Wallace Smith

This expansive text on the history of my home region was first published in 1939. It still remains the most comprehensive resource of the early history of the San Joaquin Valley of California and is almost 800 pages long. I consider myself pretty well read on the region, but this offered constant revelations and fascinating details. The details do become a problem later on in the book, where Wallace goes on and on in almost phone book-like tedium about mundane things such as the cities were local unions are headquartered or lists dozens of agricultural implements invented by pioneers.

For me, the first 2/3 of the book was the most interesting, because it's the era that is most often ignored. The Spanish colonization of California took place along the coast. The interior valley was where Indians fled from the missions, and where they formed bands to fight and thieve against their Spanish--and then Mexican--overlords. There were still "Indian problems" into the 1850s as whites wandered into the valley as part of the Gold Rush influx. That sure isn't something I learned about in 4th grade.

My hometown played a major role in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, where settlers faced off against railroad agents and created a massacre. I've read a number of accounts of the tragedy over the years, and Smith's excessive detail here brought many new facts to light. It delighted me to see so many familiar cities and places mentioned.

There are various addenda to the book and it was recently edited to make it less redundant (which is somewhat scary, as the printed text still is quite repetitive) but it is still very much a book of the 1930s and from an author whose voice is quite present. The native population is largely ignored after the whites sweep in. There is one mention made of a black barber who is run out of town. Smith expounds on various settlements of Armenians, Danish, Swedes, Brits, etc, but says nothing about the African Americans who founded Allensworth and very little on the Chinese, besides saying they were there and very excellent workers. Smith's hometown is Kingsburg and his knowledge of that area (and bias for it) is evident.

Some of the period details amused me, like the part where it praised the alfalfa of Bakersfield as feeding the dairies of Los Angeles County. Those cows are long, long, gone.

Even with the reservations and some need to skim, this is a remarkable book. As a writer, this is a resource I intend to keep on the shelf. This is data that I can't find on Wikipedia.… (more)