg’s most treasured social venue and the keeper of Old Stovepipe, “You have battled against all odds and won out. Oh, Joy!” The Villa still stands!
Photos Courtesy of Healdsburg Museum
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Posted by Michael Haran on May 1, 2008
By Michael Haran
Published Healdsburg Tribune May 1, 2008
This year, the American Association of University Women’s 18th Annual Healdsburg Historic Homes Tour features five unique and distinctive homes. This walking tour raises money for the AAUW’s scholarship and public school funds.
The homes chosen each year are examples of the town’s diverse architectural heritage, the characteristics of which are what make Healdsburg such a great place to live. From our earliest settlers to about a dozen new homes which have been built over the past year, Healdsburg’s detached single family dwellings reflect, as much as anything, our town’s evolution from squatters to ultra modern living in “smart” homes that can practically clean themselves.
In Hanna Clayborn’s “History of Healdsburg,” and “Adaptation from the Healdsburg Cultural Resource Survey,” she talks about Healdsburg’s early architecture. Most of the early cabins and houses around Healdsburg were modest structures often “designed” and built by amateur carpenters. In the tradition of the “first come first buy” American frontier, no section of town was set aside for business or public purposes. Residences lined the main street and clustered in the downtown area on the east and south sides of the Plaza.
According to one observer, T.F. Cronise in 1867, the majority of Healdsburg residents came from the southern United States and the then “southwestern” states including Missouri (where the Healds came from), Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Their origin, he noted, is “indicated not more by the peculiarities of their manners than the style of their houses, most of which have huge chimneys built outside, after the custom of their early houses”. Cronise noticed the difference of Healdsburg’s early architectural style from the norm in California which was overwhelmingly Yankee.
Although most of Healdsburg’s early homes were copied from folk designs or later, catalog designs, there was a time in the early 1870’s when Healdsburg had a resident architect named William Henry Middleton. Middleton’s most notable building still standing is the elegant Italianate at 211 North Street, now know as the Camellia Inn.
The first Euro-American settlers built cabins of split-log redwood. After the first sawmill was built, the first permanent structures were made of adobe, utilizing native clay and local Indian labor. Between 1840 and 1848 three adobe structures were built. All of these homes were either destroyed or damaged in the 1906 earthquake, with the exception of an adobe outbuilding which has been recently restored and still stands at 8644 Highway 128.
In the 1850s, most of the new homes were simple wood frame “homestead” style structures. Most were single-story, single-gable structures built to house the settlers, most of whom didn’t have families. An example of an early (1853) homestead still stands at 239 Center Street. In the 1850s and 1860s these homestead style houses became larger to accommodate families and became easier to build because of sawn lumber and massed produced nails. Examples of basic later homestead houses are at 815 Johnson Street, 317 Tucker Street and 414 North Street. A couple of larger homesteads can be seen at 230 Center Street, and 340 East Street.
Between 1870 and 1880 (know as the late settlement era), the prosperity of Healdsburg’s agriculture and businesses prompted a more elaborate architecture. Several large Italianate homes, which were probably based on architectural plan books, were built. Examples of these Italianates can be seen at the aforementioned 211 North Street., 619 Johnson Street., and 14891 and 14851 Grove Street. Toward the end of the 19th century, the eastern influenced Queen Anne style homes were being built in Healdsburg. An exemplary Queen Anne mansion is the SwisherMansion at 642 Johnson Street, and the Queen Ann cottage at 403 Matheson Street. Many of the late Queen Annes were built between 1890 and 1910 including one at 423 Matheson Street.
Between 1900 and 1925, two styles of bungalows, the California and the Craftsman, reflected the movement away from the excesses or the ornate Victorian architecture. Both provided housing for the growing middle class population, superseding the function of the Queen Anne cottage, and which integrated indoor and outdoor living spaces with the use of sleeping porches and natural woods. The more prevalent Craftsman homes, with their broad-based pillars, overhanging eaves, and exposed beams, made use of somewhat more prominent design features than the simpler bungalows. An exemplary Craftsman bungalow can be seen at 439 Matheson Street. A California style can be seen at 214 Center Street.
By the mid 1920s Prohibition brought on a severe depression in the local hop and vineyard industries which curtailed residential construction in Healdsburg until after World War II. Accordingly, only a few Prairie style homes (popular in the San FranciscoBay area) and Vernacular cottages (primarily FitchMountain summer homes) were built in Healdsburg. Examples of the Prairie style of architecture can be found at 744 Healdsburg Avenue, and the Vernacular cottage style can be found at 1610 and 1616 S, Fitch Mountain Road. Some Mediterranean and Spanish or Mission style homes were built in Healdsburg between 1930 and 1945.
After WWII, Healdsburg participated in the economic boom times the rest of the nation was enjoying. One of the town’s 1950s developments was the Rose, Josephine, and Florence Street subdivision off Powell Street. These homes were the forerunners of the California ranch style homes which were to be built into the 1960s, 70s, and 80s throughout California. Built at the same time were the ultra modern or futuristic designs favored by Frank Lloyd Wright and which are similar to the Eichler Homes (the Terra Linda area of San Rafael was built by Eichler) that feature floor to ceiling glass, interior atriums and radiant floor heating.
Although sharing some of the same design features of the 1950’s ranchers such as low-pitched roofs, the Eichlers were more upscale for their time. They were built when home energy was cheap (can you believe $15 per month PG&E bills) and are notoriously non-energy efficient. Unless retrofitted, they leak heat like sieves. Healdsburg is fortunate to have its very own Frank Lloyd Wright designed home which is located at 550 Tucker Street. The home at 323 Matheson was built in 1954 and reflects the one of the best example of the post-modernistic style in Healdsburg. Other example can be seen at 426 Fitch Street, 316 North Street and 204 Solar Way.
Although many new homes are being built in a modified California Bungalow style futuristic home are still being built. Two prime examples can be found in the Parkland Farms subdivision at 260 Clear Ridge Drive and especially at 1591 Clear Ridge Drive.
Out of the 1983 Healdsburg Cultural Resource Survey came a change to the town’s approach to its architectural heritage. An historic district was established in two neighborhoods. One is along both sides of Johnson Street between Piper Street and Powell Avenue; and the other is along both sides of Matheson Street between East and First Streets. The Historic District designation may be applied to areas of the city that are of historic significance or contain historic structures in order to preserve, maintain and enhance their historic integrity. The historic designation doesn’t limit structure inclusion by date and, as such, could include the oldest and/or newest if the City Council deems the home to have significant historic qualities.
According to Lynn Goldberg, a senior planner at Healdsburg’s Community Development Center, most of the new people who are buying historic homes are doing so because that’s what attracted them to Healdsburg in the first place. It was the town’s “old timers” that had a problem with the new historic districts. This had more to do with America’s “traditional property rights” than anything else. But once they saw the value, most soon came around and supported these districts and designations.
Up until 1992, Healdsburg had a separate design review board which was responsible for reviewing the historical integrity of any dwelling whose owner had applied for either a permit for new construction, demolition, or an alteration which would increase the structure’s floor area by more than 25%. When the design board was eliminated, two additional positions were added to the town’s Planning Commission. The people filling these positions were supposed to have knowledge of architectural design such as architects and/or contractors.
The AAUW’s annual tour not only raises money for two great causes but also transports participants back in time. Imagine walking Healdsburg’s streets seventy-five, a hundred or even one hundred and fifty years ago. Amazing! It’s our architectural heritage from all eras that defines who we are, adds to the quality of life that we enjoy and contributes to what makes this town our town.
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Posted by Michael Haran on Feb 7, 2008
A History of Fishing Healdsburg
By: Michael Haran
Published The Healdsburg Tribune 2/7/2008
In the beginning there was the water. The Russian River and its many tributaries including area creeks with names such as the Hoot Owl, Pine, Mill, Dry, Pena, Sausal, Redwood, Brook, Windsor, Board, Wine, Warm Springs, Macaama, Foss and Sulphur big and little. Then came the fish – The Salmon, the Steelhead, the Green Sturgeon, Hardheads, California Roach, Pacific Brook Lamprey, Russian River Tuleperch, Sacramento Black Chub, Sacramento Squawfish (“pike”), Sacramento sucker, and the Wolf eel. Then came the “fishers” – the bear, the cougar, the coyote, the raccoon, the eagle, the hawk, the osprey, the king fisher, the herons, the egret – and man.
The Healdsburg fishing is part of the Russian River drainage which runs from the Eel River in Mendocino County to the mouth of the river at Jenner, a 110 mile course and a 1500 square mile watershed.
The history of fishing in and around Healdsburg parallels the rich cultural heritage of the Healdsburg area itself. The first human fishers of the Russian River watershed were the Native American Pomo tribes who inhabited this regain for over 10,000 years before the European settles arrived. 
In 1909 Susan L. McMurray accompanied the Makahmo, a southern Pomo tribe which lived around Cloverdale, on a fishing exhibition on the Big Sulphur Creek. She described the fishing techniques of the tribe at a waterfall about a mile up from the Russian River. At this salmon hole, which means Makahmo in the Pomo language, the tribe would catch its winter food supply which was shared among participating families.
A very large basketry fish trap (made of grapevine or willow) was suspended by grapevine ropes under the fall. Salmon that failed in the leap up the falls dropped back and fell into the basket: At times, as many as 200 fish were caught in a day.
The Makahmo also river-fished using fish dams or weirs. Men, women, and children drove the fish into the trap by walking upstream, striking the water and tamping the stream bed while shouting; Kite-shaped scoop nets and nets that were attached to semi-circular poles were also used For night fishing, a fire built on the bank attracted the fish and illuminated activities, as well as provided warmth. The salmon and steelhead were killed using a “fish club” while smaller fish (suckers, trout and pike) were killed by biting their heads off.
As salmon ascended the streams, they were also taken with a single-pointed, unbarbed fish spear; the point was usually made from the front leg of a deer. Eels were caught with dip nets or gaffs. Children were given miniature harpoons and urged to spear suckers as their elders speared salmon.
During the summer basketry traps were used to catch fish. Angling was used during this time of the year by using willow saplings for poles. Two thorns were tied together to form an acute angle, a nasal bone of a deer or a double-pointed “hook” (gorget) made of Manzanita wood were used for fishhooks. Line was made of fiber extracted from wild iris leaves and grasshoppers were the primary bait. By September, the rivers and creeks had dried to isolated pools. The bulbs of soaproot and other plants were ground and stirred into the pools. The poisons stupefied the fish which were easily collected as they floated to the surface.
By the time the Healdsburg became a town in 1857, the sport of trout and salmon fishing was well established in England with its over three hundred years of history. Isaac Walton’s The Complete Angler was written in 1653 and is considered the bible of trout and salmon fishing even today. In the eastern United States, recreational trout and salmon fishing had become very popular with its heyday in the 1920s.
A big change came in 1857, when wet fly fishing with a light single-handed rod, about ten feet long, came into vogue. The discovery of the false-cast early in the decade, which was the beginning of dry fly fishing, began the trend toward shorter, nine to ten foot split-cane trout rods. Also in the 1850s the materials also changed as both trout and salmon rods were built of greenheart, lancewood, bamboo and whalebone. Salmon rod lengths remain in the fifteen to eighteen foot range, but no longer were they spliced, and the ferule had finally become standard method of fitting sections together.
Although the Mexican government had fish and game laws as far back as the 1830s (John Sutter was a Mexican game warden in Northern California), the first California fish laws were passed in 1852, two years after California had become a state, protecting salmon runs. In 1861 the first closed season for trout was established and in 1885, the state published the first Fish and Game laws.
By 1888, fishing by explosives, cage, pound, weir or set net was prohibited, but it wasn’t until 1927 when spear fishing for trout and salmon was outlawed, that angling finally became the only legal method for catching fish in the Russian River watershed. In fact, an article in the 1879 Healdsburg Enterprise advised how to spear salmon, “The best way to catch them is to go at night, with lights and spear; when the fish cross riffles they can be gathered in rapidly. In cold weather salmon are more apt to stay in deep water, seldom venturing to cross riffles.”
The illegal poaching of steelhead and salmon has been a continual problem on the river. In 1891 the Sonoma County Tribune reported that “several persons have been killing large numbers of salmon in Dry Creek by the unlawful use of Giant Powder. Most of these parties are well known to the neighbors and will be severely dealt with if caught in the act.”
In 1903, another Healdsburg Enterprise article reported: “Two Healdsburg youths, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to a charge of using dynamite with which to kill many fish in the Russian River, and Judge Burnett imposed a light sentence on them. He gave them the minimum allowed by law, a fine of $250, and allowed them the alternative of serving out the fine in the county jail at the rate of $25 per day. The lads will be given a room in the upper story of the jail and not be incarcerated with the general run of criminals.”
In 1872, the state legislature passed an act requiring fish-ways or “in-lieu” hatcheries where dams or other obstacles impede or prevent fish passage. The creation of the state’s hatchery system created California’s modern fresh water fishing sport, that we enjoy today. In 1902, the Eel River Hatchery made the first plant of steelhead trout fry in the State. Since that time millions of trout, steelhead and salmon have been planted in the Russian River and its tributaries.
In 1907, 25,000 rainbow trout were planted in the Russian River; in 1914, 100,000 trout were planted; in 1915, 70,000 steelhead, 65,000 trout, as well as perch and black bass were planted in the Russian River; in 1917, 100,000 trout were planted; In 1919 40,000 steelhead were planted in Mill Creek; and in 1927, 500,000 German Brown trout were planted in the Russian River.
Today, the Warm Springs Hatchery at Lake Sonoma raises and releases 110,000 Coho (Sliver) salmon and 300,000 steelhead each year, with the limit being two hatchery trout or two hatchery steelhead per day with no salmon.
After WWII, many of the chemicals that were developed during the war were now being used for crop management. Human waste from sewer and septic systems were finding its way into the river and the fish population began it decline. The State’s waterway were becoming so polluted that in 1949 the first pollution act was passed by the State Legislature.
The continual water release from Lake Mendocino’s Coyote Dam since its construction in 1958, plus the mining of the river’s gravel bars contributed in the “flattening out” of the river bottom. Many of the old fishing holes around Healdsburg, which were identified by long time local fisherman Leroy Danhausen in a 1961 Heritage Paper he did while at Sonoma State, had disappeared. Holes like “Ruby Hole” which was named for an old steelhead with bright red gill plates; and “Dinner Hole,” so named because if you started out fishing south from Memorial Dam, by lunch time you were at the Dinner Hole; and “Teacher’s Hole,” a hole on the north side of Fitch Mountain where a couple of teachers could get in a few hours of fishing before class, are all gone. The fishermen of that time were pretty pessimistic about the future of steelhead fishing on the Russian River.
Today, thing are looking up. Barbed hooks were outlawed in 1999 and the Russian River Coho Recovery Work Group was implemented in 2000. Organizations such as the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District and the Russian Riverkeepers are supplementing governmental organizations such as the Sonoma County Water Agency and the California Department of Fish and Game in keeping the river clean. Programs such as SRCD’s Rural Road Sediment Reduction, Riverkeeper’s Water-Watch, and the DFG’s Classroom Aquarium Education Program have greatly improved not only the Russian River watershed’s fish habitat but have also educated adults and students in keeping the habitat fish safe. And if you look closely maybe those old fishin’ hole aren’t really gone after all.
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Posted by Michael Haran on Aug 16, 2007
HEALDSBURG’S PLAZA; Facts and Legends
Published in the Healdsburg Tribune August 16, 2007
By Michael Haran
Legend has it that one spring evening in 1857, just below the Russian River’s Memorial Beach, two boys (Charlie Fitch, 15, the youngest surviving boy of Henry and Josefa Fitch’s eleven children, and Billy McAfee, 14, son of Isam McAfee an early Healdsburg liveryman) were walking back to the Fitch Ranch on Bailhache Road after a long day fishing and goofing around on the river. The boys caught scent of something roasting over an open fire. Shushing each other they moved as close to the source as possible without being seen.
Healdsburg Plaza Looking NW circa 1870’s
Crouching behind some tall reeds, the boys saw two Southern Pomo Indians cooking a late run steelhead. Kha-Lan-Ko (tall willow) and Coliko (red wing), who worked for Josefa at the Fitch Ranch, knew both boys quite well and, well aware of their presence, decided to have some fun.
Thinking that they were well concealed the boys listened to the Indian’s conversation. Kha-Lan-Ko told of the old Indian village called Ka’le (the name means “water place” and was named for a nearby lake) which is now the site of Healdsburg’s Plaza. Kha-Lan-Ko went on to weave a story of how the Pomo’s last chief, Sotoyome, had buried the royal treasure before the tribe moved north ahead of the white settler’s advance to the area. Sotoyome died before he could retrieve the treasure and it was still buried near Harmon Heald’s general store. Whispering, so the boys had to strain to hear, Kha-Lan-Ko gave the compass coordinates from the front door of Heald’s store and the old madrone tree in the middle of West Street (now Healdsburg Ave.).
That night, just before dark, JohnstonIreland, Healdsburg’s first Justice of the Peace, was working in his store. His store was located on the Southwest corner of Center and Powell (now Plaza St.) Streets and is now the site of the Gallo tasting room. Mr. Ireland, who owned what is thought to be the first sewing machine in Healdsburg, sewed feed bags which he sold around town. He had come outside for a smoke when he saw the two boys walking toward a point in the Plaza. Their heads were down as each had a compass in one hand and a shovel in the other. Charlie’s compass was that of his late father, Henry Delano Fitch, a sea captain and trader.
Mr.. Ireland watched with much interest as the boys began digging. In 1857 the Plaza was still in a natural state, full of mature Valley Oaks and Madrone trees. The native grasses grew tall in those days, considering the Plaza was used primarily as a horse and wagon parking lot.
As the boys dug, Mr. Ireland meandered over to the mini excavation site. Upon his arrival the boys struck pay dirt – or at least they thought they had. Charlie reached in the hole and pulled out what looked like a wooden shoe box. You can imagine their surprise when Mr. Ireland put his arms around each boy’s shoulders and encouraged them to open the box. Charlie put the box on the ground and pried open the lid. The three of them stood there for a good five seconds before Mr. Ireland let out a roar of laughter. The boys sheepishly soon joined in the mirth; the boy’s Indian gold turned out to be the remains of someone’s dead house cat!
After the laughter, the boys told Mr. Johnson their story. Mr. Ireland told the boys that the Plaza was now town property and if they wanted to do any more excavation they would have to get a permit. He didn’t know from whom a permit could be obtained but a good place to start would be with Mr. Harmon Heald. This story, which is one of Healdsburg’s most famous legends, is a good way to start the history of our beautiful Plaza.
Having contracted tuberculosis on his transcontinental journey from Missouri to California; and after a short period working a YubaRiver gold claim, in 1851 Harmon Heald built a cabin, in which to recuperate, by the well-traveled route from San Francisco to the northern gold mines. His chosen site was also motivated by his desire to open a trading post, which he did in 1852. The trading post being a success, Harmon decided to “squat” at that location until the Sotoyome Grant was confirmed by the United States Land Commission.
By 1854 Harmon had established a post office, and by 1855 the town known simply as “Heald’s Store” also included a blacksmith shop (McAfee), a chair making and wagon shop, and a few residences. Even before the Sotoyome Grant was confirmed to the Fitch heirs in 1858, Henry Fitch’s widow, Josefa, began to auction off portions of the grant.
In 1856 Harmon bought 100 acres “from the slough (Foss Creek) east to Dry Creek”. Then, in July of 1856, Harmon bought, from his brothers-in-law Aquilla Aull and George Espy, land upon which he laid out his first town plat map. The map was filed with the Sonoma County Clerk on March 5, 1857. Mr. Heald laid out the town by “running his line from a big tree, and ran two parallel streets about north and south by east, or until they brought up on the southern bank of the slough. Two other parallel streets were made across right angles and the square was formed being the plaza’
Healdsburg Plaza circs 1880’s
The town consisted of 85 lots which were sold for an average of $15.00 each. Although “lot speculation” soon followed the initial lot sales, Harmon, “being a very straight-forward man who had little to disguise either in business or otherwise,” wanted the town to succeed. He didn’t want to gouge the “squatters” who had built homes around his store and he donated the land for the plaza and lots for a school, cemetery and churches. In his will, Mr. Heald donated $100 for the digging of and “artesian” well in the Plaza. The well was never built.
Residences and wooden storefronts sprang up around the Plaza and by 1859 Healdsburg had 120 houses, a private academy, a concert hall, and a population of 500. Eight additions to the town that became the commercial center for this large agricultural area, between 1865 and 1896, greatly increased its size. Healdsburg’s population passed the 2,000 mark by 1910, and currently has a population of 11,700. Healdsburg was incorporated in 1867.
Prior to the 1840s, the forest ran from the Redwood belt (along what is today West Dry Creek Road) to the RussianRiver and beyond the southeastern border of the town (along Baihache Road). Another town legend holds that Cyrus Alexander who managed the Sotoyome Rancho (and was given AlexanderValley as his pay) in the early 1840s, used a very large plaza madrone tree to hang the carcass of a large bear he had killed there. An early visitor to “Heald’s Store” described the plaza as a “beautiful shady grove.” When Harmon’s wife, Sarah, died in 1857 the funeral was held in the Plaza, a church having not yet been built. It was described at that time as “being covered with large oaks with but one or two madronnas.”
The native trees in the Plaza, which were identified from photos taken from 1864 to 1873, were the Pacific Madrone, the Black Oak, the Valley Oak, the Coast Live Oak, and the Black Walnut. The Black Walnut was a favorite of the southern Pomo Indians and was more than likely transplanted to the Plaza site when Healdsburg was an Indian village. One huge madrone tree, which was located at the northwest corner of the Plaza (it was actually in West street), was sketched by the British author Albert Deane Richardson for his travel book Beyond the Mississippi. This account of his travels in the western United States from 1856 to 1867, featured a description of the native trees in the Plaza as “having reached perfection.” It’s interesting to note that Healdsburg was the only small northern California town so honored in his book and that the madrone tree that he drew was actually damaged by fire in 1859 when a good portion of the wood framed structures across from the Plaza on West (Healdsburg Ave.) Street burned to the ground.
The focus of Healdsburg’s streets on a Plaza park was unusual for a small northern California town of that era. The Plaza owed more to Mexican colonial town plans than to the New England square or commons, for it was never called anything but the “Plaza” by townsfolk from 1857 on.
The first attempt to fence and protect the Plaza trees, which were being used to hitch wagons, came as early as 1858 when a group of citizens surveyed the lot and made cost estimates before giving up the project. As the commercial center of the early town grew many town trees were cut to make way for construction but the Plaza was left in its native state. It’s difficult to tell how many trees were damaged by wagon traffic or removed between 1857 and 1867, but by 1868 the local newspaper editor protested the lack of tree protection in the Plaza.
In 1873 the first manmade improvements to the Plaza were initiated. A redwood fence with gates at each corner of Plaza was completed at the cost of $1,000. At the same time the ground was plowed and harrowed and filled with RussianRiver bottom loam. Ornamental herb shrubbery was planted along with a single fruit tree.
By March of 1874 it became necessary to remove the remaining old forest trees to make way for a landscaped public park in keeping with the style then current in California. The local citizens were invited to plant trees and shrubs, and by 1876 the Plaza was filled with tiny fir and cypress trees, and bordered by Eucalyptus, with exotic palms in the center.
In the summer of 1878 the local newspaper began to campaign for further improvements including the planting of Kentucky Blue Grass, an irrigation system and iron benches. But the panic of 1873 brought “hard times” and delayed any further improvements to the Plaza until December of 1880. It was then that the first structure in the Plaza was erected. With the purchase of the 778 ½ pound bell from the ChristianCollege in Santa Rosa, the town built a large enclosed belltower in the center of the Plaza. The “City Fire Tower,” which was tested on January 6, 1881, was used to call the volunteer fire department or to gather townsfolk in emergencies.
Healdsburg Plaza Circa 1890
By 1888 the Sotoyome Band was well established and was holding regular seasonal Saturday night concerts on the Plaza. These weekly concerts became a tradition, drawing large local crowds as well as many people from other parts of the county. The concerts prompted the construction of a bandstand next to the high bell tower.
By 1879 local businessmen organized a May Day Festival to attract more trade to Healdsburg’s picturesque location. By 1888 the celebration was called the Floral Festival, and by 1895 it had grown to a three day long pageant culminating in a mile-long parade around the Plaza. During the festivals the Plaza was decorated with evergreen boughs and flowers. The local hotels were often overbooked. In 1897 the event was combined with the Fourth of July celebration and a “Goddess of Liberty” parade was initiated. The Fourth of July celebrations continued until 1925 when the delayed effects of prohibition on our hop and grape-growing region were the likely culprit in the demise of the event.
Between 1888 and 1892 the unruly perimeter Eucalyptus trees, which had grown taller that the two story commercial buildings that fronted the Plaza, were removed. The fir trees were also removed and the cypress trees were vigorously trimmed until they resemble small toadstools. At this time the ornate picket fence was replaced with a wire mesh to create a more “open” look to the Plaza.
With the arrival of municipal water and electric power in 1895, the local newspaper again picked up its campaign for Plaza improvements. Only 15 years old, the belltower was removed in 1896 because it was considered an “eyesore” by certain citizens and because it caused false fire alarms in high winds. In February of 1897 (110 year ago) a new circular bandstand was built with a conical roof on the legs of the old belltower. Two months later an open banister, brackets, cornices and a “swaying” staircase were added.
The gazebo-like bandstand became a favorite gathering place for much of the townsfolk. It was especially so for the young single men and women of the county who would converge on the popular hangout every Saturday night during the spring and summer. The consumption of alcohol was not unknown at these gatherings. However, this activity was not going to continue if the “Lady Imps” had anything to say about it. The Ladies Improvement Club, a local “progressive” anti-alcohol organization, had other plans for the Plaza.
Following the lead of the California Temperance Leagues, the L.I.C. received permission from the City Board of Trustees to replace the gazebo with a central drinking fountain. Although the drinking fountain could have been placed elsewhere in the Plaza, the Imps were set on the destruction of the gazebo bandstand. As a “save the bandstand” petition was being circulated by certain citizen groups, the Imps had the bandstand hurriedly axed down. This caused a year-long, heated battle between community factions, fought out both in the Plaza and at the City Trustee meetings.
The town’s youth wanted a bandstand, the local businessmen wanted an “electric” fountain modeled after an exhibit at the 1894 California Midwinter Exhibition (large sprays of water lit by multi-colored electric lights), and the Imps insisted on a drinking fountain. The imps stood their ground and, with the aid of an attorney, won their case. The drinking fountain/monument was dedicated on May 1, 1901. The rest of the community immediately built a removable bandstand next to the fountain. And in 1915, a permanent gazebo/bandstand was built from money donated by local business men.
By 1900, the Plaza landscaping had evolved from the Italianate formality of the late 1880’s to a more naturalistic style which persists today. In 1897, the cypress gave way to tropical plants, which included the four Canary Island Date Palms that are still land marks in the Plaza today (The Healdsburg Museum’s curator Dan Marley uses the height of the Canary palms to estimate the date of the museum’s many plaza photos). Other plantings included orange and lemon trees and many rose bushes.
In 1901 the first automobile was brought to Healdsburg by Mr. W.T. Albertson and “shown off” on the west side of the Plaza. By 1907, “the City Trustees found the proliferation of self-propelled vehicles warranted the setting of a maximum speed limit of 10 miles per hour (they had originally lobbied for an 8 m.p.h. limit).” Inevitably, the increase of “autoists” brought a parking problem to the street surrounding the Plaza. In 1917 the City Trustees decided to adopt a parking plan modeled after a Sacramento traffic plan. Autos could only park in designated areas in the middle of the street, thus clearing the spaces in front of businesses. As quoted in the Tribune, “Machines will be allowed to stand in front of business houses only a few minutes at a time.” No record could be found telling who got the first “parking ticket” on the Plaza.
Changes in the Plaza slowed after 1900, but it continued to play an important role in SonomaCounty’s social and political activities. The Plaza’s Saturday night band concerts continued to draw large crowds until the early 1950’s. The Plaza also evolved socially after 1900. It was a strategic stopping place for soap box orators and campaigning politicians, attracting gubernatorial candidates or governors in 1898, 1902, 1910, 1917 and 1928. Large rallies were held in the Plaza for almost every state and national election year until the 1930s, when radio cut into the popularity of public speaking.
A couple of Plaza stories from Dr Shipley’s book Tales of Sonoma County, Reflections of a Golden Age, are worth retelling.
A Patent Medicine Show. The patent medicine shows were in their zenith during the last part of the 19th century. They usually presented their products around the Plaza during the late evening as long as the pickings were profitable. Many came from miles around to see or here a good show. Even some members of the city’s social elite would pause and listen to get a good laugh at a funny song, a good joke, a slight of hand act, or an acrobatic stunt. One particular vendor came to town selling medicine to remove warts, corns and bunions. One evening he began telling of the wonders of electricity and how Ben Franklin had brought electricity down from the clouds using a kite and ball of string. As he was telling the story he showed the audience a small battery and unwound a ball of string. He encouraged all the men and boys in the audience to grab hold of this circle of twine while he held on to both ends. All the while he was extolling the wonders of electricity and his corn, wart, and bunion cure. All thought he was going to give the men and boys an electric shock. The vendor then asked all if they knew what he had. None could answer so he paused, looked them in the eye and said, “I’ll tell you what I’ve got – the biggest string of sucker ever caught in this town!” The crowd roared with laughter and his sales boomed.
This story was titled A Near Accident. It was during the tenure of the bell tower in the Plaza (1880 to 1895) that each evening at 8pm in winter and 9pm in the summer the bell would toll out the hour of curfew and all the small boys would scamper for home unless it was a special occasion or an adult was with him. In those days there were fewer trees in the Plaza and they were much smaller; also there was no green lawn so in the spring the wild grass grew high and in summer it turned yellow in the sun.
When something was needed to rouse the enthusiasm of the benighted populace, or when some great political victory was to be ratified, it was the days of the torch light processions, the firing of anvils, and at the four corners of the Plaza, the burning of the great piles of cordwood and boxes in the middle of the streets with such pyrotechnics display at the times afforded. The band played, some one would orate, the people would shout and cheer and altogether they would have a grand old time. It also happened that the local Republican Party and the G.A.R. were the proud possessors of an old brass, smooth bore cannon with a four or five inch bore. It looked like it had been with Andy Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
On the evening in question, perhaps they were celebrating the election of Benjamin Harrison as president, the old gun was being fired a regular intervals from the intersection of Powell (now Plaza St.) and Center Streets. The gun would be cleaned, a powder charge inserted with some old rags and paper. The gun would be fired and my, what a roar, it would rattle windows, shiver your timbers and make your ears buzz.
The noise, the fireworks, the enthusiasm of the crowd were at fever heat. The climax of the celebration was about to be reached when some smart boy, when no one was looking, put a rock the size of a man’s fist into the cannon “just to see what would happen.” The gun was fired and with the explosion there was a scream as the rock just missing the bell tower, the Plaza tree tops and the heads of people standing on the sidewalk. It crashed through the window of William Ruffner’s dry goods store, which was on the ground floor of the OddFellowsBuilding. No one was hurt but a lot of folks had the scare of their lives, the old brass gun fired no more that night and perhaps never since.
What has become of the old relic is a puzzler (could this be the cannon owned by the HealdsburgCity archives at city hall as of 1965?), for it should be among the prized exhibits of the old hometown
Today, the Plaza is home to many interesting trees including the aforementioned Canary Island Date Palms. Several species of redwood, planted from 1900 on, include the rare Dawn Redwood from China, Pin Oaks and various shrubbery and fruit trees have created a unique environment. On a recent walk through the Plaza on Arbor Day (in California Arbor day is celebrated on March 7, which is Marin Luther Burbank’s birthday), Healdsburg’s arborist, Matthew Thompson, pointed out the Plaza’s most unique trees including the giant Coast Redwood (the world’s tallest known trees) which was planted in 1924 to commemorate the completion of the old Redwood Highway through Healdsburg; the California native Incense Cedar; and the Ginkgo tree (world’s oldest living thing) near the Harmon Heald memorial plaque on the northwest corner of the Plaza. It is interesting to note that Mr. Thompson pointed out that the Plaza’s grand old Southern Magnolia tree was stressing from soil compaction under its branches due to the heavy foot traffic. Mr. Thompson’s comment mirrored that of the above mentioned local newspaper’s editorial from 1868 lamenting: “Many of the noble oaks on our Plaza, which have long been the pride of citizens and the admiration of strangers, are dying from want of protection.”
In 1960, a central fountain replaced the Imps stone drinking fountain. A pavilion for outdoor concerts, whose post-modernistic style resembled the 1897 gazebo bandstand, was built on the east side of the Plaza in 1986. The design of the Plaza’s new, soon to be completed, gazebo is in keeping with both the 1897 and 1986 gazebos. A debt of gratitude is owed to local columnist Ray Holley and architect Ken Munson who spearheaded the effort to build the new, copper roofed structure and to all the townsfolk who donated money, materials and labor for its construction.
The Plaza’s Saturday night concerts have been replaced by today’s Tuesday night Farmer’s market which is followed by the weekly “Music in the Plaza” summer series of performances. But the Plaza, in all of its various manifestations, has reflected the social and political changes of Healdsburg and SonomaCounty since the 1850s. “Rather than a static monument, the Plaza is a constantly changing reflection of the styles, values, and morality of Californians, from the oak-forested hitching grounds of 1852, to the lush, landscaped park of today. Unlike the great majority of central plazas that once existed in the state (it is now one of the few existing original central city plazas in California), Healdsburg’s Plaza retains all of the useful and pleasant qualities for which it was created, and continues to be a vital hub of the community.
As a postscript to the story of Sotoyome’s treasure, legend also has it that Charlie Fitch’s father’s compass was “off” from the salt air it had been exposed to during Henry Fitch’s many sea voyages. It’s just a legend.
Photos courtesy of the Healdsburg Museum
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