Show: Insight Station: KNCO File: 9:28.mp3 Air date: 2026-09-28 Source: OpenAI whisper-1 · shrunk from 98.6 MB to 12.3 MB --- transcript --- Welcome to KNCO Insight, Nevada County Action, KNCO's local issue talk show. This is your chance to gain insight into issues affecting Nevada County. Be a part of the show. Call with your questions or comments. The number, 477-5626, that's 477-KNCO. The opinions expressed are those of the hosts and callers and do not reflect the opinions of the advertiser, staff, or ownership of Nevada County Broadcasters. Now here is your host, Tom Fitzsimmons. Okay, it's the news time, 907, 60 degrees, and yeah, beautiful blue skies greeting you this Monday morning here in Grass Valley. Last Monday of September, getting down to the last few days of this month, and I'm just co-host of this show. This is History Unfolded, Mike Stewart in the house, over in our news studio, Mikey. First off, how you doing? I'm doing good, Tom. And yourself? I'm doing fine. A lot of people want to know how your shoulder's doing because, you know, you've got several fire districts you run. You've got kids that are in the fire service, or at least one. Yeah, the second one has just announced he wants to do it too. Oh, there you go. There you go. It gets kind of addictive, you know that? They see your dedication, they see just really the lifestyle that it is and stuff. I think it's pretty exciting stuff for a young man to step up and do. Well, you know, it's kind of a calling. It becomes your life. It's not a job anymore. I mean, it's not a nine-to-five. I'm on call 24-7. There you go. Yeah, that's it. Now, here's the thing, the shoulder surgery you had, you're going through rehab right now. Yep. So it's kind of tough. It sounds like you were whining a little bit with our two guests. We'll get to them in a second. Were you whining a little bit? I was whining a little bit, yeah. All right, fine. We'll just consider it like a sports injury, really, because it's almost like a rotator cuff rebuilding. Well, we rebuilt the rotator cuff twice and both times it failed, because there was no material there left, really. Yeah, firefighters, there's a new term referring to us as industrial athletes. Is that right? Yeah. Who came up with that term? I'm not sure. Sounded like something firefighters did. Well, probably. The difference between a firefighter and a normal athlete is athletes get to warm up. Yeah, good point. And stretch. Well, see, but athletes would say, well, you guys are near the fire, so you're warming up anyway. It's a little different. All right, fair enough. Fair enough. Well, I'm glad you're okay. I'm going to be fine. And physical rehab on the shoulder is just the worst. It is tough. One guy that knows that is Dom Limdar. Dom's back here. Of course, Ditches in Nevada City, when he did that book, I think he actually dug some ditches. Is there any truth to that rumor that you were actually digging ditches, too? It isn't, Tom. It isn't? Maybe some Irish navvies were in town and you heard a rumor, I don't know. Maybe so. That could have been it. Dom, how are you doing? I'm doing well, Tom. I didn't realize you were vice president of the Nevada County Historical Society. That's right. It just happened. Well, did you miss a meeting? Yeah, I didn't realize. That's right. That's right. I guess just keep helping out and this is what I get for my sins. And by the way, for people listening to that accent, that is English, right? So how long have you been here in Nevada County? Oh, Nevada County, coming up on 15 years. And I've been in the U.S. since 95. Since 95. All right. Well, I'm so glad that you're a vice president of that. Now, you've got a guy next to this one young technological stud that Paul has brought up during our news. Dakota Stroh is here. Dakota, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Well, I'm doing fine. I guess you've taken on kind of, he called you, was it Captain Scanned or something like that? Is that an accurate description of what you're doing over there? I mean, you can consider that. I was up until about 2, 3 a.m. last night scanning, so usually on my late nights go. All right. Is this your main gig? You're doing all this on the side? Yeah. This is all volunteer that we do at the Historical Society. All right. So what do you do for a living? I do ranch work from our family ranch. Oh, very good. Where's your ranch at? On Squirrel Creek. On Squirrel Creek? Yeah. Down there. And we have kind of our family compound out there, and I help take care of the family. All right. All right. Is it a longtime piece of property that you've had out there? It's been out there for quite some time, yeah. Very good. That's kind of a historical thing right there. Oh, yeah, yeah. So that kind of contributed to me kind of getting into the history more, but also the family connections here in Nevada County. All right. Now, I used to live much closer to town, Squirrel Creek off of Oak Street, right by the market there. Oh, yeah. So I've been down a little bit down there, but it goes to like where the freeway got built and stuff. Yeah. Well, how was that for you and your family when that freeway was going in? Was there worries about that? I mean, so that was much before me when the freeway got put in, and that was actually before we took over the ranch. But yeah, no, the ranch at one point was 750 acres back when it was founded in 1850. 1850? Yeah. That does go back a little ways. Wow. Back to statehood. Oh, yeah. That's pretty awesome stuff. All right. Is there a certain kind of like a sense of responsibility to keep the thing going and being active and stuff? Yeah, it's just, I feel like it's the environment growing up out there. You just, if you want to make it just keep going, you kind of have that sense of responsibility and just when you kind of discover things out there, it kind of makes it just more, this is home. This is the history of this property, this land. Yeah. This is kind of typical, Mike, isn't it, that people, now here you have one that's multi-generational, kind of reminds me of Tom Browning and stuff, his family up there on the San Juan Ridge. And of course, you almost built in history people there. And then you have somebody that's kind of come to our area just a short time ago from across the pond and also gets turned on to history. Yeah. It's addicting. Yeah. And it must be addicting considering all the work that these guys are doing. Oh, it's incredible. So today we're going to be talking about the Historical Society, huh? Yeah. They got some really cool things going on. Dom was just talking off air a little bit about a new deal they're going with the city of Grass Valley. You want to talk about that, Dom? Yeah. What's going on? Excuse me. So as mentioned at the last city council meeting a couple of weeks back, this Nevada County Historical Society has entered into an agreement with the city of Grass Valley to help digitize and scan and digitize some of their old documents. And so we're super excited about that. This isn't our first rodeo. We've actually been doing this with the city of Nevada City for just over a year. And we're mostly through a lot of their old documents. So it's exciting to be getting started with the city of Grass Valley. And actually just this week, sorry, excuse me, just last week, Dakota and I got to go down to City Hall and Taylor Whittingslow opened up the vault and we got to see inside. And it's not that big a vault and it has city records. It still sounds pretty cool. I opened up a vault. But it's just storing important documents for the city. But there in the corner are some really interesting old documents. So obviously there's things like minute books for the city council going back to its founding. And actually, Dakota, do you want to mention a couple of other books that are pretty interesting we pulled out? So when we were just kind of going through it, we just got the first batch of stuff. We didn't really know what we were getting into. And then we came back over to the library and started looking through it. And the first City Minute book being 1855, the first pages being the incorporation of the city of Grass Valley. So it was just quite interesting to be able to see that kind of handwriting in the founding of our city. And then also going into it, there was just a manila folder. And then saying just, please, what have you do by the past city engineers saying, do not lose this. We've spent many hours trying to track it down. I was like, oh, what could be in there? And then I looked through it. I was like, oh, this looks old. And I see on the back page, it was signed in 1872, which corresponds to the 1872 original survey of the historical town site. So it's kind of like the, how many of you guys, you can consider it like the kind of the Bible or the Holy Grail of the block and lots. The layout of the town. Yep. So it's awesome. So when it was first surveyed, they divided the square mile into blocks and lots. And those still exist today. And everything that happens and is recorded in the city is still by block and lot number. And so what's amazing is that the book that Dakota was scanning, it includes the original surveyor, literally the steps they were taking. So from a corner marker, okay, let's go 100 feet this way. And then we go 150 feet this way. It's not in feet. It's in chains and links. Chains and links. Yep. So chain is 66 feet and a link is a link of the chain, basically a gunter chain. And that's how they measured everything. I've never heard that before. Yeah. Wow. Well, so no, so if you want stupid measurements, stupid units, the British mastered this, right? So for example, a five furlong horse race. Yeah. Some British guy invented that, right? The pints, gallons, it's like before, whatever. As long as it doesn't add up and you can't just times it by 10, exactly, then some British guy over there. I will say this, though. The British owned the world. So you guys could do whatever you want. I mean, let's face it. Correct that. Right. So, but yeah, this survey is just, it's fascinating. So everybody in downtown Grass Valley, these block and lot definitions, that's the original definition. And as Dakota was saying, this is really important. I mean, you look at an old, the current maps, they're all still laid out the same with these same block and lots definitions. Very cool. I love that it's in a vault. You know, so many times, you ever see people open up time capsules lately and they're all mildewed, waterlogged, just a mess of stuff just to have this in a vault that everything was, and these books are in good shape just the way they've been given. Yeah, they're very good. Humidity wise. In the next couple of days, we'll actually have this, the town site survey map up on the archive, which we'll tell you about a little bit later. But you'll be able to see the cursive handwriting is just beautiful. And so just, you'll be able to see the definition of the city back from at least the official survey from 1872. It's super impressive. Now in the historical society says, oh yeah, we can scan that Dakota, where you went on this at that time for the scanning? I didn't know if they said, yes, we'll do it, and just threw it at you. So we just need to be clear. So he is, Dakota is the master scanner. Master scanner. And he's, he's very humble and doesn't really. So in the last 18 months or so, Dakota has scanned over 35,000 photos. So this takes a long time, 35,000 photos. And that's, and that's not, and as he said, that's, that's what he's been doing in the evenings. Yes. I mean, so you're scanning a photo, we have to take a break here in a second, you're scanning a photo, say, and, and do you have to label it then? Just like you have to do with any file? And that's, that's the thing, which you really, when you really get into it, I first kind of started out doing like family photos and everything, it was, you know, pretty, pretty easy because I just put it in a folder. But when you actually get into detailing the photos, you realize the scanning is really only 25% of the time consumption and then trying to do all of the data that goes along with it. Yes, that's right. And trying to, because it's important to do the descriptions properly and we're going into trying to geolocate the photos so that way you can put a GPS coordinate where this photo was taken and put that on a map so that way you can pull up a map and see where this photo was taken. Look at you. Amazing. He is kind of geeky, isn't he? Just between you and me. And all the listeners, yeah. That has to be a guy that's into it. I love that stuff. Dakota, that is awesome stuff. Okay, we have to take a break. We're going to semi-stay on time. That'd be a change. It would be a change. But this is awesome stuff. So, quick break. We'll be right back. Uh-oh. I'm late for a birthday party and I need a gift. But Foothill Mercantile will help me out. Located in the heart of Mill Street Plaza, downtown Grass Valley, Foothill Mercantile has been family-owned and operated for 50 years and have sold over 1,000,000 units of furniture and furniture. It's a family business. It's a family business. 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And if you're a senior, veteran or active military, be sure to ask about their special savings just for you. So go ahead, give your floors the makeover they've been secretly begging for. Stop by their showroom today at 995 Golden Gate Terrace in Grass Valley. Bob's Discount Carpet, because floors have feelings too. Ready to brighten your day? Grass Valley Provisions is where you'll find a wide range of products designed to support your well-being. From stress relief options to healing topicals, enjoy a welcoming, relaxed space where you can browse, learn and find what helps you refresh and recharge. At Grass Valley Provisions, they believe in giving back. Every month, a portion of their Sunday sales supports a local Nevada County nonprofit organization. September proceeds benefit the Rudiger Foundation that provides canine resources, funding and support to local law enforcement agencies to foster community safety and connection. Grass Valley Provisions' beautiful showroom on Idaho-Maryland Road in Grass Valley opens seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Or shop online at gvprovisions.com. And remember to shop on Sundays to support our local nonprofits. Grass Valley Provisions, lift up your day, the Grass Valley way. Hi, Kenyon City's time on 92261 Degrees. Welcome back to History Unfolded with Mike Stewart as we're highlighting Nevada County Historical Society. NevadaCountyHistory.org is the website. And real quickly, Mike Stewart, are you part of the Historical Society by chance? I am a member, yeah. All right. And I'll actually be this month's October speaker. Is that right? Yeah. All right. What are you going to speak about? The history of Washington. All right. Not the state, not the capital. That's right. Little town. Little town. Is it called the Little Town of Washington? Is that the official title? Because everybody seems to refer to it that way. It's just kind of morphed into that. In Washington, we call Grass Valley, Nevada City, Big Town. Oh, I got you. And it's often, you know, hey, I'm going to Big Town, do you need anything from the store? Yeah. That kind of stuff. Yeah. It's kind of got flipped back on us. And I actually blame Lorraine Jewett a lot for that one. Yeah. Yeah. She kind of got it into her Lorraine's lowdown. Huh? Yeah. She has fun with that. Yeah. And rightfully so. Oh, yeah. All right. I will say this. The website for the Historical Society, guys, seems top-notch. I mean, what was kind of like a non-informative thing only a few years ago, now it has incredible stuff. So, Dom, how has that happened? Yeah. Yeah. And thank you, Tom. Yeah. It wasn't by accident. There's a lot of work that's gone into that now. Yeah. So, you know, I think it was about 18 months ago that we were actually on the show launching the Nevada County Historical Archive. The archives, right. Exactly. So, you know, Dakota and I have been at this for just over two years, digitizing, scanning. And you know, it's really become a thing now. So, the Historical Archive, it's a region, it's a cross-region partnership of various different historically-oriented groups. So, for example, the Doris Foley Library, combined with what we're doing at the Historical Society, the folk up in Truckee Donner. We've also included the Sierra County folk in Downeyville. Oh, okay. Sure. Because a lot of them up there have houses here in town. And so, you know, so what started out as just getting together to be able to share has really become a big community thing. And so, we now have nearly a million scanned pages that are all searchable. So, this literally just happens, you know, every week, every month, we just get more content in there. It goes up by 10,000 pages, 20,000 pages here and there, but now it's just shy of a million searchable pages. All right. So, again, you're Master Scanner, Mr. Scanner, Dakota, but, I mean, how big a staff do you have? Is it just... So, we have about 10, 12 volunteers right now. Okay. All right. So, they're coming in during the week, scanning court cases, scanning all kinds of different documents. Dakota's the master at photos. But we've been adding all sorts of interesting things. So, for example, newspapers. So, during last year, we were able to acquire, from a couple of different places, a large portion of all of the historical newspapers that have been printed in Nevada County. So, we're now up to about over 300,000 pages of newspapers. But we actually had a huge gap, and the blind spot was, ironically, was actually the last 100 years of the union. We had all of the... Interesting. All the early ones? We had all of the early ones. We even have, you know, some things from the Truckee Republican, you know, up in the, covering the Tahoe area. But what we were missing, actually, was our paper here. And so, much of this actually came from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, CDNC. Before it went, it lost its funding during last year, and it's kind of on its last legs right now. The director, literally two weeks before it shut down, he sent me a hard drive with five terabytes of images. Whoa. And so, that was actually... That's huge. ...about two-thirds of Nevada County's newspapers. Yes. But then, five weeks ago, we got... We're most fortunate to get a loan of a microfilm scanner. And so, if you're ever looking for all of the past copies of the union, and in fact, pretty much all of our newspapers, the Doris Foley Library in Nevada City has all of the old newspapers on microfilm, and actually has pretty much all of the originals as well. But they're obviously just... They're not necessarily all out on public display. So I said to... We had this microfilm scanner for a short period of time. So for about two and a half weeks, I was putting in a lot of hours and managed to scan about 330 microfilm rolls. Wow. So that got us from 1906, and we're now up to 1980 for the union. Wow. Wow. It's going to take a while to get them up online, because there's literally hundreds of thousands of images that are going to be processed. They're going to be processed again. That's what Dakota was talking about. That's right. Just getting them... Yeah, exactly. So the scanning is only a small part of it. And so, now I'm spending all my hours basically just reviewing newspapers. I don't know if you guys were listening to the end of the morning news, our last newscast, but Paul Haas was talking about his great, great grandfather, Isidore, who was mayor. He had a original copy of the paper, but it's since... I don't know if it's gotten damaged. That can happen and stuff. But this is an opportunity where he might be able... Am I right? I don't have to print a copy of some type? No, that's right. So the archive now has the Grasse Valley Union from 1865 up to about 1937. You can see online now, and more is coming. But this is just an amazing opportunity, because we wouldn't have been able to do this without the loan of this microfilm scanner. To actually get microfilms scanned is a lot of money. So the machine itself is about $40,000. But the staff to actually the professional scanners and all of the quality control that they go through. So to do what I scanned, we've never been able to afford it. It would have been about $180,000 worth of professional scanning. And who loaned you that? Are you allowed to say? Perhaps not. But it was a generous local who helped us out. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, whatever it takes, that's awesome. Absolutely, it's amazing. And so it's really a community builder to be able to bring all of these newspapers. So some of those newspapers are already accessible on newspapers.com, but that's a paid service. Whereas the archive, it's a free resource for us here in the community. Now that place that had the archive, that's kind of on its last leg, as you mentioned. Yeah, CDNC, yeah. Is there stuff there that you guys might want to glean from there before they close? Or is this what that is? He sent us everything that they had, yeah. And most of it's all taken from microfilm. And so that's the way that newspapers have been archived. Although the microfilm really isn't very good quality. It's just enough to be able to see the print. But as soon as you see, during the 1930s, as you see photos being put in, the photos don't really come through very well on the microfilm. So keeping the originals is really important. Yes, I hear it. And is there enhancements that happen now with the latest things in digitalization that maybe can enhance some of that print, Dakota? Yeah, I mean, there definitely can be. It's obviously dependent on the source quality, because those microfilms are in black and white, so you don't have a lot of the original color to pull out of it. And as technology progresses, sure, it can get there. But you can only do so much. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. If the source thing isn't there, that does make sense. In our efforts to stay on time for Mike Stewart, there we go, buddy, we're going to get a news update, weather forecast, we'll be right back. Good morning. I'm Paul Haas with the KNCO local news update. The most recent local candidates forum for the November elections featured perhaps the most high profile race, former council member Bob Branstrom and newcomers Scott Beasley and Ed Peavy are running for two open seats on the Grass Valley City Council being vacated by Hillary Hodge and Haven Caravelli. It was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Nevada County. Among the trio's top priorities is wildfire safety and prevention, although not many questions covered the topic, but all three did express concerns about the adequacy of evacuation routes, including Peavy. We have small roads, even with the 49 project going on, all that traffic can be bottlenecked into one, two lanes down the road from the four lanes. I think we need to work on that and figure out how evacuations can be done more smoothly. Beasley agreed, but he said for completely different reasons. He said the city needs to have good information on which residents have disabilities and need more time to get out and make sure they're prioritized. The data is clear that if you leave on time and heed the warning of law enforcement and fire, you live. And our evacuation plan needs to know where these vulnerable populations are. We need parcel level data for everyone who has mobility issues. Meanwhile, Branstrom also wants better organization and prioritization of neighborhoods during wildfire emergencies. The North Church Street neighborhood, Doris Drive area is very concerned about evacuation because their opportunities to evacuate are very limited with the narrow streets. I'm a real advocate of firewise communities, and I'm encouraging everybody I talk to, if you're not in a firewise community, start one. One of the issues will be evacuation for your neighborhood. It's also announced that a fourth candidate, Paul Wright, has suspended his campaign. Nevada County is in the process of developing a plan for housing that will stretch into the middle of the next decade, and they still are collecting input. There is a housing element workshop Tuesday evening at the Rood Center. The session is from 6 to 7.30 p.m. And we received a range of feedback through the survey as well. More than half of the respondents identified affordable rent-restricted housing as the most urgent need. Join us for our next local news update at the bottom of the hour. For more news, traffic, and weather, anytime, visit KNCO.com. I'm Paul Haas, KNCO News Talk 830. Escape the everyday and enjoy a little more time to relax with the weeknight getaway. Because this year, Stella Rewards members of every tier can enjoy 50% off all suites and 30% off all standard rooms Sunday through Thursday. Settle in and relax in our luxurious rooms and enjoy everything the resort has to offer, from casino excitement and free live entertainment to award-winning craft beer and delicious dining at the brewery, The Lodge, at Feather Falls Casino Resort, your place to stay. Must be 21 or older. Blackout day supply. Management reserves. All rights. All you can eat. Prime rib and crab legs? Oh, yeah. This is not a drill. 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Join us one day only, Saturday, October 3rd, for our customer appreciation sale at B&C Ace Home and Garden Center. Hope to see you there. This from the KNCO B&C Ace Home and Garden Center Weather Center. Ace is the place. Here is your forecast on KNCO News Talk 830. Sunny, with a high in the mid-70s today, very light northwest wind. It'll be clear overnight, shallow mid to upper 50s, then sunny and warmer for Tuesday with a high 85. Tuesday night, clear, Arlo upper 50s, and for Wednesday, sunny and dry with a high in the mid-80s. For weather anytime, click on the Weather Center at knco.com. I'm meteorologist Dan Holiday on KNCO News Talk 830. All right, KNCO News Time, 935, 62 degrees. Welcome back to History Unfolded. Mike Stewart in the house. He was nice enough to get Dom Lindars and Dakota Stroh here from the Historical Society talking about all the great things that are going on there. It's very exciting stuff, Mike, to know this stuff. It's not a stagnant organization at all. It's just the opposite. No, not opposite. Well, we were talking, Dakota and I, a little bit ago here, some of the connections that get put together through some of these scans. As you recall, my grandfather was a miner, the Idaho-Maryland, the New Brunswick. I happened to go on the archives, and I pulled up a photo of the staff from 1938, and I remember my grandfather was in that picture. I noticed, oh boy, that scan's not very good quality, but I've got, or my mom, I should say, has a reproduction of the original that's really good. I said, well, I'm going to bring this into Dakota, I'm sorry, actually to Dom. I brought it to Dom. I said, hey, maybe you might want to scan this. So Dakota, do you want to take it from there? Yeah, so it's actually, that photo's a funny coincidence, because just the day before, we have that exact photo in our mining museum, and I had been meaning to get that down, because in that photo happens to be my great-grandpa. Wow. And so, when I see that, and so Mike had left at the time, and when I saw it on the table, I kind of put it to the side, and Dom was saying, oh, Mike just dropped it off, and everything. I was like, well, no, I grabbed it from the mining museum. He's like, no, no, Mike just dropped it off. That's his grandpa right there, and then, sure enough, the person right behind him was my great-grandpa. Wow. And then, it doesn't end there. How cool is that? About, I think it was two or three days later, I'm working in there, and Bill Falcone comes through the door, and I'm talking with him, and we're talking, I show him this picture, and oh, yeah, there's my great-grandpa, and everything, and before I even really get too much, he kind of puts his hand out, just, shh, and points to this guy, like, well, there's my dad. Wow. So in a matter of three days, we were able to have those three connections. Bill Falcone's dad, that'd be something right there. That guy could tell, because Bill could tell stories, I can imagine, some of those stories. Wow, that is great stuff, Mike. It's really cool to put those connections together, and what these guys are doing with the archives is just incredible. When I start looking at what I want to do, a little bit of research or something, that's the first place I go, and so, really want to encourage people to support the society, become a member, it's not expensive, and it's a great resource, and it's really preserving our history. All right, Dom, Mr. Vice President, how do you become a member? Is it an easy process? Well, I'm so glad you asked, Dom. Yes. Yeah, so you can go to our website, so nevadacountyhistory.org, and right there on the homepage, you can click the Join, Become a Member link, but also you can take a look at the link to the Historical Archive, which is just off the main website, and that's where you can search for things, and as these guys were saying, so much of it is about community and family, and so I'm a newcomer, and obviously, I don't have roots here. Dakota is fifth generation, and everything in between, and it's really about the families, and the more I do research, the more I look into different things, the interconnection between all of the families. So we look at old documents, we look at court cases, and we see, oh, well, who was the notary on this piece of paper, or who was the lawyer, or who was the, you know, all of these different documents, they have all of these family names. Yes. Oh, it's like, oh, I didn't know they were city clerk, you know, in some random year, you know, 130 years ago, and so the families, and I have to say, this is one of the things that Dakota is the master at, is actually, is this networking we're talking about, the old families, and seeing the connections, and I just, I'm in awe at some of the items that folk bring in, so, you know, so we, obviously, there's a lot of things where folk get their old photos digitized, right, you can send them off to wherever, and, you know, you can get them digitized and pay for it. If it's local history, and if it's a local family, we will do it for free. Wow, that is great to know for those families. So bring it in to us, we just need to borrow it for a few days, or, you know, or maybe a couple of weeks, depending on how busy we are, but, you know, we want to preserve the history, and, you know, and this is where we uncover all of these connections, and, you know, Dakota's always looking at different photo albums, and, you know, just, we don't need much of a clue to start working out the history of going back, of like, wow, okay, look, when was this photo taken? Well, I think that may have been from the 1890s, or, you know, or the 1930s, or, well, that's an interesting, you know, view of Mill Street. Now, Dakota, has there been an inundation with a lot of photos coming in, or do you think it's just the tip of the iceberg that's come in so far? You know, it's really hard to kind of say, like, yes or no to really either of those, but it's, I will say it's just been a waterfall, where it's just, there's, we have so much coming in, which is amazing. As Dom was saying, it's about preserving it, but also it's important that we want to share the family histories. You know, it's being able to keep their memories alive of some of the great things that they did for our community, of how they built our community, we want to be able to share that and recognize it. I will say, I echo Dom's thing, when I first moved here in 81, I think, like a lot of people, you're just so, if you are a history type of person, you do go to the Empire of Mind and just find out what that's all about. What really stayed with me, Dom, the same thing, is that when I was taking the tour, they asked, does anybody have family members that work the mine? I'm like, wow, that's kind of a funny thing. There was like a half dozen people or so raised their hands, and it was like, yeah, my father, my great-grandfather, and just to have that connection, it was a pretty awesome feeling to know that generations worked this mine that I was staring at and stuff. The thing that people forget about, not just the gold rush and all of the gold mining that's been going on and all of the other industries, the timber industry, for so many generations and decades, is that there's a lot of folk that do stay here, but there's a lot of folk that actually move on and go to other parts of the country. A great example is there's a couple that's coming into the library later on this afternoon, and they emailed me last week and said, hey, we're coming up to Nevada City to visit for the first time, coming up from LA. My great-grandfather owns mining claims in Nevada City. Could you help me research them? And so a quick little bit of searching in the archive, archive.nevadacountyhistory.org, immediately found that his great-grandfather actually had bought a lease on the Mountaineer Mine for $50,000 in 1901. So it was like, whoa, hang on, this is big time. That's a serious amount of money. Back when $50,000 was a big chunk of change. Yeah, put some zeros on the end of it. So it's all, we have this constant stream of both visitors online, but also visitors in person that actually are coming back to rediscover the history, and this is what we're about. We're about helping to find those connections, helping to actually uncover the details behind the records. So most of the records and facts and figures, it's pretty dry. So it's finding the families and finding the community in those stories. So is it ideal then if these people come up, they have like, say, this document or whatever, but they might have pictures and stuff, would you guys take those and scan them for historical purposes and stuff? Yeah, absolutely. With what we're able to do with the archive, we're basically able to kind of, it's a, we call it a virtual collection, where you can basically kind of virtually step into this old family's life, an old pioneer's family life. So when we're able to scan an immense collection, some of our notable collections can go up to about 2,000 photos. And so that 2,000 photos, you can literally see everything, whereas you hear the stories about these prominent figures that did this and did that, but you get to see who they interacted with, when they interacted, what they did, what was it like? And so it really just is a virtual time capsule, stepping back in time. Yeah, Paul Haas is going to be just flipping out about that. You know, Paul Haas became a bard, I don't know if you guys realize that, just recently over in Cornwall. Are a lot of the, do a lot of these stories have like the Cornish, like history along with that? You know, with their... Well, so, I mean, the important thing is everybody needs to remember that a, not just at one point in time, but for a good period of time, three quarters of the town of Grass Valley was completely Cornish. And so that the, you know, Paul's roots run real deep. So Cody, mention what we were seeing on the, basically the Haas name just pops up, pops up everywhere. Oh, yeah. So, I mean, you can, there's old photos. It's not on a police blotter or anything. No. Okay. He just wanted to check. Which you can see old photos of, I think it was the big snowstorm of 1899, when his, when Paul's great-grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, one of those, when he had the shop on the corner of Main and Mill Street, when the roof collapsed, and you can see the roof kind of halfway down on the, on the side of the sidewalk and up on the, up on the roof. And it's, and it's just the I.Haas name, it's right there. Yeah. Yeah. Is it or Haas? Yep. Wow. That's, that's, that's exciting stuff. I remember when, this is a little background information on Paul Haas. He got hired by me during the Nevada County Fair. In your, in the studio where you guys, that's where Dennis Pierce has done the fishing show for like 40 years. I was keeping the FM jocks on the air on the other side. They were out at the fair. And Dennis came in before the show, says, I have a guy to talk to. He wants to work here at the radio station. Like a side gig. I said, really? Yeah. I said, right now, during the fair, he wants to talk? And so I took him in there. And when I found out that his family goes back that far in Grass Valley, I said, even for me, for this little community radio, I said, that's like gold, right? Just to have that type of roots in the town. Yeah. But we're very fortunate where we live. There's still a lot of those connections. Yeah. And that's actually something that's been real special for me getting into it. Whereas unfortunately, both my grandpas have passed away now. And so I was, I didn't really recognize their story soon enough, but now it's, you know, with them being gone, unfortunately, I at least get to talk to some of the people that they grew up with and things that they experienced and get those stories. And so it's been a kind of a great connecting thing, whereas where the Searles Library is, where we kind of hold everything at our history center, it's in the old armory building. And that connection with me, whereas when I was in kindergarten, I went to Sarah Presbyterian Church right there, and there was an Imaginarium in there. So I played in that building as a child. But before that, my grandpa was stationed in there in 57 in the National Guard. That's right. National Guard building. Right. So it's literally kind of like the blood's in that building. And, you know, 70 years later, I'm in that building just like my grandpa was. Yeah. Yeah. It's it. It runs deep, doesn't it? It really does. It runs deep. And for people that are listening, as far as becoming a member, maybe becoming a volunteer and stuff, it really takes the idea people have in history, like I said, that it's it's back there. It's kind of stagnant. You guys are making it just the opposite. It sounds like it's very much alive. No, absolutely. And one of the things is, you know, we we're always looking for volunteers. There are all kinds of different jobs and different roles that we've got. I have to say some of the some of the work is a little bit more technically oriented. So having a you need to be able to have a familiarity with how to use a computer. You know, the one of the things that we've been incredibly fortunate about is over the last 18 months, we've had some key donations that have allowed us to buy specialized equipment. So we have a five foot map scanner. We have we have we have about 18000 maps. So we're starting to go through and scan those. But they need you need specialized equipment to do that. Specialized equipment to scan negatives and and slides and large photos. And so you definitely need to have some some technical skills to be able to help out. But the we're happy to train folk. But as long as long as you know your way around a computer, you know, we can help get you up to speed and train you on how to do this sort of scanning. Five foot map. You mean it's like a five foot wide map you can scan? That's right. Yeah. And then you can handle any length. Yeah. Wow. So we we did. There was a a map of the actually it wasn't the Panama Canal. Yeah. It was something like it was a map of the Panama Canal. Well, there was a it was 16 feet long and four foot wide. And that's pretty awesome. Ran through came out real good. How old a map was that? It's like like from its origins. I try to remember it was it was an 1850. It was pre 18. It was before the railroad says it was pre 18, 1855. It was a relatively newer map. It was a newer copy, but it was an it was an old map. But the reason why that's important locally here is that a third of all the gold miners came through came through Panama. There you go. All right. We're down the home stretch here of history unfolded. So quick break. We'll be right back. Around here, when there's work to do, we roll up our sleeves and get it done. Rental Guys helps you do it right. Tell us what you're tackling from a weekend property project to a full scale construction job. Our local team will find the right equipment and keep your job moving from excavators, skid steers and lifts to generators, concrete equipment and yard tools. Every rental is clean, inspected and ready to work. Third generation and family owned, Rental Guys has proudly served our community since 1959. We've grown to 13 locations, but our promise hasn't changed. Take care of our customers, stand behind our equipment and help you finish strong. 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Visit Mal Paint and Glass at 700 East Main Street in Grass Valley or give them a call at 273-4643. Enjoying a delicious, colossal-sized pasty is as easy as answering a thoughtful question. You could win one of those titan-sized pasties from Robinson Enterprises. They are huge in size and massive in taste. Earn a pasty with You Make the Call in the 7 a.m. hour with another chance during the Chris Gilbert News Quiz. Get ready to win an incredible Robinson Enterprises pasty each Wednesday with KNCO News Talk 830. All right, KNCO News Time, 952-63 degrees, down the home stretch here of History Unfolded with Mike Stewart. I've been talking about the Historical Society, again, the website and vaticountyhistory.org. Just to click on some of these things, I just clicked on something about supporting and maybe you could do that as far as a legacy, an endowment, things like that. There's a lot of great opportunities there. I come across a picture, Mike, I'm guessing of a bunch of young ladies, it looks like, by their swim caps sitting by Lake Olympia, it looks like. It's not here anymore, so nobody would even understand where that is or what it is and stuff, but it is kind of amazing because they're probably all local families there, because I remember the Fowlers when I worked at the old Builders and Consumers, upstairs they had pictures of Lake Olympia. It meant a lot to that family. Right. It's like a dating place and they met each other, fell in love. Right behind the PG&E substation, so you go down by the movie theater parking lot off Sutton Way and just right behind there, that depression in the ground, it's still damp, but that was Lake Olympia. There you go. As a matter of fact, when they put in that little road, I remember Gary Fowler telling me, you know, this thing's going to bubble up here, where it always has problems there. These guys know, that's what family history is all about here. Well, it's funny how history, in a way, affects us today. Next time you're in the AM-PM parking lot, notice all the little eight-inch diameter manhole covers that are all over it. Those are all vents letting the methane out from underground because that was the swamp area on the back side of the lake. There you go. We paved over it without thinking about it. There you go. Wow. That is awesome stuff. Now, Dom, you're famous for your book about the ditches of Nevada City. Do you have any other things you're working on besides all the stuff you're doing with the Historical Society? I'm just mainly focused on the Historical Society right now, so yeah, both Dakota and I, it's all volunteer, but yeah, both of us have turned it into kind of full-time roles. Even if we're not getting paid for it, but yeah, it's our passion for what we're doing. Do you see people, Dakota, that step up to volunteer, all of a sudden something clicks and they really almost become like you guys and become almost addictive to scanning and doing all this stuff? Yeah, absolutely, and it's important for us to recognize, you know, with social aspects of just where we are in society, you're not in the five to ten social clubs that you used to be in, like my grandmas and great-grandmas were in. We have to figure out a way to kind of deliver that to the people, and that's what this archive, it's just right at your fingertips at home. You're able to explore the history and get more involved and interested, and then obviously expand from there, but it's about getting that first entry point, and that's why we're constantly trying to come up with ideas to improve with younger generations and try to work with the schools to how can we get this more involved with our rich history. Yeah, are they doing a good job on local history with the schools? I think it's coming along. One of the challenges, obviously, is it has to fit in the curriculum, and so the local history section of the curriculum is pretty small and pretty skinny, however, I have to say this summer, we've had six interns been coming in to help out with scanning and curating, creating finding guides. Four of them were college and two of them high schoolers. Oh, very good. That's really good, and I thought it was really important to be able to help students who are wanting to go into museum or library studies and so forth to actually be able to help get college credit and working basically in a real research library. All right, so any big events coming up in the near future? I know you guys always have speaker nights and things like that. The biggest thing we've got going on this month is Mr. Mike Stewart talking about the history of, that's the third Thursday of October, and we're really looking forward to having Mike on. Yeah, and there's still people that, of course, if they're new to the area, haven't necessarily even discovered the town of Washington. There's a lot of that. Right? There's a lot of that, right? Yeah. Yeah. Anytime I say I'm from Washington, they say, oh, upstate or D.C. or? Yeah. Yeah. Inland? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it is a fascinating town. It's a beautiful place, but how many people were there at its peak down there? Well, let's see. The 1880 census for the Washington Mining District, which was Washington and Graniteville, was I think 2,600 white male adults. Yeah. How many now? It's hard to count people who don't want to be found, but around 120, 130. Yeah. I love that. You're absolutely right. That is, it is a intimate place, shall we say, that has just great historical buildings down there. They have a heck of a fire chief. I will say that as well. That's for sure. Way underpaid. That's for sure. He's way underpaid. Yeah. But that is going to be great. The speaker night that's coming up. And guys, what's the best way we can help out the Historical Society? Is it becoming a member? No. Thank you, Tom. I mean, so if, please explore the archive. You know, check it out. If you like what we're doing, there is a support us and a donate button. You know, we're entirely volunteer run. We don't get any public funding from anywhere, so we rely on donations. And so whatever you might be able to afford would be, you know, be amazingly appreciated. But also, if you have questions, if you want us to help research something, then contact us, send feedback. We can help you research your property, your house, you know, an ancestor. Just let us know. We're happy to help. All right. So Dakota, how late were you up scanning? Last night was probably like 2 or 3 a.m. 2 or 3 a.m.? You look awfully wide awake. Are you just full of Red Bull or something or coffee? What's the secret? My sleep schedule has always kind of been like that where I could, you know, get a few hours here, a few hours there. Yeah. Part-time vampire or anything like that or anything like that? Could be. Maybe. Maybe. All right. Fair enough. And your family history, has it been exciting for you to discover stuff in and around your ranch and stuff? Absolutely. And it's kind of really given me the opportunity to reach out to cousins and things like that. Because growing up, you know, cousins everywhere. But with more, like, conversations have more meaning now where I actually take it to heart and remember the stories because I want to share those with other cousins that don't know them or pass them down to, you know, my nieces or anything like that or possibly my future children. It's just having that and just keeping it alive. Yeah. Did you do the donation day parade when you grew up as a kid? So donation day? I don't think I did that one, but I was involved with, you know, most of the everything else going on. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. It's kind of amazing history that we have here. Oh, absolutely. I imagine there's pictures maybe of the first donation day? Oh, yes. On the paper and stuff? Yep. Right? And families that are still around that were part of that first donation day. It's awesome stuff. That's what it's about. If you want to learn more about history is at nevadacountyhistory.org. Go to the website, get involved and certainly help out the mission of keeping history alive and its access growing with the help of their archive here for the Nevada County Historical Society and Dom and Dakota. Thank you so much for your energy that you're putting into it. Thank you, Tom. Great job, Mikey Stewart. Great show today. All right. Got another good one coming up in two weeks with John Reeder. Sounds good. All right. That's coming up right now. --- end of transcript ---