Name: The Marines at Twentynine Palms
Brand: Thomas Q. O'Hara
SKU: 9780738547725
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

The Marines at Twentynine Palms

9780738547725

$24.99

The largest Marine Corps base in history, the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Center at Twentynine Palms is located on 930 square miles of harsh terrain, nearly the size of Rhode Island, in southern San Bernardino County. An army base for training glider pilots at the outset of World War II, the former navy facility was taken over by the corps in 1952 during the Korean War and the advent of the cold war. The base provided adequate space and ranges to test new artillery and missile technology and was ideal for the largescale training of ground forces. In the 21st century, every U.S. Marine does a stint at Twentynine Palms because the climate, terrain, and remote location simulate many international hot spots of world strife. The marines have continually upgraded and expanded the Twentynine Palms facilities as daily maneuvers involve transports, tanks, artillery, and aircraft, particularly at the Expeditionary Air Field.

Hollywoodland

9780738574783

$24.99

Established by real estate developers Tracy E. Shoults and S. H. Woodruff in 1923, Hollywoodland was one of the first hillside developments built in Hollywood. Touting its class and sophistication, the neighborhood promoted a European influence, featuring such unique elements as stone retaining walls and stairways, along with elegant Spanish, Mediterranean, French Normandy, and English Tudor styled homes thoughtfully placed onto the hillsides. The community contains one of the world's most recognizable landmarks, the Hollywood sign, originally constructed as a giant billboard for the development and reading "Hollywoodland." The book illustrates the development of the upper section of Beachwood Canyon known as Hollywoodland with historic photographs from Hollywood Heritage's S. H. Woodruff Collection as well as from other archives, institutions, and individuals.

Coronado

9780738581309

$24.99

During the 1880s, a great land boom was sweeping California. Two visionary entrepreneurs, Elisha Babcock and H. L. Story, imagined Coronado as a resort and brought their dream to reality by luring the wealthy and famous to their exclusive red-roofed hotel on the beach. John D. Spreckels continued to build upon that dream, leaving a legacy through his many gifts to the city. The U.S. Navy has played a prominent role in Coronado's development, with North Island officially known as the birthplace of naval aviation, and later, with U.S. Navy SEALs stationed at Naval Amphibious Base. Coronado and North Island are surrounded by water and only accessible by the peninsular Silver Strand and the iconic Coronado-San Diego Bay Bridge. This creates a small town atmosphere with a unique combination of cosmopolitan beach resort and navy town, rich in history.

Albany

9781467104470

$24.99

Albany, California--just 1.7 miles square--is one of the smallest cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Located across the bay from the Golden Gate Bridge, Albany not only has its own captivating past, but it is also tightly linked to the fascinating regional history of the Bay Area: from notorious 19th-century powder company explosions to an early-1900s plague scare and a famous actor accused of murder. This colorful collection of historical vignettes reveals little-known details about Charles MacGregor, the man who built many Albany homes; the origins of the famous Solano Stroll street fair; and how extensive train systems once linked local residents to the rest of the Bay Area. Today, Albany is known as a family-oriented "Urban Village by the Bay." The stories of the city--many obscured by time--reflect its struggle to incorporate and the circuitous path leading to the modern, vibrant community of today.

Lighthouses of Humboldt County

9781467107587

$23.99

The impenetrable coast of Humboldt County has been a historic navigational conundrum for sea captains since the 16th century. The Humboldt bar crossing, the lack of safe harbors, the storms, the unpredictable seas, and the rocky shores caused tragic shipwrecks, drownings, and maritime disasters. Beginning in 1850, the Department of the Treasury funded the construction of 11 lighthouses in California, including the Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse, the first one in Humboldt County. Due to its poor location in the sand dunes, the lighthouse was abandoned in 1892. New lighthouses were built in more appropriate locations such as Table Bluff, Cape Mendocino, Trinidad, and Punta Gorda. An increase in population on the north coast resulted in the reliance on passenger schooners and freight vessels, making these lighthouses critical to Humboldt County's economic stability and success. The Trinidad Head Lighthouse is the only one in operation today, yet the lighthouses of Humboldt County and their keepers remain integral to California's maritime history.

Early Paramount Studios

9781467130103

$24.99

For over 100 years, Paramount Pictures has been captivating movie and television audiences worldwide with its alluring imagery and compelling stories. Arising from the collective genius of Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky, and Cecil B. DeMille during the 1910s, Paramount Pictures is home to such enduring classics as Wings, Sunset Boulevard, The Ten Commandments, Love Story, The Godfather, the Indiana Jones series, Chinatown, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Titanic, and Star Trek. Early Paramount Studios chronicles Paramount's origins, culminating in the creation and expansion of the lot at 5555 Melrose Avenue, the last major motion picture studio still in Hollywood.

Riverboats of Northern California

9780738574967

$24.99

California's mighty rivers served as the state's early superhighways. Riverboats transported countless tons of supplies, workers, and settlers from the coast to inland gold rush colonies and everywhere in between. Majestic sidewheelers and sternwheelers burning coal, wood, and oil plied the waterways of the delta, as well as the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Napa Rivers, and the lesser-known routes of the Sonoma and Petaluma. Starting with the Sitka in 1847, boats such as the Captain Weber, Jacinto, Fort Sutter, T.C. Walker, and J.R. McDonald ruled the rivers, visiting such ports as Courtland, Stockton, Sacramento, San Francisco, Marysville, Firebaugh, Yuba City, and Rio Vista.

Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads

9781467116855

$24.99

Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads tells the story of the two railroads that fought for dominance in Summit County, Colorado, during the late 1800s and early 1900s: the Denver, South Park & Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande. The two railroads developed an intense rivalry as they sought to monopolize the county's economic potential. Altitude, heavy winter snow, and rugged mountainous terrain combined to provide a unique set of challenges to company management as well as to the crews as they battled to lay the tracks and provide much-needed rail service to the residents and businesses of the county. Intimately tied to the mining economy, the fortunes of the railroads plummeted when the mining economy collapsed. Although poorly financed and poorly built, the railroads changed the living conditions for county residents. Without the railroads bringing the necessary equipment and lumber, nine huge gold-dredging boats would not have scoured the county's major waterways between 1898 and 1942.

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro

9780738501864

$24.99

In 1943, the finishing touches on El Toro's construction turned a bean field into one of the country's finest military air stations. Located in a quiet valley at the base of the Saddleback Mountains and only a few miles from the Pacific
Ocean, Marine Corps Air Station El Toro stood proud and tall on behalf of the U.S. military for 57 years and four wars.
In this publication dedicated to the history of the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, with a sub-section covering MCAS Tustin, Thomas O'Hara presents a detailed account of the installation's achievements and activities during the entire period of its service to the U.S. military. Over 200 images--from photos of the first Woman Reserve Officers in 1943 to documentation of the annual airshow--illustrate the base's history from its role in World War II through Desert Storm.

Manzanar

9780738558080

$24.99

East of the rugged Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley lies Manzanar. Founded in 1910 as a fruit-growing colony, it was named in Spanish for the fragrant apple orchards that once filled its
spectacularly scenic landscape. Owens Valley Paiute lived there first, followed by white homesteaders and ranchers. But with the onset of World War II came a new identity as the first of 10 "relocation centers" hastily built in 1942 to house 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them American citizens, removed from the West Coast. In
the face of upheaval and loss, Manzanar's 10,000 confined residents created parks, gardens, and a functioning wartime community within the camp's barbed-wire-enclosed square mile of flimsy barracks.
Today Manzanar National Historic Site commemorates this and all of Manzanar's unique communities.

Alameda Naval Air Station

9780738580401

$24.99

The 56-year history of the Alameda Naval Air Station from 1940 to 1997 was a major military presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. As one of the largest and most important naval air stations in the United States, with a population of 45,000, it occupied 300 buildings to service squadrons and Carrier Air Groups. The large Overhaul and Repair facility operated from 1941 through the jet age, and U.S. Naval Reserve squadrons were added in the postwar years.

Mount Shasta

9780738555720

$24.99

For thousands of years, native inhabitants revered this snowcapped volcano, its craggy peaks, thick forests, crystal waters, and abundant wildlife. "Lonely as god and white as a winter moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden and solitary from the heart of the great black forests of Northern California," Joaquin Miller so eloquently wrote. In the late 1820s, trappers first encountered the mountain, followed later by other explorers and travelers. By the 1870s, early settler Justin Sisson had developed a resort with guided tours to Mount Shasta's summit. In 1887, after the railroad was completed, the town of Sisson was established at the base of the mountain, where hotels and saloons catered to tourists and lumbermen from nearby mills. South of the mountain, travelers on Southern Pacific's Shasta Route filled the resorts along the Sacramento River. The new century brought a new mode of travel, the automobile, and a new name for Sisson. "Mount Shasta City" was chosen to reflect the town's special connection to the mountain.

Theatres of San Francisco

9780738530208

$24.99

You read the sad stories in the papers: another ornate, 1920s, single-screen theatre closes, to be demolished and replaced by a strip mall. That's progress, and in this 20-screen multiplex world, it's happening more and more. Only a handful of the 100 or so neighborhood theatres that once graced these streets are left in San Francisco, but they live on in the photographs featured in this book. The heyday of such venues as the Clay, Noe, Metro, New Mission, Alexandria, Coronet, Fox, Uptown, Coliseum, Surf, El Rey, and Royal was a time when San Franciscans thronged to the movies and vaudeville shows, dressed to the hilt, to see and be seen in majestic art deco palaces. Unfortunately, this era has passed into history despite the dedicated efforts of many neighborhood preservation groups.

Railroads of the Pike's Peak Region:

9780738531250

$24.99

By 1900, the scenic beauty of the Pike's Peak region had become well known, making it a popular destination with visitors from across the nation. This influx of tourism along with the apex of the Cripple Creek mining boom saw El Paso and Teller Counties become a hub of freight and passenger activity. Over the next 30 years and through challenging economic times, the area would be served by 11 different railroads and an interurban line. The Midland Terminal and the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railways relied heavily on the revenue gleaned from Cripple Creek ore production, but as the output of these mines declined, so too did the coffers of the railroads that supported them. Larger railroads like the Santa Fe and
the Colorado & Southern increased their regional presence through joint agreements and the expansion of local facilities. Still other roads had a more local flair, including the Manitou & Pike's Peak whose unique cog railway
introduced "America's Mountain" to thousands of tourists. Mass transit also came to the region as the Colorado Springs & Interurban Railway became part of a legacy left by millionaire Winfield Scott Stratton to the people of Colorado Springs.

Butterfield's Byway

9781626194878

$21.99

John Butterfield's mail service connected the East and West Coasts in one of the great entrepreneurial and pioneering stories of the American West. Until 1858, California's gold fields were reached only by horseback, wagon or ship around Cape Horn. Congress decided a 2,800-mile, twenty-five-day stagecoach line would roll from St. Louis to San Francisco. Former Utica, New York mayor Butterfield hired one thousand men and bought 1,200 horses, 600 mules and 250 wagons. Surveying the wilderness, he built roads and two hundred way stations, graded river fords and dug one hundred wells. Join author Melody Groves on a cross-country trip from Missouri to California, and all points in between, as she recounts the Butterfield Stage Line's amazing odyssey.

San Francisco's Forgotten Cemeteries

9781467154925

$24.99

Digging into a forgotten past – and the dead left behind.

San Francisco is famous for not having any cemeteries, but the claim isn’t exactly what it seems. In the early 20th Century, the city relocated more than 150,000 graves to the nearby town of Colma to make way for a rapidly growing population. But an estimated fifty to sixty thousand burials were quietly built over and forgotten, only to resurface every time a new building project began. The dead still lie beneath some of the city’s most cherished destinations, including the Legion of Honor, United Nations Plaza, the Asian Art Museum and the University of San Francisco.

Join author Beth Winegarner as she maps the city's early burial grounds and brings back to life the dead who've been erased.

Alcatraz Island

9780738525280

$7.99

One of America's most notorious prisons from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz has been a significant part of California history for over 155 years. Originally know as Isla de los Alcatraces, or Island of Pelicans, Alcatraz has also been a pivotal military installation and popular tourist attraction.

Yosemite Valley

9780738528779

$24.99

A natural wonder hewn by glaciers from the granite slopes of the western Sierra Nevada, Yosemite Valley reveals the power and beauty of nature's hand. Here, in the sublime "Incomparable Valley" of naturalist John Muir, alpine forests frame the legendary sites of Half Dome, El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Falls, and other massive stone clefts. These marvels of rock and water have inspired writers, artists, and photographers ever since the American discovery of the valley by gold miners of the Mariposa Battalion acting as militia in l850. Within four years, Americans who realized the commercial value of Yosemite Valley began developing lodging facilities and promoting it as a tourist destination. Concerned Californians encouraged President Lincoln to grant the valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees to the State of California for the formation of a state park. This led to the creation of Yosemite National Park in l890.

Durango

9780738569758

$24.99

The storied town of Durango is situated on the farmlands of the Ancestral Puebloans, which later became the hunting grounds for the Southern Utes, in the Animas River Valley of southwestern Colorado. Founded in 1880 as the headquarters of the Silverton branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Durango became the supply depot for gold and silver mines up and down the Western Slope. One of the few old-time cowboy towns in Colorado that retains the vibrancy of a self-supporting downtown of hotels, restaurants, and retail businesses, Durango has worked actively to restore and remodel historic buildings. Enhanced by stories of Spanish explorers, miners, settlers, early entrepreneurs, and the desperadoes of Western lore as well as Hollywood myth, Durango has earned a reputation as one of the Rocky Mountains' favorite travel destinations.

Hawai'i Tsunamis

9781467132633

$24.99

This book's stories and images invite readers to honor and learn from those lost in tragic tsunami events. Each person has a history, an account of things said and done, and preserving these stories helps people to understand the past and make thoughtful decisions for the future. Many people believe that there is good in everything that happens; even tragedies can have positive outcomes. This is certainly true for Hilo, which has been shaped physically, culturally, and economically by the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960. In the waves' wake, lives and livelihoods were lost. Hilo would reel from the catastrophes, but the spirit of resilience would shine through, and Hilo would emerge not unscathed, but not undone. Strength and compassion emerge from the stories of fate in how people responded to one another and how they rebuilt.

Consolidated Aircraft Corporation

9780738559384

$21.99

Founded by Reuben H. Fleet in 1923, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) became one of the most significant aircraft manufacturers in American history. For roughly 60 years, this prolific company was synonymous with San Diego. In fact, whole sections of the city were designed to provide homes for the Convair workers and their families. These men and women were responsible for building some of the most significant aircraft in aviation history, including the PBY Catalina, B-24 Liberator, F-102 Delta Dagger, as well as the reliable Atlas missile, which was vital in launching America into space. To this day, more than a decade after the company passed from the San Diego scene, tens of thousands of San Diegans still celebrate a seminal connection with Reuben Fleet, his company, and his popular slogan, "Nothing short of right is right."

Grand Junction

9780738580685

$24.99

The Ute Indians were hardly out of western Colorado when their land was opened to Anglo settlers. It was on September 26, 1881, when George A. Crawford, William McGinley, R. D. Mobley, M. R. Warner, and others went to the junction of the Gunnison and Grand (later renamed the Colorado) Rivers to claim 640 acres. In the semiarid confluence of the two rivers, a city developed, fruit orchards were planted, and a college grew out of the seeds of a single-room school with a dirt floor. Several newspapers opened, providing news and information to a business community that included coal mining, railroads, dry goods, and even a toffee factory whose products have graced the tables of royalty. How Grand Junction was able to develop into a progressive community of entrepreneurs, educators, and community-minded citizens is a story best told in a small sampling of pictures. None of the founders are still here, but their legacy, stories, and pictures have survived to speak for them.

Rails around Durango

9780738548593

$24.99

In the 1880s, the Denver & Rio Grande began building its three-foot railroad toward the San Juan Mountains alongside the Animas River and the budding community of Durango. The D&RG quickly established itself in Durango, constructing a depot as well as a 45-mile connection to the regional mining hub of Silverton. Over 60 years, the towns, the railroad, and the mines it served would weather plummeting silver values and a turbulent economy. By the end of World War II, declining freight volumes left the future of the railroad in doubt, but by the late 1940s, a growing number of train enthusiasts were journeying to Durango for one last ride. The new popularity of the Silverton Branch brought rail fans to the area in increasing numbers through the 1950s. Today the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad continues to preserve the region's railroading past and has become a unique aspect of the history of Southwestern Colorado.

Kaiser Steel, Fontana

9780738546506

$24.99

In the first half of the 20th century, Fontana Farms Company operated a hog ranch on the site where Kaiser Company Incorporated later erected one of the nation's largest steel mills. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the United States was forced into an unprecedented escalation in the production of ships, planes, and armaments. Soon the sensational announcement came to San Bernardino County that Fontana, a railroad convergence located a safe distance from possible coastal bombardment, would become home to thousands of sweathogs in the war effort. A "gold rush" of sorts ensued, and all property south of Valencia Street to the railroad was sold in a week. This book pays tribute to the fact that, for two generations, Kaiser Steel Corporation at Fontana was among California's and the nation's industrial giants.

Juneau

9781467130721

$24.99

Nestled against the slopes of Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts, Juneau grew in lockstep with Alaskan expeditions to be the resilient, unexpected capitol it is today.

Juneau has not always been the capital of Alaska. In fact, Juneau has not always been Juneau. But the place nestled against the slopes of Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts, originally named Dzantik'i Heeni, has always been picturesque and welcoming. After a successful strike triggered nearby mining claims in the 1880s, a makeshift camp grew on the waterfront to serve the needs of adventurers and gold-seekers. As numbers increased, the settlement was called Rockville, then Harrisburg, and finally named after Joe Juneau, one of the prospectors who, guided and advised by Tlingit leader Kowee, had made the original strike. In spite of efforts to move the capital to a central location, Juneau has remained Alaska's capital since 1906 and continues to invite settlers, adventurers, and explorers to visit and appreciate its beautiful setting and rich history.

The Navy in San Diego

9780738555508

$24.99

San Diego has never been afraid to call itself a "Navy Town," and the positive and inspiring link between the navy and the city knows no equal across the country. For over 150 years, beginning with the U.S. Navy's capture of the city for the United States in the opening days of the Mexican War, the navy has been an indelible part of San Diego's lifestyle, culture, and vitality. Not only has the navy formed the bedrock of the region's economy, but it has helped shape the population while endowing the city with a sense of international and cosmopolitan awareness that separates San Diego from many other cities of its size. San Diego and its navy enjoy a special relationship, one deeply rooted in historic perspective that renews itself with each
passing year.

Rollins Pass

9781467127714

$24.99

The ribbon of dusty road on Rollins Pass has a timeless and beloved history. First known as Boulder Pass, this comparatively low saddle on the Continental Divide in Colorado has been in continuous use for millennia. First utilized as an expansive Native American game drive complex, the pass subsequently functioned as a toll wagon road in the 1860s. At the turn of the 20th century, Rollins Pass became the highest standard-gauge adhesion railroad grade in North America--an achievement still standing today. However, this overmountain route, known as Corona Pass, was inefficient and dangerous: resolute men tasked with the impossible faced high elevations with even higher risks of injury or death. A safer, permanent route came in 1928 by way of the Moffat Tunnel. The rails of Rollins Pass were then removed, freeing the automobile to tour the historic road. No matter the epoch, the legacy of Rollins Pass abides: a preeminently scenic route to the top of the world.

Lewiston

9781467127073

$24.99

Lewiston, Idaho, started with wild beginnings and stayed that way for generations. Officially founded in 1861, its origins are born from a gold rush. When gold was discovered up the river in a neighboring town called Pierce, it brought hopeful miners from near and far panning up and down the river. From that population sprang a tent city that would become Lewiston, along with the stories that informed of Lewiston's early history and growth, full of gambling, drinking, wild women, and the occasional murder. This volume covers Lewiston's history, beginning with its official founding in 1861 and expanding the history through the early 1970s, while focusing on the town's heyday in the 1950s.

Old Sacramento and Downtown

9780738531236

$24.99

The discovery of gold launched an unprecedented rush of humanity to California's Sierra foothills. Many of those miners and minerals flowed as naturally as the waterways into a settlement that grew where the American and Sacramento Rivers meet. The Sacramento River, the main traffic artery between the mines and San Francisco Bay, was soon flanked by a burgeoning Embarcadero and commercial district that became Sacramento City in 1849. Paddlewheel riverboats, like the New World, carried goods,
passengers, and great wealth. Besting all jealous rivals, Sacramento became the state capital, and a wealthy merchant's residence was transformed into the governor's mansion. Today downtown and Old Sacramento, a 28-acre
state historic district, are thriving, graced by such treasures as the restored State Capitol Building, the art deco Tower Bridge, and scores of historic structures and attractions like the Leland Stanford Mansion and the California State Railroad Museum.

Mills of Humboldt County

9781467134736

$24.99

Humboldt County was at the forefront of the massive redwood logging industry. The impressive size of the trees necessitated drastic technological advances. Many innovations were invented by Humboldt mill owners like John Dolbeer, whose steam donkey engine mechanized and revolutionized logging all along the West Coast. In 1896, there were 13 mills devoted to sawing redwood lumber and 26 mills making redwood shingles operating in Humboldt County. Other related industries, such as shipbuilding, boiler works, tanbark, and split products, further shaped the economic vitality of the county. Most of these industries no longer exist, and the logging industry is now a shadow of its former self. However, many remnants of the loggers' heyday can still be found. This book explores the sites of Humboldt County's historic lumber industry and the day-to-day realities of life in the mills and the woods.

A History Lover's Guide to Cheyenne

9781467149525

$21.99

Celebrating at their encampment near Crow Creek on July 4, 1867, railroad surveyors named the settlement after the local Cheyenne tribe. By the time the Union Pacific Railroad arrived in November, the town had grown from a tent city to a "Hell on Wheels" town of ten thousand souls. Cattle barons brought herds to graze the open range, while they reposed in mansions on Millionaires Row. By 1890, the gleaming dome of the new capitol building was visible all the way down Capitol Avenue to the majestic Union Pacific Railroad Depot. Authors Starley Talbott and Michael Kassel explore a rich past, including the origins of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base, the foundation of the world's largest outdoor rodeo and the unheralded history of early aviation that eclipsed Denver.

Arcadia

9780738558066

$24.99

Santa Anita Rancho's famously ambitious and colorful owner, Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin, had established a popular tourist attraction on his productive working ranch by the late 1800s. Baldwin planned to incorporate the section of his ranch known as Arcadia, but opponents feared that he would turn such a city into a "gambling hell and booze pleasure park." However, the vote for city-hood was virtually unanimous, and Baldwin took over as mayor on July 27, 1903. Arcadia flourished as alcohol sales were approved, saloons and gambling halls remained open 24 hours a day, and Baldwin's ranch, racetrack, and Oakwood Hotel became popular with society's elite. After Baldwin's death in 1909, Arcadia's new leaders prohibited the sale of alcohol and steered the city in a less controversial direction. Agriculture, poultry farms, dairies, and land development became staples of the economy, and Arcadia gradually lost its rural simplicity, growing into a sophisticated, bustling city.

Yreka Western Railroad

9780738574301

$24.99

The city of Yreka was determined to have a railroad. When the Southern Pacific Railroad decided in 1883 to bypass Yreka, the citizens constructed their own railroad known as the Yreka Railroad Company. This railroad managed to eke out a living over the next few decades. In the 1930s, the railroad was reincorporated as the Yreka Western Railroad. By the mid-1930s, the railroad went bankrupt and was forced into receivership, and a new manager was put in charge. Through perseverance of the new manager, the railroad began to grow and prosper. By the late 1970s, the railroad once again started to decline, but as in the past, it managed to hold on. In 1986, the railroad started an excursion train known as the "Blue Goose," and steam locomotive No. 19 was added in 1989. Throughout all the hardships, the railroad still continues today and has been given the nickname "the Little Railroad that Refuses to Die."

The California Delta

9780738547879

$24.99

Welcome to the delta--California style! Over 1,000 miles of waterways lure sportsmen, boaters, and outdoor enthusiasts to the largest estuary in the western United States, surpassed nationally only by the Mississippi River Delta. For generations, the promise of lazy summer days has beckoned travelers to cruise the mighty Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Along with vacationers, however, agricultural users and commercial vessels from around the globe share in the California Delta's bounty. Over 23 million Californians rely on the delta watershed for drinking water, and diversions sustain the largest agricultural industry in the nation. The small towns dotting the sloughs from Collinsville to Stockton to Walnut Grove tell of a simpler time, while today's delta faces such challenges as wildlife-habitat restoration, water rights, housing development, and politics. Complicating these issues, aging levees throughout the low-lying region threaten a disaster of national proportions--and with that prospect, the very future of the California Delta.

Ghosts and Legends of Calico

9781467146593

$21.99

Set against the painted hills of the Mojave Desert, this town "as purdy as a gal's calico skirt" once was California's most prolific silver mining community. Now Calico lives again as a museum and tourist attraction, but the dead have not abandoned it. Shades of the past are everywhere, from the mischievous little boy that runs into the Sweet Shop and disappears to the ghostly schoolteacher still eager to pass on knowledge. Dark shadows appear at the old Calico Cemetery, where few names mark graves. Join authors Brian Clune and Bob Davis as they explore the haunted side of this historic town.