Posted on 04/25/2016 10:26:17 AM PDT by Rummyfan
I grew up listening to stories of turn-of-the-century rural Central California from my grandfather Rees Alonzo Davis (1890-1976). He was the third generation of the Davis family to have lived in my present housegreat nephew of Daniel Rhoades, who had walked into the High Sierra in early 1847 as part of a party sent to help save the Donner Party. Years later, after a small strike in the Mother Lode, Rhoades became a land baron near the shores of the now dry Tulare Lake, in modern-day Lemoore (where his strange mausoleum is currently a California historical site). He died, I think, when Rees was five or six, but his Rhoades portrait still hangs in my stairwell.
Much of my grandfathers lectures concerned the law and his appreciative sense of progress. Without law in the wild days of his preteen years, sometimes farmers, he lamented, shot it out to adjudicate competing claims over water rights from a common ditch. He referenced a land of early epidemics; his daughter, my aunt, caught a summer polio virus in 1921, and lived most of her life in the living room of my house (d.1980), courageously struggling against a disease that had left her scarcely able to move.
My grandfather was born about 10 years after the Mussel Slough Tragedy (the inspiration for Frank Norris' classic muckraking novel, The Octopus, which is about the tentacles of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its land grab from early settlers).
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
And most of the damage happened within the past 20 or 25 years when the Dems pretty much took over the state and advocated that deadly combination of open borders and a massive Welfare State. The Dems then tried as best they could to kill or massively regulate the productive businesses that pay for it all. So now the state is a wasteland.
I love the old Perry Mason TV series.
They are set in a Los Angeles which is now just a memory. Same for Dragnet.
Erle Stanley Gardner was a California lawyer and outdoorsman who wrote of a different era.
One of the world’s greatest economies practically reduced to a slum.
If it wasn’t for the tech sector, CA would be the poorest state
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Not enough?
Dallas Texas 2006, during war time, under Republican George Bush.
500,000 illegal aliens march on Dallas Texas pushing foreign flags in our faces and while making demands and threats. All while Bush celebrated Cinco De Mayo up in the White House...All during war time.
Jack London spun many great tales, many from and about that place and time.
Well, the weather’s nice.
George W. Bush was, and is, a POS. On so many levels.
I voted for that dufus twice. Shortly after that picture of Dallas was taken in 2006 is when I changed my GOP registration to Independent.
I lived in California from 1973 as a teen until 1989. California was still good back in those days.
Sounds a lot like life here in the Sonoran Desert. Laws are obeyed by some, ignored by others. Zoning & building codes ignored, anti-dumping laws flaunted, health laws disregarded in the search for more diversity.
P.S.
It was Jorge Bush’s “See You at the Signing” comment that was the last straw for me.
That and “Islam is a religion of peace.”
Victor Davis Hanson is an AMAZING describer..!
He used to be on KSFO all the time, on the show of his departed friend Lee Rodgers.
I am flabberghasted that Fresno State continues to employ him.
He tells the TRUTH —how does he get away with it?
It’s amazing. And HE is, too.
One of my family friends moved to California. In Virginia, she was majorly anti-gun.
After a year in California, she armed herself. Heavily. She refers to the illegals as “the gun nuts” so she doesn’t run afoul of the PC police but it is clear who she means.
We can take it back. One illegal bastard at a time.
That’s an awesome pic.
The corruption reaches far and wide. Now Cruz, W. Bush’s former legal GOPher, is running for president as the GOP fall back guy. Since W’s brother was thrown off the stage by the American people, he’s it. Cruz was always the insider fall back guy. And he too is going to fail big.
Party over principle, collusion over conservatism. Those in D.C. have proven they don’t give a sh*t about what the American people want. This is perfectly clear.
Great post, dragnet2.
I remember when I lived in California, it always ticked me off that the primary was in June.
“The most populated state in the country, and it plays no role in choosing the GOP nominee,” I would tell everyone.
(Not so this year!).
Then they moved the California primary to March. Now it’s back in June. Why did the powers that be in California switch the primary back to June?
“I lived in California from 1973 as a teen until 1989. California was still good back in those days.”
I pretty much gave up on California about that same time, I think it was 1987. Haven’t been back since. Been in New Mexico since then, and now New Mexico is turning into East California! Our state legislature copies California laws word for word, such as climate initiatives, building codes, subsidized train lines that no one uses, etc etc. and NM is always ranked about the 1st or 2nd poorest state in the nation. I despise the liberal idealism influence CA has here.
She was a babe. I remember an interesting fact. The guy who portrayed Paul Drake’s Son on the much later revival of the series was in fact the Son of the actress who played Della Street. For some reason I can’t recall her name.
My favorite character on the show was Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins). He appeared less and less as the series went on, probably due to his age.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.