California

Protection and preservation of the heritage resources requires that we know where these resources are located, and understand how they contribute to California’s expansive history.  To date a combined total of over 13,400 cultural resources have been recorded on State Park lands, and many more remain to be documented.  These precious archeological sites, buildings and structures, historic landscapes and cultural preserves represent a broad spectrum of California’s richly diverse past.  They include, but are not limited to:  Native American sites that span 10,000 years and reflect the variety of distinct cultural adaptations of prehistoric Californians; Mission Era sites and structures; Chinese, Russian, African American and other ethnic properties; early Californio and American Era resources; mining, ranching and agricultural landscapes; and underwater shipwrecks.  All contribute to our understanding of the development of California as we know it today, and all provide us with physical connections to our past.

To The Archaeologist: There You Go Again

Donner Camp Plaque

Two letters were received from archaeologists following the publication of the article by Jack and Richard Steed. They were essentially the same, so we are reprinting only the first one, from Jonathon C. Horn of Montrose, Colorado.

The Rediscovery of Johnson’s Ranch

Jack & Richard Steed

Nearly every student of western trail history has heard of Johnson’s Ranch. References to it may be seen in pioneer diaries, on maps and in books. Though Sutter’s Fort was, and is, officially known as the western terminus of the Read More …