July 4 2014 Family Reunion and Jim's Birthday Celebration!

Post reunion update. 

Thanks to Doug, Vicki (our bonus mileage travelers), Dave, Pat, Ralph 3, Carol, Ralph 4, Meagan, Gina, Tom, Denise, Mat, Adam, Leah, Heather, James, Emily, Katie, John, Mary Beth, Amy, her best bud, James, Anthony, Carter, Warren, Abbey, Wyatt, and Clark for making the 4th of July/Jim's 60th a blazing success.

It was Uncle Jim's wish for his 60th to have as many of you as possible, attend the reunion. I think we did pretty darn well on that score. He was touched!

For those of you who were unable to attend - you missed a trip to Tahoe Lakeshore, two Lake Valley kayak, paddle boat and swimming trips, rides on the ATV, the best 4th of July parade/water balloon fight ever in Dutch Flat (thanks to Amy, her buddy and dad we had over 200 balloons to throw - even then we ran out quickly), fireworks and bouldering from the Summit over Donner Lake (as Anthony would say - Awesome!). Ping Pong and Kiddie Pool at the lodge, hanging out on the screen deck (blast you mosquitos), branding wood plaques out front of the lodge, soccer on the TV (with the Trips, Carter and Warren in the bear and wolf rockers). Food, food, food (thanks to all the sous chefs, cooks and clean up crew!).

Of course there is never enough time to do it all. It seems time runs out before we can see the waterfalls, all the lakes, hike, etc. However, I guess we can save that for your next trip to the Gap.

I will post Uncle Jim's pictures once we get them loaded off his camera. Please look at Meagan's post for the parade and others.

Thank you again for attending. Though it may seem like the reunion is a lot of work, the benefit of seeing everyone together makes the all the work worth it (in gold). We love you all so very much!

April 2014 Updates

I recently found a  copy of the 1924 History of Placer and Nevada Counties by Lardner and Brock online.  I was able to download it and found some updates for our history for previous owners Allen and Cavanna.  I also found a bit more information about the first owners of the hotel, Mr and Mrs Caffyn (Mr. Caffyn's sister and the year Mr. and Mrs. Caffyn married).  I added a bit more information about Mr Chinn (our notable resident of the Gap) and removed reference to the Airplane Crash in the early 1900s based on feedback from one of our readers.  I also made some updates on our more recent history based on an email received from someone who lived at the lodge during the B& B era.

I consider myself to be an online sleuth and am getting pretty good at tracking down information on the early pioneers of the Gap.  But what I really need to do is visit the Berkeley Bancroft Library, the Auburn Placer County Records office and perhaps, the California Museum and Railroad Library in Sacramento.

I am still trying to find out a bit more about the Bright Family and their use of the Hotel/ Lodge.  It is possible that the information there is less easy to source because their family is one of the more current owners. Alas. I would love some midcentury photos of the lodge.


For our current visits, we have been working on the Sauna Hut off and on.  We also got in some skiing this year, even though it was a record snow drought in the sierra.  At home, I am working on refinishing a vintage wood couch that should match nicely with the easy chairs that sit in front of the fireplace.  Love that Craigslist, we have used it to furnish most of the lodge.

URL for the book:
https://archive.org/details/historyofplacern00lard

Winter Holiday - December 2013 to January 2014

Another Christmas at the Lodge.  This year most of the west coast Jacobs girl families were able to attend.  I went up about a week before everyone else, to get the lodge opened up and cleaned for the throng.  Mary Beth, Katie, John and Jim came in early followed by Jeremy, Jodie, Brandon and Brooke.    Then Pattie, Mom, Noah and Rylie came in with Melanie, Jenny, Ryan, Alayna following.  Mary and Lynn came up followed by Zac, Julia, Brayden, and Hanna for Christmas Day.  Angela drove up from Elk Grove and Alayna's boyfriend came up as well.  After Christmas, Jessica flew into Sacramento and joined us with her little boy Jackson (unfortunately her hubby had to work at his new store in San Diego area and could not make it).

Though there was not a lot of snow,  there was enough to let the little guys sled and we added snow by the truckload as we dug it up from the drifts around the culdesac. The sled hill this year was long, not too bumpy and fast!  The kids also got to play some basketball at the school and Rylie got to practice using her new bow and arrows in the back yard.

Uncle Jim took an entourage down the hill to cut down the Christmas Tree, while I lead a group of 2 year olds to adults in making our annual Christmas Craft ornaments.   We watched Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation (for John), the Christmas Story (for Ryan - you'll shoot your eye out kid) and sang Carol's and then uncle Jim read night before Christmas before the little guys went off to bed on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was a crazy scene of kids opening gifts, running around with their new treasured toys, food prep and the opening of our new lodge logo T shirts and Sweat Shirts and Coffee Cups (art courtesy of our resident artist Mat).  Jim had shirts and sweats printed for everyone.  Then we had the T- shirt shop from the samples Jim brought up.  Jim also got us some branding irons so that we can burn wood with our names, etc.  The irons can be heated in the lopi or over an open fire (if we ever get to burn outside again).

Christmas dinner was prime rib (yum!).  Later that week, a splinter group went up to the summit and went kid skiing and tubing.   Another trip was made to Northstar for ice skating and smores over the firepits.  Those of us with colds opted out.  People began to leave over the weekend, followed by the arrival of our next set of guests.

Karen and Larry came in for New Years.  It was a sharp contrast from the noise of the family to having a New Years celebration with friends.  We rung in the new year by going to Boomtown for Dinner then doing a bit of gambling at the slots. Karen, Larry and I are no gamblers, but Jim managed to win a bit at the blackjack tables before we headed back to the lodge for the actual midnight call. For New Years Day, we went down to old town Auburn and walked around the shops. For dinner, Karen made black-eyed peas and mustard greens for good luck (YUM!). Larry BBQd some tri-tip using Texas Mesquite. We used the new branding irons to burn a board with the Dillman name before they left the lodge. It was so great seeing both Karen and Larry, we are hoping next time they come up we have a bit more snow. But even without it we managed to have a pretty nice time.

Karen and Larry left to be followed by nephew and niece Adam and Leah and little Carter. Though Jim and I were still down a bit with colds, we still had a great time visiting! We were so very happy that they took time out of their schedule to bring Carter up for his first skiing experience on the Summit. He went snow tubing, on the tube carousel and got to try out downhill skiing at Soda Springs. Am I seeing an Olympic Downhill racer in the future? Maybe. I think he may have enjoyed sliding down the snow hill more than skiing. But again, he is only 2 1/2.

While Adam and Leah were visiting, we met some fellow historians that have been visiting the summit for over 60 years.  They shared some information with us and we promised to share blogs, emails etc to match up what we know of Emigrant Gap history and hiking trails!  Very exciting.  

I also received a request from the Donner Summit HIstorical Society to write up what I know about the gap.  I am pondering that request.  And finally, I had a nice conversation with Eleanor for the new year.  

ALL IN ALL a great way to close off 2013 and ring in 2014.   

October 2013 - Cutting Firewood

Jim and I loaded up the Polaris and took it to the lodge last weekend to use for carrying firewood up the hill.  We have been cutting down about 8 of the dead cedar trees (we have over 40 dead trees due to the beetle blight) with logs of up to 24 inches that needed to be hauled up the hill and split for use this winter.

Though we tried to get the trailer ready for hauling Friday night - by midnight we figured out that we would not leave until Saturday morning.  Jim had the heavy plywood on - but we still needed to add all the tie downs and light kit and figure out how to get the Polaris on the trailer without having a good set of ramps - we used heavy duty plywood in the end.

When we arrived at the lodge on Saturday, the first order of business was to haul up wood we had cut 2 weeks earlier.  Jim took the Polaris down the school rode, through the gate, over the creek and onto the lawn area so that we could load up oak and cedar.

Then, once that pile was up in the front, we started cutting down additional dead cedars in the back of the property.  To get to those cedars, Jim and I had to cut a trail through the woods and down the hill quite a ways.  We used machetes, loppers and the chainsaw to clear small trees and brush.  We also had to move some rocks that were in the way of the path.  All in all, only took about 2 hours to get down to the bottom.

We used the rest of Saturday to cut down about 8 trees, cut them up and pile up the debris.  Sunday, we hauled the rest of the wood up the hill and spent the day splitting and stacking wood (we rented the log splitter from Hills).

We now have enough firewood for a heavy winter.  No need to buy any!

We saw Art and one of his friends on Saturday and another neighbor stopped by on Sunday for bit.  Overall a pretty busy weekend - with no time to complete the barbeque hut or work on the sauna.

A Challenge from the Donner Summit Historical Society

Today I finally got a moment to read my copy of the Donner Summit Historical Society Newsletter. They referenced a postcard written in 1913 from a E De Choudens of Truckee to a Miss A Mitchell of Alameda. They asked if anyone of the readers knew if the Mitchells still owned the Alameda house located at 1031 San Antonio Av. 

They went on to pose quite a few interesting questions - Was the writer in love with his correspondent? Did he send the picture? What had Miss Mitchell sent him? What did E. de Choudens do in Truckee in 1913? What lessons was he wanting to give? How long had he been in the country (given his language errors). Did it ever snow that winter? Did Miss Mitchell come to Truckee? Did she speak French (in those days only those with good educations could)? Did they meet in France while Miss Mitchell was on a Grand European Tour at the conclusion of boarding school for proper young ladies? Did they ever get together? Is there a record of marriage? What were their lives like after 1913? To me that was a challenge to my historical sleuthing. So I pulled all my internet search skills together and this is what I found.

The house at 1031 San Antonio was built in 1890 and is still there. It was sold in 1978 so it is unlikely that the Mitchell family still owns the residence. It is quite a large victorian (8 bedrooms) so the Mitchell's would have been a prominent family. 

De Choudens was a swiss ski instructor who worked at Truckee in 1913 at the Winter Carnival teaching people how to ski. In 1940, he resided in Meadow Lake Township, was 63, had become a US citizen and was single (so he was born in 1887 and he did not ever marry A Mitchell). 

Ms. Mitchell was Alexine Mitchell of Alameda. She was born in 1887, was a graduate of Stanford University, served as an ambulance driver, then a nurse in a french hospital during WW1. She was the daughter of Capt. Josiah A. Mitchell who survived 43 days in an open longboat after the clipper ship Hornet burned at sea. Mark Twain wrote a story about his adventure (Long Boat to Hawaii). She was also related to Charles Lee Tilden the founder of East Bay Regional Parks. 

Ms. Mitchell married rather late in life (she was still single at 33 when she returned from France). She married Walter Luboski. He later changed his name to Walter Gregory. They had a son, Dr Michael S Gregory who went to Cal, taught at SF State, was a founding board member of the National Endowment of the Humanities. He passed away in 2005. 

So to answer some of the questions:

What did E. de Choudens do in Truckee in 1913? Taught skiing at the Winter Carnival in Truckee CA

What lessons was he wanting to give? Ski 

Did it ever snow that winter? The postcard was written in February 1913. They got 73.00 in January, 9.00 in February, 17.50 in March and 15 inches in April. The next season, they got much more snow with 156 inches in January alone. 

Did she speak French (in those days only those with good educations could)? I think she probably did speak French based on the information about her tiime serving in WW1

Did they ever get together? Is there a record of marriage? They never did marry - it is hard to tell if they ever dated. She may have been a ski student during Carnival. 

What were their lives like after 1913? We know a bit about Alexine's life (there is even an interview with her about her time in the war online) but de Chouden is referenced on the internet very little. 

Did they have a relationship? Who knows. Perhaps descendants of Ms Mitchell know a bit more.

October 2013

Last weekend, Jim and I went to the lodge with the plan of working on the sauna casita, the BBQ hut and, if time allowed, cutting down some of the dead cedars for firewood.

On Saturday, Jim ran the 220 wire from the lodge over to the sauna and installed the "box" with the needed panels for the wiring.  Next he installed the door I purchased a few weeks ago at Habitat for Humanity.  It is a solid oak door and should wear well in the snow.  Next time we are up at the cabin, I plan to give it a good coat of spar varnish.  And finally, he dropped the ceiling inside the sauna so that the square footage would meet the recommendations of the sauna tech machine.  We still need to insulate (spray stuff), put in the cedar paneling and slate flooring, add the decking, and install the fixtures. We are still hopeful we can get this done by Christmas.

I went out to lunch with mom, Mary, Pattie and Annie.  We were lucky that Annie was here for her youngest daughter's wedding and was able to stay an additional week to visit with us.  We went out to lunch in Auburn and a pretty nice bar and grill. It was fun to laugh and talk and be together again.

I also ran a trip to Home Depot for supplies for Jim, got the trailer tire replaced and went to the grocery to get us some food - we had brought very little up from home this time.

Sunday, we put the tire on the trailer and pulled it up the hill to return it home. It is our spare trailer that has been stored at the lodge for a year.  We are going to convert it to a flatbed for use with the Polaris we are getting this week.

We also managed to work on the BBQ Hut. This year we decided that it was too hard to get the BBQ into the Snow Shed each year so, I purchased some culls at Home Depot and rustled up some metal roofing to be able to build a storage hut for it.  It will be housed on the lodge deck and will be strong enough to weather the snow during our long winters.

We also started cutting down some of the dead cedars (the ones that are closest to the road by the school for easy hauling up to the firewood stack.  We cut down about 5 trees, some small, some a bit bigger.  All pretty much dead from the beetle blight we are suffering in the sierra.

Don was up at his cabin getting it ready for guests and we spent a very small time with him (he had to get back to Sacramento - so no dinner guest).   I got to see our friendly neighborhood dogs (Brandy and Lucky) and the kids who own them.

Quincy spent most of his time running about the yard, hoping for sticks to be thrown for retrieval.

All in all, it was a pretty productive work weekend. We plan to return the first weekend of November to continue work on the sauna and hut and to split some of the firewood that we cut.

September 22 Work Weekend

Went up to the lodge for the last day of summer (weekend) with my mom.  My goal was to put away the summer portable garage (ala screened in deck), lawn furniture and BBQ.  Also wanted to get all the loose firewood carried up from the back yard to the front and stack for winter.  And put folding chairs in attic, rearrange living room chairs around the fireplace and start building a "lean too hut" to store the BBQ for the winter.   Mission accomplished on those goals.

Since it was raining pretty heavily Saturday, Karen, Larry and Rodger had to cancel their motorcycle ride up to the lodge. Mom and I decided it was a perfect day to head over to Reno for a bit of thrift store shopping.  Reno has some of the best thrift stores!

We found some miscellaneous items that made the trip a success and went out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  We were sad to see that the Mexican store we buy our Lime Salt at had closed.  Now to find a new store for that great stuff.

After lunch, the weather kept getting colder and and more windy, so by 3:30 pm we decided it was time to head back home.  As usual, we were talking all the way to Truckee.  As soon as we passed through the border check, I noticed that the raindrops seemed to be a bit more solid and fluffy.  By the time we reached Truckee, we were seeing large snowflakes, and lots of them.

Since the road looked pretty clear, I thought we would have no issues with the summit.  My rule - take it slow in snowy weather and you will reach your destination.  Boy was I wrong.  At Donner Lake, the highway patrol had set up a road block and had stopped all traffic from continuing westward.

There were no chain monkeys out (due to the fact it was September 22nd) and I did not have my chains with me anyway.  We headed back down to Truckee to get some coffee and decide on our next steps.

The Red Cherry Coffee Shop was just about to close (5:30 pm) and they were kind enough to supply us with free coffee.  We filled up our cups and headed back to the truck.  I tried to find the Cal Trans radio snow station - but that was not transmitting yet (ah - did I say it was September 22), so I searched for info on my cell phone.

I called Katie and she advised that it was raining buckets in Davis (and hailing and lightning and thunder), so I thought our chances of getting back to the lodge were getting slim.  I suggested that she might need to ride up to the lodge (a 1 hour trip from Davis) and rescue Quincy.   Then I decided to check to see if Mary Beth would like to drive up from Chico for the night.  Mary Beth agreed (a 1 1/2 hour drive for her) so I canceled Katie's trek (she would have missed a birthday party).

We sat is the truck, deciding if we should get a hotel or wait to see if the storm would pass.  about 1 1/2 hours later, Cal Trans opened the highway and took down the chain controls.  The weather at Davis had headed south to I 50 so we had a moment's notice to get on the road and head over the pass.

Cal Trans was metering traffic and allowing about 20 cars over at a time.  We all followed a Highway Patrol car and a snow blower up and over the pass.  They left us at Yuba Gap, and we went the last 2 miles home without escort.

We actually beat Mary Beth to the lodge, found neighbors Art and Don had been stuck in the same highway shutdown (just on the reverse side of the pass).  Quincy was really happy to see us and really hungry.

All and all a very eventful weekend at the Gap. Record rain and snow in the bay area and the northern sierra on September 22, 2013.  Let's hope it is an early Jack Frost warning for a wet and snowy winter for us!