Sunday, October 17, 2010

I love you golden blue

Sunday is Waffle Breakfast and Adventure Day!

...in which we make waffles and then go on an adventure. Basically this means picking a road and driving down it til we find something interesting.

Today we went to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, where gold was discovered by a white man in 1848. The park is on the South Fork of the American River, and it was cool and beautiful and green.


Hydraulic mining caused great environmental damage- erosion, flooding, and mercury contamination.


South Fork of the American River









We hiked a half mile up a mountain to view California's first historic monument, a giant statue of James Marshall. No mention of the Southern Maidu (Nisenan) people who lived there first who did all the work.

Berkeley's Project Underground has done a good alternative history of the Gold Rush called
Gold, Greed, and Genocide that's worth a read.