Old Crocker Inn

"California Heritage Council Honors Old Crocker Inn for Restoration [Press Release]

(PRWEB) July 3, 2005 – The California Heritage Council has recognized Old Crocker Inn, Cloverdale [Sonoma County, California], for the renovation and preservation of the historic Crocker summer home in the hillsides above the Alexander Valley vineyards.

The award was presented at a dinner June 23 in San Francisco.

The Old Crocker Inn began as the family hunting grounds of Charles Crocker, founder of the Central Pacific Railroad and one of California's "Big Four." The grand Crocker lodge, built in 1906, has served over the years as hunting lodge, dude ranch, private home, and restaurant, but fell into significant disrepair in recent times. Fully restored, the lodge now serves as the centerpiece of a 5-acre bed & breakfast retreat.

The California Heritage Council was founded in 1959 and works to save places and buildings which have given quality and distinction to the cultural life of California. It honored six projects this year. Previous award recipients include San Francisco City Hall, Stanford University's Bing Wing of the Green Library, the Petaluma Historical Museum and Library, and the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

Michel & Susan Degive purchased the Crocker property in 2003 and continued the restoration that had begun 2 years earlier. They opened the Inn with 3 guestrooms in March of 2004, and then continued restoration through that year with 8 rooms now complete. Michel and Susan are also researching and documenting the history of the property and especially hope to discover photos of the old "covered-wagon " bar that was destroyed in 1960.

Care was taken to preserve the home in as close to its original condition as possible. The 5,000 square-foot main lodge includes a lobby with the original natural rock-faced fireplace, a large dining room restored to it's restaurant heydays, and guest rooms decorated to pay tribute to Charles Crocker's cronies: Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Collis Huntington.

About Old Crocker Inn
The Old Crocker Inn is a bed & breakfast inn located in the Alexander Wine Valley of Sonoma County California. Michel & Susan Degive, owners and innkeepers, graciously invite guests to recapture the warmth of the past in the comfortable luxury of the Old Crocker Inn. For more information, please visit the website.

Distribution Source: PRWeb
Date: Sunday, July 03, 2005"

Courtesy Google Alerts.

Houseworth Images

The set of Houseworth stereo halves from the Society of California Pioneers, all 1495 of them, have been placed on the California On-Line website.  

It's worth going through – lots of good size and very clear bitmap images, including some railroad material I had never seen before.  Like CP Huntington in its first years as SP #1, still with its Danforth sand box and basket bell cradle, several San Francisco & San Jose views, including a couple of Mason built #11, plus some earlier ones.  Also most of the Western Pacific views, the Placerville wagon route to the Comstock, and the Dutch Flat and Donner wagon road route.  And of course lots of early Central Pacific views, both during construction and after.  

The down side is they are organized randomly, not in numerical order (although they do include the numbers and captions).  They do have a topical filter that can sort for similar images.  

Most views are between the early 1860s and the early 1870s, with a few unnumbered images for the 1880s.  

Kyle K. Wyatt
Curator of History & Technology
California State Railroad Museum
111 "I" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

My work address is: kwyatt@parks.ca.gov
My personal address is: kylewyatt@aol.com

British or Indian Rail in San Francisco

From: "Larry Mullaly" lmullaly@jeffnet.org

This past week I had the chance to examine a summary of 1873 Central Pacific Engineering Records at CSRM in Sacramento. These indicate that by December of that year approximately 7000 feet of "Republic and Hindoostan" (15,740 ft. in all) of 50 lb iron track had been laid, most likely across a pier, in today's Mission Bay area commencing at King Street. CP Huntington was a creative purchaser, but this is a new wrinkle of which I have not previously heard. Any insights would be appreciated.

Larry