Azusa

9780738547107

$24.99

If Azusa lived up to the reputation aggrandized from the glib assessment that it was the city with everything from A to Z in the U.S.A., no one would want to live anywhere else. Hyperbole aside, many Azusa residents love the place just as it is. This vibrant city grew from a citrus town to a bustling suburb nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Also known as the Canyon City on
the banks of the San Gabriel River, Azusa initially was a village of the Gabrieleno tribe before becoming Henry Dalton's Rancho Azusa during rule by Spain and later Mexico, and continued to grow during
California's fledgling era of U.S. statehood. Founded by Los Angeles banker Jonathan Sayer Slauson in 1887 as a stop on the Santa Fe Railroad, the city was incorporated in 1898.

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Albany

9780738547671

$24.99

Located directly across San Francisco Bay from the famous Golden Gate, the small city of Albany has a history far larger than its size would suggest. Just one-and-a-half-miles square, the Albany area has been
the home of many diverse people and interests. The first inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, followed by the Peralta family and their vast Rancho San Antonio. The Gold Rush brought new settlers and
dynamite manufacturers, an incompatible pairing that could not last. Albany's population swelled after the great 1906 earthquake, when many San Franciscans moved to the East Bay. By the 1920s, new homes built
by well-known developers like C. M. MacGregor attracted many more families. During World War II, Albany's population expanded yet again with the influx of shipyard workers housed at Codornices Village, now known as University Village. Albany has evolved to keep pace with modern times but also has maintained much of its small-town, familyfriendly
character, a combination that makes it one of the most soughtafter locations along the East Bay shore.

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Lone Pine

9780738547848

$24.99

Lone Pine's history is as dramatic and violent as the magnificent landscape in which the town is located. Long before the first white settlers arrived during the Gold Rush, small groups of Paiute-Shoshone Indians lived in the area. With the discovery of gold and silver, miners and ranchers supplying food for the mines came into violent conflict with the native inhabitants between 1860 and 1865. In the 1870s, the Cerro Gordo mines (the largest silver strike in the state) buoyed the growth
of Los Angeles. At the turn of the century, the City of Los Angeles clandestinely bought up land and water rights and initiated a period of conflict with the Owens Valley. In the 1920s, Hollywood discovered the Sierra Nevada Mountains and high deserts of the area. Over 400 films and countless commercials have been filmed in Lone Pine, featuring such stars as John Wayne, Gene Autry, Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, Rita Hayworth, Barbara Stanwyck, and Brad Pitt.

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Morgan County

9781467115650

$24.99

Pioneers came by the thousands, drawn by the promise of wealth in the Rocky Mountains. The dry, arid plains were a pass-through to most, but a few hardy souls saw potential in the region. They faced the harshest conditions; howling winds, little rainfall, intense heat followed by bone-chilling cold, isolation, and hostile Native American tribes were constant threats to survival. The pioneers of Morgan County were men and women of vision, perseverance, and inner strength. They were problem solvers who dug reservoirs and irrigation canals, built roads and railroads, and created an economy out of what others refused to see. Today, Morgan County is a place of an active agricultural lifestyle, supported by the businesses in the area. Its rich cultural diversity encompasses residents whose countries of origin span the world.

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Sacramento's Land Park

9780738529653

$24.99

Sacramento wasn't always so proud of the area now called Land Park. In fact, due to a notorious roadhouse at Sutterville and Riverside roads, the city took great pains to distance itself from here in the early days, calling the roadhouse and environs a foul plaguespot and a sink of iniquity, and purposely excluding it from city borders! But times change, and the 1911 death of hotelier and philanthropist William Land set the stage for Land Park's remarkable renaissance. A bequest in Land's will directed that some monies be used to find a recreation spot for the children and a pleasure ground for the poor, and so began the pleasant area of homes, parklands and riverfront paths we know today.

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Havre

9781467133043

$24.99

Tucked in a valley on the banks of the Milk River, Havre's history is incredibly diverse. It was populated first by American Indian tribes, who lived here for centuries and successfully lived off what the land, waters, and skies could provide. White settlers and other ethnic groups came later, bringing with them their own ways of life. Ladies and gentlemen arrived, looking for opportunities to build a new life and working to smooth out the rough reputation Havre had earned during its early days. Vice and virtue worked and lived alongside each other to create the largest community on Montana's Hi-Line.

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Port Hueneme

9780738530642

$24.99

Port Hueneme is a city of 25,000 residents surrounded on three sides by the City of Oxnard, with the Pacific Ocean as its western front. Port Hueneme's identity and character have endured valiantly despite the outside influences of the much larger city, a sometimes violent ocean, and the world's greatest armada. The U.S. Navy arrived in an enormous way at Port Hueneme during World War II to take command of the only deep-water port between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The servicemen stayed during the Korean War, maintaining an abiding relationship with the community. And still, the town itself has the strength of longevity, being three decades older than Oxnard and with a pioneering legacy of farmers, fishermen, merchants, and families. They survived, repeating the requisite spelling and pronunciation (Y-nee-mee) of their city's name, which is Chumash Indian for halfway or resting place between Point Mugu and the estuary of the Santa Clara River.

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Towns of Mount Lassen

9780738547206

$24.99

The imposing and dormant peak of Mount Lassen, the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range, has been held in awe and wonder since well before the California Gold Rush. The Yahi Nation called the volcano Waganupa, meaning the center of the world, and the volcano's peak, named after the Dutch immigrant and prospector Peter Lassen, is the centerpiece of the scenic Lassen Volcanic National Park. Within the guarded perimeters of this park—inducted into the park system under Woodrow Wilson in 1916, hardly a year after the devastation of its most recent eruptions—there was once a thriving lumber industry, narrow-gauge railroad system, and flume network that sustained a community of lumber camps and the lost town of Lyonsville, all threatened by volcanic destruction and the changing West.

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Mines Around Silverton

9781467132862

$24.99

Silverton is located in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, which have been described by H.H. Bancroft as the wildest and most inaccessible region of Colorado, if not North America. The region has a long and colorful mining history, dating back to the Spanish exploration of the area in the 18th century. For the past 250 years, men have sought gold and silver in these mountains. However, full-scale mining did not begin until the 1870s, and for more than a century, mining was the lifeblood of Silverton and the surrounding area. The San Juan Mountains have been called one of the four great mining areas of Colorado, in a state known for its mining heritage. This is not only the story of the mines but also of the men and women who worked and lived in these rugged mountains.

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Pleasanton, California

9781626193536

$21.99

Pleasanton is known today as the City of Planned Progress, home to tech companies, grand houses and the Alameda County Fairgrounds. A century and a half ago, however, it was little more than an idea--a real estate project in the Bay Area backwater conceived to profit from the railroad's advance through the Amador-Livermore Valley. Discover Pleasanton's evolution from open range to a thriving modern city. From the Ohlone encounter with the Spanish to the city's formal incorporation and beyond, author Ken MacLennan and the Museum on Main offer up an incisive and detailed look at Pleasanton's history.

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Martinez

9780738529202

$24.99

Martinez, nestled in a gentle valley by the calm waters of the Carquinez Strait, became an important early inland port that welcomed ships from all over the world. Once a commercial center for grain growers from as far away as the Livermore Valley, it was named Contra Costa's county seat in 1850. From the days of the Gold Rush when ferries carried hopeful miners across the strait on their way north, through the linking of its railway track to the transcontinental network in 1879, to the thriving industries of today, Martinez has remained the governmental and transportation center of the region.

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Woodland

9780738589008

$24.99

The images in this book document the intertwining of country and city in the character of Woodland, California, since the town's birth in 1853. The flat, rich land of the Great Central Valley, along with its Mediterranean climate and access to water for irrigation, enabled Yolo County to become a top producer of diverse agricultural products, ranging from almonds and tomatoes to grapes and rice. The wealth of the county flowed into Woodland, the county's seat of government, the largest market town, and the major agricultural processing center. As a result, Woodland produced distinguished architecture, abundant cultural and leisure activities, and prosperous businesses. The city's history reflects its ties to local agriculture but also to nearby metropolitan Sacramento and to larger events affecting American society, including technological and organizational innovations, war and social movements, and changing patterns of immigration.

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Sebastopol

9780738528526

$24.99

Since the 1850s, the soothing countryside hamlets of Sonoma County have beckoned settlers of every stripe-farmers, homesteaders, businesspeople, and commuters. Sebastopol has always been among the county's loveliest towns, retaining its small-town feel even as its population has steadily grown. This book of vintage photography presents Sebastopol's journey through time, the early Mexican land grants and initial settlements, Luther Burbank's far-ranging botanical experiments, and the rich farming industry that made this town one of California's premier agricultural zones, producing grapes, hops, cherries, and dairy products. In these pages readers will experience Sebastopol's turn-of-the-century days at the Apple Fair, with its astonishing fruit sculptures. The first days of railroads are illustrated with images of the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway, an electric train system that took passengers to and from Sebastopol Depot. The architecture of the region and the stories of local businesses and institutions are all shown here, along with Sebastopol's early religious institutions, schools, sawmills, factories, and even its small airport in the 1920s. Together with views of the town's sporting teams, natural history, outlying communities, and important citizens, these photographs tell a unique story of a unique place that transcends the generations.

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Yorba Linda

9780738529622

$24.99

Through the mid-20th century, Yorba Linda epitomized the Southern California pastoral experience during the advent and heyday of the citrus boom, with its vast cattle-grazing lands and fruit trees to the horizons. Among the families working this fertile Orange County land in the 1910s was that of President Richard M. Nixon, who was born in Yorba Linda in 1913. The land was named for Bernardo Yorba, son of original Californio Jose Yorba, an explorer who was awarded a 62,000-acre land grant from the king of Spain in 1809. In the 19th century, John Bixby planted orange and avocado groves and grazed cattle over much of the same area, which was incorporated as a city in 1967. An affluent community today, the city has retained its agrarian heritage through hundreds of miles of hiking and horse trails.

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Early Glendale

9780738529905

$24.99

The ridges and ranchlands that once covered the expanse between Burbank and Pasadena became the 16th city in Los Angeles County to incorporate. This 1906 act formalized the Township of Glendale, which had grown from the Rancho San Rafael of the Verdugo family through the Spanish, Mexican, and American colonial eras. In the 20th century, some of the oldest film studios called Glendale home, as did their royalty, including Marion Michael Morrison, who graduated from Glendale High in 1925, yet a few years away from his notoriety as John Wayne. Seven movie theaters operated in the city in the 1920s and so did the first airport offering cross-country flight, Grand Central. In
this book, nearly 200 vintage photographs provide a window to the city's bygone days, focusing on the era up to the Second World War, when Glendale's pleasant neighborhoods were evolving together to form one of the county's most populous and ethnically diverse cities.

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Garden Grove

9780738530024

$24.99

While its name connotes a pastoral vision beyond a pleasant wide place in the road, Garden Grove has expanded exponentially since pioneers founded it in 1874. Early cattle ranches gave way to walnut and citrus groves during the 20th century, as this land between the cities of Long Beach and Anaheim grew into one of Orange County's most populous municipalities, incorporating in 1956. Hotels sprang up in Garden Grove in reaction to the nearby vacation draws of Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and the county's popular beach communities. In later decades, Garden Grove's distinctive identity was further shaped by its role as home to one of the largest Korean-American communities outside of Korea and home to televangelist Robert Schuller's famed Crystal Cathedral.

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Monterey's Waterfront

9780738530031

$24.99

On Monterey's waterfront the words sardine, salmon, mackerel, pompano, albacore, abalone, flounder, and squid were music to the ears of fishermen. With its deep underwater canyon, Monterey Bay hosted a sealife jamboree long before the native Rumsien set out in small tule boats to harvest its bounty. It has sounded a siren call to fishermen and biologists ever since. Chinese fishermen pioneered modern commercial fishing in the 1850s, clustering in villages along Monterey's rugged coast. The cry Baleia! sounded through town, summoning Portuguese whalers to their longboats. Japanese divers in primitive hard-hat gear brought a sea snail called abalone to national attention, while Sicilians earned Monterey the title sardine capital of the world. The railroad opened the way for visitors to discover this natural coastal paradise, now a tourist mecca.

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Morgan Hill

9780738529776

$24.99

Morgan Hill lies at the foot of stately El Toro Mountain in southern Santa Clara Valley. Martin Murphy Sr. settled here in 1845, and only a generation later the Murphy family had managed to acquire 70,000 acres. Martin's son Daniel owned over a million acres in the western United States when his only daughter, the beautiful Diana, secretly married Hiram Morgan Hill in 1882. Hiram and Diana inherited part of the original ranch, where they built their lovely Villa Mira Monte. Although the Southern Pacific Railroad tried to name the nearby depot Huntington, passengers always asked to stop at Morgan Hill's ranch, a popular christening of a community surrounded by thriving orchards and vineyards. After World War II, Morgan Hill became a desirable suburb and has remained so through the birth of Silicon Valley.

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Pleasanton

9780738547619

$24.99

The city of Pleasanton, located in the beautiful Amador-Livermore valley, was formed in 1867 when immigrants John Kottinger and Joshua Neal used land from their Californio wives' dowries and laid out a town. Kottinger named the city after Civil War general Alfred Pleasonton, but a postal clerical error changed the spelling to Pleasanton and the name stuck. The men secured Pleasanton's future by offering land to the Western Pacific Railroad for a railroad station and landing. Planning for future growth thus became a legacy that is still embraced by this modern city of 70,000 people. Today families and tourists are attracted to Pleasanton's historic downtown, where 19thcentury buildings still stand and people stroll among its many shops and restaurants.

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Seal Beach

9780738529806

$24.99

Situated along the Pacific Coast Highway, Seal Beach is the coastal portal between Los Angeles and Orange Counties. This vacation spot and largely residential community separates the City of Long Beach from the broad, open, southerly beaches of the OC—Sunset, Bolsa Chica, Huntington, Newport, Laguna, and beyond. The regional fame of Anaheim Landing and Anaheim Bay preceded the founding of Bay City, which became Seal Beach after too much mail intended for Bay City found its way to the City by the Bay, San Francisco. In the early 20th century, the popular Joy Zone was a huge beachside amusement park in Seal Beach enjoyed by thousands of vacationers brought south by the Pacific Electric Red Car Line. This entertaining retrospective documents these landmarks, as well as local residents, events, Seal Beach Pier, the nearby U.S. Naval Weapons Station, and other points of interest.

Cover image for Seal Beach, isbn: 9780738529806

Mission Beach

9780738547855

$24.99

Mission Beach has always been a favorite destination for San Diego's beach-loving locals and tourists. Every year, millions crowd onto this spit of white sand separating tranquil Mission Bay from the frothy waves of the Pacific Ocean. Bicyclists, skateboarders, in-line skaters, walkers, and joggers can also enjoy the beach while navigating the 2.5-mile-long cement boardwalk along the ocean's edge and historic Belmont Park. But this is also a neighborhood of narrow streets with homes that began in the early 1900s as modest summer vacation cottages, many of which are now being replaced by million-dollar-plus condominiums. This new volume pays tribute to the residents and visitors who played a part in the development of this classic seaside community.

Cover image for Mission Beach, isbn: 9780738547855

Colfax

9780738596112

$24.99

Centered in Placer County, Colfax lies northeast of the state capital, Sacramento, in the California foothills. The Gold Rush of 1849 transformed these serene surroundings overnight into a flurry of human activity as men sought wealth. The town soon became the supply transport center for miners working their claims. When technology evolved to meet the needs of our expanding country, trains replaced pack trains and stagecoaches. Colfax grew to accommodate the thousands of workers toiling their way through the Sierra Nevadas to complete the western end of the transcontinental railroad. The town still serves as a junction point for the railroad and a destination stop for tourists to enjoy its unique history.

Cover image for Colfax, isbn: 9780738596112

Hercules

9780738574400

$24.99

The history of explosives manufacturing in Hercules began in 1879, when the California Powder Works acquired a site on San Pablo Bay, 20 miles northeast of San Francisco. The powder works, subsequently owned by Dupont and the Hercules Powder Company, produced one of the first internationally branded products: Hercules dynamite. It became the world's leading producer of TNT during World War I. The town of Hercules was incorporated in 1900, and for nearly 75 years its population remained under 300. The company-owned village had no retail district, but its employee clubhouse was the anchor for the city's social life. After the explosives plant closed, buildings comprising a small historic district were restored, while a diverse residential suburb grew rapidly around it. Hercules chronicles the city's industrial past and a vanishing way of life.

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Meeker

9781467132022

$24.99

The free-roaming Ute Indians were the first modern-day people to live in the White River valley. After mounting tensions erupted into violence and the Indian agency near present-day Meeker was attacked, the Ute were soon evicted from northwestern Colorado in 1881. By that time, adventurous people were pressing in at all sides to settle the area. Settlers drawn by land speculation and ranching populated this rural area. Ranching, hunting, guiding, and coal, oil shale, oil, and gas extraction were the ways people made their livings, or hoped to, in this region. Meeker had it all with a touch of Wild West and a promise of the American dream—and all in a setting that would lure Teddy Roosevelt himself. Inside this book are glimpses of the people, traditions, celebrations, and ways of life of those who lived here before us.

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Wrangell

9780738574981

$24.99

Wrangell is named after Baron Ferdinand von Wrangell of the Russian American Company, who was charged with extending Russia's fur trade into Southeast Alaska. To that end, he ordered a fort to be established in 1833, on Wrangell Island near the mouth of the Stikine River. The Stikine Tlingit Indians, who were scattered in villages nearby, moved closer to take advantage of fur trading opportunities. In 1839, the fort passed into the hands of the British Hudson's Bay Company. With the purchase of Alaska in 1867, the need was urgent to enforce the United States' presence in its recently acquired territory. An American fort was built, which the US Army occupied during a series of gold rushes, ending with the Klondike Rush in 1898. Wrangell began to grow beyond its boom-and-bust origins during the 20th century, becoming a thriving hub for lumber, fishing, and mining, as well as the newly minted tourist industry.

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San Jacinto

9780738558424

$24.99

Many villages of native Luiseño Indians were originally located in San Jacinto Valley. When Spanish explorer Don Juan Baptista de Anza of Tubac, Arizona, passed through this area in 1774, he named it San Jacinto, which translates to St. Hyacinth. After Spain ceded the area to Mexico, the Estudillo family of San Diego received a land grant in 1842 that included the San Jacinto Valley, and the settling of immigrants from the east soon followed. The City of San Jacinto was= incorporated in 1888, but two major earthquakes in 1899 and 1918 destroyed all of its brick buildings, which were never again rebuilt. Agriculture crops were the main industry until the 1980s, when the housing boom began, and today San Jacinto is considered a desirable and progressive city to live in.

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Early Redlands

9781467130677

$24.99

Redlands saw rapid town building from 1880 to 1920, with an expanding citrus industry and a growing, energetic populace. Many early residents came for their health and for the mild winters. These included the wealthy, who brought immediate income to a small town, introducing beautiful mansions, parks, and philanthropic investment. This economic boon allowed over 30 professional photographers to come and go in this young town, producing the legacy of high-quality photographs that illustrate this book. Tourism created the need for souvenir photographs, schools meant graduation pictures, and business promotion demanded commercial views. Walk through the life of days gone by into the stores, neighborhoods, homes, schools, and town entertainment in Early Redlands. A chapter is provided to help other communities locate their local photographers while sharing the rich history of Redlands.

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Niles, Fremont

9780738529127

$24.99

Beautiful Niles Canyon in Fremont is a chosen spot. Jose de Jesus Vallejo chose it for the first mill town in Alta California, Joaquin Murieta slept here, and Leland Stanford chose it in 1869 for the last leg of the transcontinental railroad, the true last spike of the line linking the Atlantic to the Pacific. The home of the largest nursery in the West, Niles could also boast the first gravel mines in California and fine Art Deco tile production. In 1912 world famous Essanay Studios chose the oak-studded hills of Niles Canyon as the location for some of the most famous silent films of all time, including Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp, and the first Wild West movie stars strutted the dusty streets of Niles.

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Denver's Park Hill Neighborhood

9780738580449

$24.99

The stately yet welcoming Park Hill neighborhood, located just east of downtown Denver, was platted from prairie lands in 1871 by energetic real estate speculators. A horse-drawn rail car began transportation service in later years to and from Denver as homes in Park Hill became popular. Eventually, Denverites invested in Park Hill lots and wealthy citizens built architecturally sophisticated homes, creating an enclave of Denver society. When automobiles became popular in the 1910s, Park Hill became a popular place to raise a family and has continued as an attractive residential area for more than a century. The home of Denver's elite for decades, including mayors and other leading politicians, Park Hill has embraced diversity in the 21st century, encompassing blue-collar workers along with the physicians, attorneys, and professional athletes.

Cover image for Denver's Park Hill Neighborhood, isbn: 9780738580449

Newhall

9780738580258

$24.99

Newhall's many firsts include the first gold discovery in California and the first commercially successful oil well, which led to the first pipeline and oil refinery in California. Some of the earliest movie location filming was done here. First recorded by Juan Crespi on the Sacred Expedition of 1769, the Little Santa Clara Valley was recognized by the Spanish as an important junction between the mountain ranges separating Northern and Southern California. The early city fathers of Los Angeles saw the settlement of Newhall as an integral part of their strategy for growth from the days of the stagecoach and railroad through to the building of Ridge Route and Interstate 5. This book tells the story of the town that never quite lived up to its potential but still managed a varied history with a colorful cast rivaling those of the movies filmed here.

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Tehama County

9781467117456

$24.99

Tehama County—its name is a mystery but its sense of place is not. The county portrays a friendly Norman Rockwell–like America, with everything from May Day picnics and parades to fall harvests, rugged lumbermen, tough cowboys, and rodeo roundups. Carved out of three Northern California counties in 1856, Tehama County is largely rural, with fertile open spaces dominated by ranching and agriculture. To the east and west are lofty mountains and deep-set canyons sculpted by fast-moving streams to delight recreationists. These streams tumble into the mighty Sacramento River that courses through the middle of the county on its way to the Pacific Ocean. While rural, Tehama County has a rich and colorful heritage reflected in its people. Some of the more notable residents have included Ishi, a Yahi Indian considered the last of his people; William B. Ide, commander in chief of the brief Bear Flag Republic; and railroad magnate and governor of California, Leland Stanford, who built the largest vineyard and brandy distillery in the world here.

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Dunsmuir

9780738580562

$24.99

In the 1880s, the Central Pacific Railroad labored through the rugged upper Sacramento River canyon to connect California with the far northwest. Where the canyon's steep walls open up to a view of snowcapped Mount Shasta, a railroad switching yard, a depot, a roundhouse, a turntable, and repair shops were constructed. Surrounded by virgin timber, rushing waters, and dramatic geologic formations, this railhead camp--named for a Canadian collier--grew.
?Completion of the rail line brought commerce and growth as timber was harvested and streams were prospected for gold. Visitors were, and continue to be, drawn by the pure mountain air, scenic beauty, healing mineral waters, hunting, and world-class trout fishing. Though facing many obstacles, including storms, fires, and floods, the town thrived. Incorporated in 1909, Dunsmuir became the headquarters for the Southern Pacific Railroad's fabled Shasta Division in 1916. Today Dunsmuir is known as California's Historic Railroad Town and is recognized in the National Register of Historic Places.

Cover image for Dunsmuir, isbn: 9780738580562

Ferndale

9780738528908

$24.99

The enchanting Victorian Village of Ferndale in the Eel River Valley is designated a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is a California Historical Landmark. Named by its founders, the Shaw brothers, to honor the six-foot-tall ferns that once choked the thickly forested valley floor, the town became a vital center for goods bound by water for San Francisco and a crossroads for stages to Eureka and Bear River. For many years after the Shaws first paddled their canoe across the Eel River in 1852, travelers forded it by ferry. This changed when Fernbridge was constructed in 1911, at that time the longest reinforced concrete-arch span bridge in the world.

Cover image for Ferndale, isbn: 9780738528908

Twin Falls

9780738580272

$24.99

Images of America: Twin Falls tells the story of the transformation of a sagebrush plain into productive farmland at the beginning of the 20th century. Engineers and investors found a way to capture the water of the Snake River for extensive irrigation and completed Milner Dam and the related canal system in 1905. The success of the Twin Falls South Side Irrigation Tract was associated with other reclamation projects in the region, resulting in the permanent settlement of south-central Idaho. New residents built modern schools, fine homes, and imposing business blocks. Prosperous farms and orchards dotted the landscape. Twin Falls became a wholesale center for storing, processing, and shipping agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad.

Cover image for Twin Falls, isbn: 9780738580272

Cedar City

9780738595009

$24.99

Cedar City was first settled on November 11, 1851, with the arrival of a group of 35 men to establish an ironworks. Beginning with the demise of the ironworks in 1858, the town's economy became agrarian in nature, though iron mining continued strongly through World War II and into the 1980s. The coming of the railroad to Cedar City in 1923 exposed Utah's national parks to the world of tourism, and Cedar City was touted as the Gateway to the Parks. The railroad also provided an outlet for the products of the iron mines. The Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Festival City USA designation, and the Utah Summer Games propelled Cedar City into a new era.

Cover image for Cedar City, isbn: 9780738595009

Indio

9780738556185

$24.99

Located halfway between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona, Indio came into being as a railroad town in 1876 when the Southern Pacific Railroad completed this last link in its southern transcontinental route. Settling this arid land took ingenuity and courage, and Indio's early residents had both. In the 1930s, Indio became a mining town when 92 miles of tunnel were dug through its eastern mountains for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the largest construction project in the United States during the Depression. World War II brought Gen. George Patton's Desert Tank Corps to train nearby and crowd into Indio for rest and relaxation. The completion of the Coachella Branch of the All-American Canal brought Colorado River water to the desert in the late 1940s, and a land boom ensued. Today Indio's reputation as the Date Capital of the United States and City of Festivals is long held and well deserved.

Cover image for Indio, isbn: 9780738556185

Long Beach's Los Cerritos

9781467131292

$24.99

Evolving from a 27,000-acre rancho, to a colony of farmers, and then to a neighborhood subdivision, Long Beach's Los Cerritos is the story of a fiercely independent community established prior to William Willmore's vision of a city of Long Beach took hold. Life centered around the historic Rancho Los Cerritos throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries as John Temple's cattle ranching was replaced by Jotham Bixby's sheep ranching and tenant farming operations. Jotham Bixby sold off land for small farms to create the Cerritos Colony, and further subdivided land to create the Los Cerritos neighborhood. Invaded by oil drilling rigs after the discovery of oil in nearby Signal Hill, fires and noise caused the residents to flee. Los Cerritos declined but rebounded in the 1930s, aided by the presence of the Virginia County Club, stately homes designed by world-renowned architects, and the restoration of the historic rancho adobe by the Bixby family.

Cover image for Long Beach's Los Cerritos, isbn: 9781467131292

Lake Tahoe

9780738589121

$24.99

Lake Tahoe's legendary scenic beauty is witnessed annually by millions of visitors. While the lake's first sighting (in 1843) by a nonnative was made from a mountain peak, the lake's maritime history began a scant seven years later. Although most of the early steamers were designed for industrial use, the sight of a boat venturing out into the vast, deep blue expanse of Lake Tahoe attracted the attention of residents and visitors alike. After the inevitable decline of extractive industries, tourism became the main economic engine in Lake Tahoe. The steamer era and the evolution of wooden-boat racing are celebrated today by the romantic races of the two paddle wheelers and the annual Concours d'Elegance boat show.

Cover image for Lake Tahoe, isbn: 9780738589121

Placer County

9780738571539

$24.99

Placer County runs between the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains, against Sacramento County in the west and 100 miles east to Lake Tahoe. Along the present-day southern border, gold was discovered in 1848 by James Marshall at John Sutter's lumber mill, leading to the California Gold Rush. This relatively narrow county (only 10 to 15 miles across in some spots) has early immigrant trails, wagon roads, railways, and highways all passing through as they head across Donner Summit and across the Sierra Nevadas. Mining, agriculture, transportation, logging, and recreation made Placer County important in the past, and they keep it a thriving place to live now in the 21st century.

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Salinas Valley

9780738530482

$24.99

The Salinas River meanders through the center of a long, lovely valley, sometimes ducking underground in summer, or diverting into canals to water fields that stretch away to the chiseled Santa Lucia Mountains. Memorialized by novelist John Steinbeck, and often called the salad bowl of the nation, Salinas Valley was the site of the Spanish Mission Soledad, founded in 1791. During the rancho era, vast herds of cattle waded though grasslands and later, failed gold miners founded towns like Salinas at well-traveled crossroads. Flourishing grain crops attracted the Southern Pacific Railroad, and as the shining track was laid, Chualar, Gonzales, Soledad, King City, San Lucas, San Ardo, and Bradley sprouted alongside them. Resorts like Paraiso Springs once brought visitors to the foothills, while people of many nationalities came to live and work in settlements like Greenfield, where irrigation soaks the dark, fertile loam by the sinuous river that now supports a mighty $3 billion agricultural industry.

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Haunted Santa Cruz, California

9781467136037

$21.99

From inspiring Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho to providing the stalking ground for serial killers, Surf City, USA, has a spooky history with a West Coast twist.

Though generally a peaceful coastal city, the dark stains from Santa Cruz’s past still linger...

A former Spanish Mission, Holy Cross Catholic Church harbors a dark history of a brutal revolt of native Ohlone people that killed the cruel Fr. Andres Quintana. Frequented by mobsters and celebrities in its heyday, the famous Brookdale Lodge’s most talked-about guest is the ghost of a little girl who died nearby in 1892 after nearly drowning. Terrorized by three different serial killers during the 1970s, the city earned the nickname of “the Murder Capital of the World.” Local resident Alfred Hitchcock derived inspiration for his iconic film Psycho from the haunted mid-nineteenth-century Hotel McCray.

Tracing the city’s eeriest incidents back to their roots, historical researcher and paranormal investigator Maryanne Porter details these and many more stories of local legend and lore.

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San Pedro Bay

9780738530437

$24.99

The name San Pedro Bay meant Los Angeles Harbor through the 20th century, but the vestiges of that original, rustic, fishing village–like identity still cling to the port community that, through its proximity to the city of Los Angeles, grew into one of the world's largest centers of importing and exporting. The bay has served commercial fishermen, the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, the sailing yachts of the very wealthy, and the dinghies of the disenfranchised. Today, tugboats guide gargantuan oceangoing cargo ships under the towering gantry cranes for off-loading, and enormous cruise ships call the Port of Los Angeles home.

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Sanger

9781467130189

$24.99

The arrival of the railroad in 1887 brought rumors of Kings River Lumber Company's plan to build a flume for shipping lumber from the forest to the valley floor, and the town literally boomed overnight. Founded in 1888, Sanger officially incorporated in 1911 and was named in honor of Joseph Sanger, secretary of the Southern Pacific Railroad Yardmasters Association. In 1866, early pioneer Mary Jane Hazelton planted the area's first orange grove. Later, Harvey Akers established the first vineyard. In the 1920s, after many years of struggle, the lumber era came to a close and was replaced by agriculture. Packinghouses sprang up around Sanger, and area fruit was shipped around the country via the railroad.

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Nampa

9781467132121

$24.99

Nampa began as a railroad siding on the Idaho Central Railway in 1885. There was no town then, only a water tower and a few shacks. In 1886, however, Alexander Duffes incorporated the town of Nampa. A year later, the Boise & Idaho Railway was completed, and the town grew from 15 to 50 houses. By 1904, cultivated land reached 40,000 acres. The Deer Flat Reservoir, finished in 1909, irrigated 150,000 acres, and farms, livestock, and fruit orchards flourished across the desert. Canning and evaporating facilities were built to process local crops, and an iron foundry, lumber yards, and other industries helped the town grow to 1,500 people. Three railroads met in Nampa to transport local goods to the markets of the world. Today, Nampa is Idaho's second-largest city.

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Erie

9780738576169

$24.99

Erie grew from the discovery of coal in the mid-1800s. Its mines became the largest suppliers of lignite coal in the northern Colorado coalfield. Unions quickly moved into Colorado to push for improved working conditions and miners' rights to participate in decisions affecting their jobs. When mine owners refused to honor their requests, miners went on strike, and owners hired scab labor from Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Tensions mounted, and local miners sabotaged mines by setting explosives and otherwise damaging property. Colorado's governor established a special militia to deal with the strikers. The armed militia wounded and killed miners and their families in southern Colorado's Ludlow Mine and Erie's Columbine Mine. Government intervention and the sympathetic viewpoint of the owner of the Columbine Mine led to the first Colorado coal company to unionize. Miners fought for working conditions that characterize many of today's best-run companies. With the closing of the last mine in the area in 1979, Erie has grown to become a bedroom community in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan community.

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Redding

9780738529349

$24.99

Pierson B. Reading settled on a large land grant in Shasta County in the 1840s, planting California's first cotton and northern California's first grapevines on his Rancho Buena Ventura, which included the current town of Redding. Although first nicknamed Poverty Flats by the early settlers, the Southern Pacific Railroad chose this spot for its turnaround roundhouse in 1872, ignoring the neighboring mining boomtown of Shasta. To honor a powerful Sacramento politician who acted as their general land agent, the railroad named the new town Redding.As Redding grew, so did the tug-of-war with the town of Shasta over the location of the county seat, a contest Redding won in 1884. Redding experienced two growth spurts, one during a copper mining boom before World War I, and the other at the end of the Great Depression, when thousands of workers poured in to build Shasta Dam. A gateway city to the large recreational area that surrounds it, Redding now enjoys fame for its world-renowned bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava.

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Hollister

9780738595795

$24.99

The history of Rancho San Justo and Hollister began in 1839 when Gov. Juan Alvarado gave the land grant to Jose Castro. Castro sold the land to Francisco Pacheco, who, in turn, sold the land grant to William Hollister and his partners Llwellyn Bixby and Thomas and Benjamin Flint. In 1861, the men agreed to split the property. The site for the town was surveyed in 1868 with plans to divide the site into 50 homestead lots. Colonel Hollister sold his portion of the rancho to a group of men who called themselves the San Justo Homestead Association. At that time, the town of Hollister was still in Monterey County; however, the homestead association started agitating for a division of the county. An act to create the county of San Benito was approved by the governor on February 12, 1874, and Hollister became the county seat.

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Rodeo

9780738547466

$24.99

Rodeo, located on the east shore of San Pablo Bay, was envisioned as the meatpacking center of the West when it was established by the Union Stockyard Company in 1890. That vision failed, but the town continued attracting residents for jobs at the nearby Hercules powder works, Selby smelter, and Oleum refinery. By the 1940s, a war-based industrial buildup made Rodeo's population surge, and this was followed by a postwar boom in housing and retail construction. During these prosperous years, Rodeo was a regional hub for fishing and boating. Times have changed, but the images in these pages recall Rodeo's early years—the marina, businesses and homes, schools, civic officials, and local industry, as well as the town's celebrations, such as the Holy Ghost and Aquatic Festivals.

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Historic Tales from Palos Verdes and the South Bay

9781626196070

$21.99

Palos Verdes and the South Bay's dramatic beauty is mirrored by a dramatic history. Feuding over claims to the Rancho San Pedro continued for seventy-three years. The Vanderlip family's forty-year development of the Palos Verdes Peninsula resulted in one of California's wealthiest and most well-kept enclaves of coastal cities. Marineland of the Pacific on the Peninsula's end was one of the West Coast's more popular tourism draws before its controversial closing. But that's only the beginning. In this exciting compilation of articles, authors Bruce and Maureen Megowan reveal some of the intriguing secrets and little-known facts nestled within the hills, valleys and nearby cities of this beautiful area. Discover some of the fascinating stories about the development of the South Bay and Palos Verdes Peninsula.

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Echo Summit

9781467132008

$24.99

Echo Summit played a major role in early California and Nevada history. Beginning in the early 1850s, fortune-seekers rushed westward over Echo Summit in search of gold in El Dorado County. The discovery of silver and gold in Virginia City in 1859 reversed the travel eastward. After 1869, travel over Echo Summit was reduced to a trickle. Today, Echo Summit is a major route to the south Lake Tahoe basin. There are sites along the summit ridge, like Echo Lake, Berkeley Echo Lake Camp, and Echo Summit Lodge, that have contributed to the history of Echo Summit.

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Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast

9780738528960

$24.99

The Kashaya Indians made foot trails through the grassy mountain slopes of Sonoma's northern coast for centuries before colonists from the Russian-American Company arrived in 1812. These Russians, the vanguard of European settlement, built Fort Ross from virgin redwood on a bluff overlooking the sea. Although they stayed only 30 years, they left behind a heritage that includes the earliest detailed scientific and ethnographic studies of the area and California's first ships and windmills. Soon others came to ranch, lumber, and quarry, shipping their harvest and stone to help build and feed San Francisco. Ranches and mill sites evolved into towns, often bearing the names of the rugged men who first settled there. Much of the coastline remains as it was in centuries past, its rich history still visible in ship moorings and chiseled sandstone, and new residents and visitors are still drawn to this dramatic meeting of blue Pacific and forested coastal mountains.

Cover image for Fort Ross and the Sonoma Coast, isbn: 9780738528960

Brief History of Los Alamitos-Rossmoor, A

9781609498610

$21.99

The city of Los Alamitos and the contiguous, unincorporated community of Rossmoor exemplify small-town America amid the populous western Orange County sprawl. Their tree-lined streets, well-kept homes and first-rate schools are reflected in Rossmoor's selection as the No. 1 suburb in California (and No. 9 nationwide) in a 2012 study by Coldwell Banker Realty. The evolution of Los Alamitos from cattle ranches and sugar beet factory town to World War II military town and ultimately into residential neighborhoods took a century. Meanwhile, the planned walled 'city' of Rossmoor was created between 1955 and 1961. Despite annexation talk, Rossmoor and Los Al coexist apart together, so to speak, on Long Beach's outskirts. Author Larry Strawther traces the histories of these interdependent sister communities, which epitomize the reality in the legend of the Orange County lifestyle.

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Guadalupe

9781467131131

$24.99

When looking at historical photographs of Guadalupe residents, one sees the faces that represent the area's unique and diverse past. Originally inhabited by the indigenous Chumash and mapped by Spanish explorers, Guadalupe was first named in the 1840s Mexican land grant honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, the title given to the Virgin Mary. Through the years, waves of immigrants made their way to Guadalupe to take advantage of the fertile soil and unique geographic features, the most prominent of which are the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, which contain some of the tallest sand dunes on Earth and have been visited by locals and tourists for the last century and a half. It was in the 1920s that Hollywood discovered them and began introducing distant audiences to the region through the cinematic tradition that continues today.

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Sausalito

9780738530369

$24.99

Sausalito got its Spanish name, meaning little willow grove, from British seaman William Richardson. He hoped that this deep-water anchorage, so close to the Golden Gate, would become the entrance to a busy city. But the tall ships mostly rushed past his Whaler's Cove to anchor in San Francisco. Later Sausalito's gentle hills and sun-washed harbor became a favorite playground and retreat for wealthy San Franciscans, and large hotels like the El Monte prospered. Before construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito was a transportation nexus for trains and ferries, and in a sudden mobilization during World War II, 22,000 people a day worked three shifts building liberty ships at Marinship. Sausalito was homeport for many seafaring adventurers, daring rumrunners during Prohibition, and later for beatniks, poets, hippies, and artists drawn to Sausalito's spectacular vistas and relatively rural atmosphere. Making their abodes on riotously rickety houseboats or in cabins perched on steep slopes, they left an artistic legacy to the community.

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Poway

9780738555973

$24.99

The area that would become Poway was once the roaming grounds of the Diegueno and Luiseno Indians, several hundred years before the appearance of the Spaniards. It was also a pasturing place for mission stock, a ranch area for adventurous white settlers, a potential railroad stop that never materialized, and today is a diversified, thriving city in the country located within San Diego County. The story of Poway is one of many cultures, of many changes, and of many triumphs. Today it is a very desirable city in which to live, raise families, and send children to school; it is home to about 57,000 residents glad to have found the pleasures of living in Poway.

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Ripon

9780738581668

$24.99

Like California, the valley town of Ripon owes it beginnings to early adventurers. A group of Mormons looking for the "Promised Land" in 1846 were the first Europeans to settle along the Stanislaus River near Ripon. In 1850, another adventurous early pioneer, William H. Crow, settled in the region, and the first school to be established in the county was subsequently named for him 12 years later, in 1862. William H. Hughes purchased 1,300 acres in 1857, and in 1872, he gave the railroad a right-of-way and provided land for the depot known as Stanislaus Station. Amplias B. Crook, postmaster of this station, proposed in 1874 to rename the community in honor of his hometown, Ripon, Wisconsin. Hence California's Ripon was established on December 21, 1874.

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Moraga

9781467116206

$24.99

Long before the Gold Rush drew settlers from the East, the land that would one day be developed into the town of Moraga was situated on a large rancho owned by the Moraga family. Nestled amongst hills just east of Oakland and Berkeley, the Moraga Valley of the 19th century attracted cattle ranchers and farmers who planted vegetables, fruit, and nuts. In particular, pear orchards established in the earliest farming days are still celebrated in the city's annual Pear & Wine Festival. In the early 20th century, tourists escaped the sometimes chilly and fog-bound cities near San Francisco Bay to picnic in the Moraga redwoods. Electric trains, which brought Moraga's commuters to cities and students to St. Mary's College, enabled the growth of subdivisions and businesses. Train tracks eventually gave way to trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Once considered a potential site for the United Nations, Moraga has maintained its rural beauty while developing into a thriving suburb.

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Pasadena

9780738547787

$24.99

Few cities boast a business history as rich and varied as Pasadena's. In the early agricultural days, a brandy distillery and citrus and olive groves helped propel the economy, while the 20th century saw Pasadena emerge as a thriving resort and health town. Together the community's diverse businesses have played a substantial role in determining the fortunes of the Crown City. In this volume, evocative images recall an extensive range of establishments, from large resort hotels to corner soda fountains, law offices to dry cleaners, restaurants to science labs, local industries to national powerhouses. Seldom-seen photographs from both the Pasadena Museum of History's archives and private collections trace a business legacy unique to Pasadena, one that still thrives on generations-old family businesses and has also embraced corporate headquarters and regional franchises.

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Pioneers of Riverside County

9781609498313

$21.99

Riverside County encompasses more than two million people and most of the width of California, from Los Angeles's eastern suburbs to the Arizona state line at the Colorado River. Historian Steve Loch captures the vanished past of this vast swath of deserts and mountains--the eras of Spanish and then Mexican rule and the exploits of the earliest settlers of the American period. Juan Bautista de Anza, Louis Robidoux and many other namesake figures of today's geography are described in this unabridged excerpt of the author's comprehensive and masterly history Along the Old Roads.

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Sunnyvale

9780738574356

$24.99

Sunnyvale has been a place for forward thinking and innovation since its founding in 1861, when Irish immigrant Martin Murphy Jr. allowed a new railroad to pass through his land. By linking San Jose's farms to San Francisco's docks, he did more than help overcome the muddy misery of travel on the El Camino Real. The whistle stop first known as Encinal quickly grew into a center for agriculture, followed by defense, novel suburban development, and high technology. Sunnyvale is a place where names like Del Monte, Hendy, Lockheed, Atari, and Yahoo! have each carried their day. Yet the city's relentless drive forward has made a sense of identity elusive. The downtown core has been rebuilt numerous times without much success, and examples abound of historic structures torn down for something new. But lately, the town has gotten its groove back. The restored city center now draws a crowd, and, thanks to a 50-year effort, the rebuilt Murphy house shimmers in the sun once again.

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Lodi

9780738575483

$24.99

From its beginning as a small pioneering settlement in 1869 to its growth into an agricultural and industrial modern city, Lodi has been touted for years as a desirable place to put down roots and raise a family. The fertile soil here on the south bank of the Mokelumne River has seen several generations of citizens proud of their city at the crossroads of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. Following World War II, Lodi's attractiveness as a family city has caused it to boom and grow, to the delight of some and consternation of others. In 2006, Lodi celebrated the centennial anniversary of its incorporation as a city and is now trying to preserve its unique heritage and identity as the livable and lovable place that it is.

Cover image for Lodi, isbn: 9780738575483

Cambria

9781467133104

$24.99

Located on the Pacific coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cambria developed as a hub for lumbering, mining, whaling, and dairying in the 19th century. Situated in a pine forest and populated by immigrants from the eastern United States and numerous Swiss-Italians, it became the second largest town in San Luis Obispo County. When the railroad bypassed Cambria, the pace of life quieted for a time, and ranchers raised cattle for beef. But affordable automobiles and the construction of roads to the north and east turned the locale into a vacation destination. The cool climate, rugged cliffs, beaches, and signature Monterey pine forest brought a sizable new development called Cambria Pines. The opening of Hearst Castle as a state park assured Cambria's future as a tourist destination. The ways in which people have engaged with the local forest is a leitmotif in the account of these developments.

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Auburn

9780738559445

$24.99

Auburn, the county seat of Placer County, was founded during the Gold Rush in 1848. Unlike many such towns in the Mother Lode, Auburn has remained a vibrant and growing town ever since. This city's relevance since the initial influx of gold seekers is due in part to its location at a nexus of transportation routes, both old and new. Halfway between San Francisco and Reno and at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet--above the fog and below the snow--Auburn is a very attractive place to live. Furthermore, it is a place with sincere respect for its roots, as evidenced by its restored old town, preserved courthouse building, and other historic structures throughout town.

Cover image for Auburn, isbn: 9780738559445

Hillsboro

9780738599588

$24.99

Situated on the Main Street of Texas, Hillsboro's influence has radiated far beyond its locale on Interstate 35 in Central Texas. Once a part of the Texas frontier, the area was settled by pioneers in the 1840s, and in 1853, the Texas legislature created Hill County. Located east of the Brazos River on the Blackland Prairie, the dusty cattle town of Hillsboro soon became the county seat. In 1881, the railroad transformed Hillsboro, attracting migrant farmers and merchants from the Old South. By 1900, Hillsboro was a center for cotton production, and public buildings and homes still testify to the influence of king cotton. Politics have long been a staple of the culture, and Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, Attys. Gen. Thomas S. Smith and Crawford Martin, Speakers of the House T.S. Smith, Robert Lee Bobbitt, and Robert W. Calvert, and Sam D. Johnson have all called Hillsboro home.

Cover image for Hillsboro, isbn: 9780738599588

Seabrook

9780738579405

$24.99

Seabrook enjoys a prime location on Galveston Bay at the outflow of Clear Creek. Formerly a Spanish land grant known as Morris Cove, the town began to assume its modern shape in 1895 when Seabrook Sydnor purchased part of the Morris league and platted the town site. Brothers Albert and Ernest Fay founded the Seabrook Shipyard in 1938, which went on to build submarine chasers and rescue boats during World War II. The year 1961 was a landmark moment for Seabrook: Hurricane Carla hit on September 11, and a week later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that its Manned Spaceflight Center would be built in nearby Clear Lake, launching a period of accelerated growth. Fearing annexation by Houston or La Porte, Seabrook leaders took steps toward incorporation that same year. Today Seabrook is listed on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and is part of the third-largest boating community in the United States.

Cover image for Seabrook, isbn: 9780738579405

Temple in Vintage Postcards

9780738529394

$24.99

Founded in 1881 by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company, Temple, Texas became a railroad town overnight. The company purchased 181 acres and then auctioned off parcels to prospective buyers interested in providing services for railroad equipment and passengers. Though early on Temple had several unfortunate nicknames—Mudville, Tanglefoot, and Ratsville—it soon shed its image as a muddy, rat-infested land, became a major junction for four railway lines, and offered a land of opportunity for commerce. The railway would bring flattering new nicknames like Progressive Temple and Prairie Queen as well as a chance to be part of the American Dream.

Cover image for Temple in Vintage Postcards, isbn: 9780738529394

Dumas

9780738570617

$24.99

In 1891, Louis P. Dumas heard about cheap land in the Texas Panhandle. He left his successful enterprises in Sherman and chose a section of grassland in Moore County to "build a town." He had not bargained for the harsh elements that came with the territory, though. Within five years he abandoned his town, as did most of the other residents. Dumas was a ghost town three times in its first 10 years, but gradually, a quiet village developed. Oil and gas discovered in the 1920s brought about growth and continues to support the economy. Phil Baxter, who wrote the song "Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas," spoke of the friendliness and spirit of the people he met there in 1927. Today those qualities endure in the people of Dumas.

Cover image for Dumas, isbn: 9780738570617

Houston

9780738571225

$24.99

Along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, Houston was founded by John and Augustus Allen on August 30, 1836. The city was named after Gen. Sam Houston, a prominent military hero of the Texas Revolution. After the Civil War ended, Houston flourished as agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests generated economic growth. In 1901, the discovery of oil at nearby Spindletop ushered in a new era, fueled by the addition of an inland port when the Houston Ship Channel was dredged in 1914. During the latter half of the 20th century, energy, space exploration, and the medical sciences placed this city on the world stage. Big dreams, big discoveries, hard work, and a little luck made Houston the thriving city it is today.

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Marfa

9780738558554

$24.99

In the rugged High Chihuahua Desert of West Texas, Marfa lies in the northeast corner of Presidio County, 60 miles from the Mexico border. Originally established as a water stop for the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad in 1883, it soon became the county seat and heart of a thriving commercial center built around ranching. Marfa's Fort D. A. Russell, first known as Camp Albert and later Camp Marfa, has been home to numerous military units from the early 1900s through the end of World War II. This military presence, combined with the development of the famous Highland Hereford that propelled local cattle ranching to a nationally recognized level, provided the economic and social base for the community well into the 1950s. Marfa's proximity to Mexico contributes tremendously to a remarkable blend of cultures, and today the once remote frontier town has established itself as a sophisticated arts and cultural mecca.

Cover image for Marfa, isbn: 9780738558554

Cherokee County

9780738530161

$24.99

In central East Texas, the contours of the Angelina and Neches Rivers shape the natural borders of Cherokee County, and the landscape—of fertile soil and dense timber—that defines this region of the Lone Star state is as rich as its history. Now home to the cities of Jacksonville, Rusk, Alto, and their outlying communities, the area was once settled by the 12,000-year-old Clovis culture. Later, the Caddo Nation prospered here until European settlement and expansion brought the land into dispute on all sides. Despite efforts toward peace, violent instability culminated in the Killough Massacre on October 5, 1838, prompting the Cherokee War of 1839 and the eventual expulsion of the Cherokee from the area, the people who would become the county's namesake. Agricultural and economic developments over the next century have helped transform Cherokee County into an unspoiled destination for winter Texans, while its historical significance and one-of-a-kind charm remain well guarded by the more than 45,000 citizens who call it home today.

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Tempe

9780738548883

$24.99

Home to 165,000 residents (within a 40 square mile radius), the city of Tempe is surrounded by the booming cities of Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Chandler. But the Salt River Valley area was once populated with just a few small farms, when Charles Trumbull Hayden, owner of a mercantile and freighting business in Tucson, homesteaded here in 1870. The community he established—Hayden's Ferry—soon became the trade center for the south side of the valley. Hayden's Ferry became Tempe in 1879 at the suggestion of Englishman Darrell Duppa, who commented that the area reminded him of the Vale of Tempe in Greece, and it was not long before other developments promoted the growth of this new town. In 1885, the Arizona legislature selected Tempe as the site for the Territorial Normal School, the predecessor of Arizona State University. The Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad, which crossed the Salt River at Tempe, was built in 1887, and in 1911, the Roosevelt Dam was completed. World War II, the creation of Tempe Town Lake, and other 20th-century events also influenced the growth and character of Tempe, now Arizona's seventh largest city.

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Oklahoma City Rediscovered

9780738551494

$24.99

Oklahoma City has a fascinating history. By 1907, when Oklahoma became a state, the diversity of business, entertainment, industry, manufacturing, and transportation was experiencing rapid development. Contained within Oklahoma City Rediscovered is the story of four aspects of that development: Deep Deuce with the rise of blues and jazz music, town site development with the goal of establishing a seat of government with the founding of Capitol Hill, manufacturing that led to the warehouse district that evolved into the premier entertainment area known as Bricktown, and transportation with the love affair of the automobile along a major thoroughfare downtown that was devoted to showcasing the latest models of cars to capture the fancy of the public.

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Cottonwood

9780738579993

$24.99

In the last quarter of the 19th century, a circle of 16 tall Cottonwood trees stood in the wash that extended to the Verde River just north of where the old jail building now stands. Cattlemen and ranchers from Oak Creek and the mountains made their overnight stops under these trees and the location became known as The Cottonwoods. The lush riparian area attracted hardy settlers, and Fort Verde's military camp and the copper mines of Jerome provided a ready market for agricultural goods. Thus began the town that was soon to become the commercial hub for the Verde Valley. Today the incorporated city of Cottonwood serves an area population of over 55,000 and boasts a diverse economy based on health care, education, tourism, and the service and retail industries. With its moderate climate, beautiful setting, and small-town charm, combined with the amenities of a larger city, Cottonwood continues to attract steady growth and tourism.

Cover image for Cottonwood, isbn: 9780738579993

Early San Angelo

9780738584768

$24.99

Soon after the Civil War, the city of San Angelo developed around Fort Concho. The mission of this western fort was to protect transportation routes, travelers, and settlers as they moved into territory claimed by Native Americans; and the mission of San Angelo was to make money by providing goods that the military personnel wanted and needed. After Fort Concho created peace in West Texas, it ceased operations. By 1889, however, San Angelo had plenty of dedicated citizens who would create an important western city on the banks of the Concho River. Agriculture was the basis of the economy in early San Angelo, which became a financial and marketing center for a wide region of West Texas. This book presents fascinating photographs that highlight the early history of a frontier town. The story ends in the late 1920s, when the discovery of oil changed the area dramatically.

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Hatch Valley

9781467133142

$24.99

The headline said it all: Chili Industry Gains Foothold in the Hatch Community. The Las Vegas Daily Optic of January 17, 1929, reported that the Farmers of [the] Hatch community, who have developed the chile industry as one which threatens the laurels of King Cotton, are moving out shipments to market. The article reported that just three years prior, only a mere 300 pounds of chile had been marketed in the entire Rincon Valley, of which the Hatch Valley was a part. As of 1929, farmers estimated that 250,000 pounds of chile were being sent to market. The Hatch Valley was on its way to being known as the Chile Capital of the World. True to the nature of a pioneer, the hardy residents of the Hatch Valley have fought against the devastation of floods, the Great Depression, and a changing economy. Their tenacity has made the Hatch Valley what it is today.

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Pima County

9780738595313

$24.99

In the southwestern United States, Pima County encompasses a mosaic of cultures and history. Living together in this region are Native American tribes with roots going back to prehistoric times, descendants of Spanish settlers who colonized the valley in the late 1600s, Mexican families who settled the area before the 1854 Gadsden Purchase, and current generations of late-19th-century American pioneers who ventured into the borderland of the Arizona Territory seeking new beginnings. Signs of a rich cultural heritage are everywhere. The Tohono O'odham and Yaqui peoples are a vital part of the community. Preserved missions, presidio fortresses, and ranches are evidence of the legacy of Spanish exploration, mission building, and colonization that began in the late 1600s. Streets in Tucson, lined with Sonoran-style adobe houses, recall when this region was part of Mexico. Ghost towns, old mines, military forts, and Territorial-era ranch houses are visible reminders of a series of gold and silver rushes, the settling of the West, and the rise of a cattle industry.

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Paris

9780738585260

$24.99

Paris and Lamar Counties were first settled by Americans during the Republic of Texas period, but their history stretches back into dim antiquity—as local Indian mounds testify. Although it was never a cow town, Paris was once home to one of the Old West's most famous cattle barons. It was never as lawless as other Western towns, but Frank James, whose brother was the infamous Jesse, at one time called Paris home. Although Paris has undergone a number of devastating natural and economic tragedies, its citizens have never given up on themselves or their city.

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Gilbert

9781467132855

$24.99

Gilbert is one of the fastest growing communities in the country. There were only 500 residents when the town was incorporated in 1920. Since 1980, the population has doubled every five years. But how did this small desert community come to have such explosive growth in just over 30 years? Early pioneers began arriving in 1890, and in 1902, the Arizona Eastern Railway decided to build a rail line from Phoenix that went through Florence to the mining town of Kelvin. After purchasing land from Bobby Gilbert, a depot was built in 1905, and the town began to grow. Because of the creation of canals and Roosevelt Dam, Gilbert became a thriving agricultural community. In 1971, Gilbert had less than 2,000 residents, and in 1975, the town council approved a land annexation that added over 53 square miles to Gilbert. In 2014, that population number approached 250,000. By 2040, Gilbert is expected to be the fourth largest community in Arizona with approximately 330,000 residents.

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Royse City

9780738596785

$24.99

In 1886, Confederate veteran Burgess Griffin Royse platted his namesake townsite on the blackland prairie of North Texas. A savvy businessman, Royse knew that the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad line between Dallas and Greenville was being planned, and he was instrumental in making sure its route passed through the newly platted city. Train service was a major economic boom to the area, and the small community grew quickly. By 1890, Royse City had a population of 1,000 and boasted two cotton gins, a gristmill, and 20 businesses. Through the mid-1900s, Royse City thrived on farming, with cotton growing, cotton ginning, and cottonseed oil manufacturing serving as the major industries. Although most Royse City citizens now commute to jobs throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, this small bedroom community celebrates and preserves its history through the Texas Main Street program, a thriving city-owned historical museum, and many festivals and celebrations that highlight its rich heritage.

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Casa Grande

9780738579535

$24.99

Casa Grande, Arizona, is located on desert and farmland between Tucson and Phoenix and began as the end of an unfinished railroad line—thus its early name, Terminus. On May 19, 1879, when early summer heat halted construction of the railroad in what would soon become Casa Grande, only three buildings and five residents constituted the town. The names reflect the ethnic diversity of the sparse population: Buckalew, Ochoa, Smith, Watzlavocki, and Fryer. In September 1880, executives of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company named the town Casa Grande after the prehistoric Hohokam Indian ruins located 20 miles to the east. This volume illustrates how a desert railroad stop grew into a city. Today, as Casa Grande's population increases, new neighborhoods, schools, malls, and entertainment venues provide exciting new reasons for living here. However, as the population grows, the town struggles to retain its identity as an agricultural community.

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Tulsa

9780738507811

$24.99

Tulsa, Oklahoma, the oil capital of the world, has a long and varied history. Evidence of a possible Norse presence dates to 1000 AD. An ancient people known as the Mound Builders populated the area, then disappeared just prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 1540s. Osage Indians, as well as other members of the Five Tribes, called this part of Oklahoma home. French trappers made a brief appearance. Finally, outlaws like Pretty Boy Floyd and Machine Gun Kelly cooled their heels in Tulsa while running from the law in the 1930s. What Tulsa is really known for, however, is oil. The discovery of oil fields in Tulsa at the turn of the century caused an economic and social revolution. The formerly small town became a center of power, and fortunes worth millions of dollars were gained and lost. J. Paul Getty got his start in Tulsa along with his father, who was one of the first to ride Tulsa's tsunami-like oil wave. The town boomed through the 20s and 30s, and oil money built the town of Tulsa into the city it is today. Tulsa currently hosts a population of 380,000 people, and, in honor of its oil legacy, is home to one of the most prominent petroleum schools in the world.

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Building Modern Houston

9780738585246

$24.99

Founded in 1836, Houston is now the country's fourth-largest city. In the early 20th century, Houston's economy shifted from agriculture to oil, fueling the city's explosive growth in the following decades. Houston grabbed the reins and saw a building boom in commercial, residential, and civic architecture redefine the city and skyline. Modernism was a new and fresh architectural expression and the perfect complement to the city's can-do entrepreneurial spirit. The 1960s brought ground-breaking ceremonies for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) headquarters, while residents and tourists alike lined up to tour the revolutionary new Astrodome. Building Modern Houston tells the story of Houston's architecture during its transformation from Bayou City to Space City.

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Lake Havasu City

9780738530123

$24.99

Founded in 1964 as a planned community, Lake Havasu City is nestled amid craggy desert peaks on the Colorado River in western Arizona. Perhaps best known as the American home of the famous London Bridge—moved to town, piece by piece, in 1971 and painstakingly reconstructed—Lake Havasu City was first home to natives of the Mohave and Chemehuevi tribes. Steamboats plying the waters of the Colorado, mining interests in the region, and the construction of Parker Dam, which resulted in the 45-mile-long Lake Havasu, all played important roles in the development of this unique community. Today, the city's more than 50,000 residents and 2.5 million annual visitors enjoy myriad recreational opportunities in this desert oasis,
as well as a historical legacy unlike any other.

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Unsolved Arizona

9781626198265

$21.99

Are inscriptions on lead crosses found on the banks of the Santa Cruz River remnants of Freemasons or a hoax? How did famous evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson arrive in Douglas weeks after she went missing in Los Angeles and was presumed dead? Did the Lost Dutchman's treasure spell the end for Adolph Ruth, whose skull was found nearly a mile away from his body in the Superstition Mountains? Author Jane Eppinga details thirteen stories of disappearances, murders and unsolved cases from the annals of Arizona history.

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Shawnee and Pottawatomie County

9781467125468

$24.99

Restless pioneers surrounded the border of what would become Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, on September 22, 1891, with the goal of staking prime land. The crowd was diverse and not always well-behaved, but chaos eventually turned to order. Businesses opened quickly, and towns were established. Tecumseh would be designated the county seat, but it would not be long before Shawnee would steal it away and even have aspirations of becoming the state capital. Shawnee and Tecumseh would become the focus of the county, but other towns like Asher, Dale, Earlsboro, Macomb, Maud, McLoud, St. Louis, and Wanette persevered in their own ways, bringing a unique version of small-town charm. Pottawatomie County today is home to just over 70,000 citizens. Shawnee, still the county seat, boasts a prestigious college and university and is known as the birthplace of Sonic Drive-In. Sixteen sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places are in the county. Jim Thorpe, Gordon Cooper Jr., Wanda Jackson, and Brad Pitt have all called Pottawatomie County home.

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San Angelo 1950s and Beyond

9780738596860

$24.99

San Angelo grew steadily as the largest trading center in the region after World War II, doubling in population from 1940 to 1950. Growth was spurred by oil production west of the city, construction of the Goodfellow Air Force Base, and the establishment of local ranches to raise sheep, goats, and cattle. San Angelo had its share of regional and national businesses, such as Woolworth, S.H. Kress & Co., Sears, and Safeway, and the booming economy included many local businesses that thrived and expanded in the 1950s. Businesses in downtown San Angelo moved to the suburbs or completely went out of business in accordance with the national trend; in recent years, however, the downtown has seen a rebirth thanks to visionary individuals, with projects such as a new fine art museum and a department store converted into the central library. Many other developments are on the horizon.

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Boerne

9780738579436

$24.99

In 1849, German "Freethinkers" had been dreaming of a communal utopia, free from oppression by church and state. They settled in Texas on the Cibolo Creek, where Native Americans and Spanish explorers had gone before them. The experiment evolved into a frontier outpost, a stage stop, a health spa, a railhead, a small village, a brief chapter in the Civil War, and a farm and ranch community. Boerne is now a tourist destination and a lovely place to live. This collection of pictures and stories explores what has been amazing, unique, and a little odd about this bend in the Cibolo, as well as the history of local conservation efforts. As the little town of Boerne goes through its inevitable growing pains, it is important to remember its special people and places, and what is worth saving.

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El Paso and the Mexican Revolution

9780738584652

$24.99

The Mexican Revolution took place along the entire length of the border between the United States and Mexico. Most of the intense battles and revolutionary intrigue, however, were concentrated in the border region of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. For 20 years, the U.S. and Mexico border communities dealt with revolution, beginning before the 1909 Taft-Díaz visit and ending with the Escobar Revolution of 1929. In between were battles, assassinations, invasions, and attempts at diplomacy. El Paso was center stage for many of these events. Newspapers and media from all over the country flocked to the border and produced numerous stories, photographs, and colorful renditions of the Mexican Revolution. The facts and myths have been kept alive over the last 100 years, and the revolution remains an important topic of discussion today.

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Building Bartlesville

9780738550510

$24.99

Bartlesville was founded in 1897 in the oil-rich northeast corner of a state that was soon to become the most prosperous oil-producing region in the world. Its architectural heritage prior to World War II reflected its citizens' European and East Coast tastes for classical, large-scale buildings typical of the era. Although symbols of their time, as well as the prosperity of their owners, their designs
slightly pale in comparison to the unique modernistic styles that began appearing after 1940. Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and Bruce Goff (1904-1982) were perhaps the most famous architects working in and around Bartlesville in the second half of the century. As harbingers of a new type of "mid-century modernism," their designs were notable alongside those by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (founded in 1955), Taliesin Associated Architects (founded in 1959), Clifford May (1908-1989), and Thomas McCrory (1925-). Building Bartlesville: 1945-2000 documents the architectural richness of this "City of Legends" and includes photographs, drawings, and documents in an excellent companion for those interested in both Oklahoma history and modern architecture.

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Fayette County

9780738584867

$24.99

Established in 1837 out of Stephen F. Austin's original colony, Fayette County's roots reach back in Texas history to the days of Mexican empresarios and native Indian tribes, spanning the boom period of 19th century European migration and colonization and stretching into the earliest days of 20th century America. It is the quintessential Texas county made up of vibrant, diverse cultures and unique communities. Originally settled by "Americans" from the southern United States, its later development was influenced and led by first German and then Czech immigrants escaping the European revolutions and economic hardships in search of the definitive American Dream.

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Hobbs and Lea County

9780738558561

$24.99

When Lea County was created in 1917 from Eddy and Chaves Counties in the far southeastern corner of New Mexico, it was virtually a blank canvas for new settlers, with few roads, towns, or amenities. At that time, the area was little more than vast pasture lands for cattle, though a handful of hardy folk had already established homesteads in the region. But on June 13, 1928, that all changed when oil was discovered, and almost overnight, an influx of new settlers arrived, and development began in earnest. Oil wells were drilled on ranchers' property, and saloons, stores, and hotels sprang up, especially in the city of Hobbs. The oil boom drove the early economy of Hobbs and Lea County and of southeastern New Mexico, but through boom and bust, the community has endured, and today more than 50,000 residents call it home.

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Rockwall

9780738558585

$24.99

Rockwall owes its name to a unique underground formation discovered by three men digging a well. In 1852, Terry Utley Wade, Benjamin Boydstun, and William Clay Stevenson exposed what they termed a "rock wall." When a city name was needed in 1854, Rockwall was chosen. In the 1880s, the railroad's arrival had a significant impact on the area and ushered in cotton as the main cash crop. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Rockwall was the epitome of small-town Texas: Yellow Jacket football on Friday nights, movies at the Ritz theatre on the square, lunch at the Mecca Café, milk shakes at Cunningham's Drugstore, and watching television through the front window of Payne's Appliances. Resting on the banks of Lake Ray Hubbard and sitting in Dallas's shadow, Rockwall is faced with the unique challenge of balancing rapid growth while maintaining its historic charm.

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Carthage

9780738571126

$24.99

Founded in a pine forest on the East Texas frontier, Carthage assumed the name of one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Although Carthage, Texas, did not become a bustling metropolis, the community has enjoyed a long history as the type of stable town that forms the backbone of America. For more than a century and a half, residents have played roles—at times prominently—in the historical and cultural life of Texas and the nation. Carthage has produced decorated war heroes, internationally famous country music stars, a noted American historian, and a groundbreaking political figure. As the home of Tex Ritter, Gentleman Jim Reeves, Linda Davis, and the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, the community has become a country music mainstay. Beyond its celebrities, however, Carthage has most importantly produced generation after generation of patriotic and hard-working men and women.

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The Bayous of Houston

9780738596129

$24.99

When the Allen brothers were looking to establish a new city in 1836, they selected a site at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, which was the head of navigational waters. They named the city after Gen. Sam Houston, and ever since then, Houston and its bayous have been indelibly linked. With Buffalo Bayou as the lifeblood of the city, Houston thrived as an inland port. Early development occurred along the bayou, and it was widened, deepened, and straightened to accommodate growing commerce in Texas. Buffalo Bayou linked the city of Houston to Galveston Bay, where ships were waiting to share Texas products with the rest of the world. Today, with Houston as the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth largest in the United States, the Port of Houston is one of the busiest ports in the world.

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Hidalgo County

9780738507729

$24.99

Hidalgo County, located in the heart of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, is a contentious land of impossible contrasts: tropical sunsets and swaying palm trees, rare birds and javelina, cactus and mesquite, soft breezes and broiling sunshine-and hurricanes. Spanish colonists settled here in 1749, receiving huge land grants in exchange for their labor and their loneliness. One hundred years later, a Scotsman named McAllen came to work in a riverfront store, and stayed to found a dynasty. Between 1900 and 1940, more immigrants arrived to build railroads and towns, turn brush land into farmland, and create a unique cultural environment. Hidalgo County illustrates the rapid development of this environmental and cultural crossroads at the beginning of the 20th century. River boats and oxcarts gave way to railroads and the Model T. Tent cities became thriving towns with business districts, homes, schools, churches, and agricultural industries. The changes experienced-and created-by the hardy pioneers who struggled to survive are chronicled here. The courage, stamina, and optimism of these brave souls inspire us a century later in Hidalgo County.

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Garland

9781467132268

$24.99

Garland began as an amalgamation of a number of rural communities in northeastern Dallas County. A compromise solution to the rivalry of two railroad towns, Duck Creek and Embree, it is now the 12th largest city in Texas and the 87th most populous city in the United States. Evolving from its origins as a farming community, by the 1950s, Garland had become an industrious suburb of the Dallas metro area. The can-do spirit of the community has enabled its stalwart pioneer settlers to overcome natural disasters and make necessary improvements that contributed to its growth and position in the county. Surrounded by interstates, toll roads, and connecting rail lines, Garland links the Dallas Metro with Northeast Texas. Its future continues to diversify and adapt to the growing environments of Texas.

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Paradise Valley Architecture

9780738596594

$24.99

Three surveyors in the late 19th century were so attracted to the area's desert beauty that they named it the Paradise Valley. Starting in the 1920s, adobe homes were constructed in various revival styles. In 1936, the Camelback Inn resort set a high-quality standard with an inviting and relaxed character. Other guest lodges arrived, including the Hermosa Inn and the El Chorro Lodge. The 1950s brought more luxurious resorts, including the Paradise Valley Racquet Club and the Mountain Shadows Resort. With the threat of Phoenix or Scottsdale annexing the area, the citizens started debating incorporation in 1949 and were successful in 1961. Churches, schools, town facilities, and single-family homes followed. Numerous town ordinances were adopted to preserve a quiet, desert lifestyle such as burying all utilities, restrictive zoning, and hillside preservation.

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Stephenville

9780738579634

$24.99

On July 4, 1855, on the fringe of the Texas Cross Timbers frontier, John M. Stephen and George B. Erath completed the survey of the Stephenville city square. Stephenville quickly became a prosperous settlement and a center for cattle raising, cotton production, and most recently dairy production. Styled today as the City of Champions, Cowboy Capital of the World, and the Dairy Capital of Texas, Stephenville has a colorful 155-year history. The evolution from cattle ranching to dairy farming finds delightful expression on the original town square where Moo-la—a life-size fiberglass Holstein milk cow—celebrates Stephenville's agricultural achievements. The 'Ville has produced football heroes such as 1938 NFL Champion New York Giants fullback Hugh Wolfe and 2010 Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb and rodeo champions Whit Keeney, Tuff Hedeman, and King of the Cowboys Ty Murray. Music celebrities Lee Roy Parnell, Johnny Duncan, Larry Joe Taylor, and Jewel have also called Stephenville home.

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Lake Mead

9781467132541

$24.99

The drastic contrast between its desert landscape and the deep, blue waters of Lake Mead makes it difficult to envision the park's creation as merely incidental. After the completion of the Hoover Dam, the waters of the Colorado River began to flood the river valley and form one of the largest man-made lakes in the United States. The Bureau of Reclamation soon realized the vast recreational opportunities that Lake Mead would provide. Through a memorandum of agreement, the National Park Service was tasked with managing the first national recreation area, formerly known as the Boulder Dam National Recreation Area.

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Early Settlers of the Panhandle Plains

9781467130684

$24.99

The panhandle plains were Texas's last frontier, barren lands populated by hostile Comanche and outlaws attempting to outrun civilization. It was Texas Ranger and frontier scout Jim Jackson who first saw potential in the region. Jackson accompanied Col. Ranald Mackenzie into unsettled Kent County in 1875. He climbed a mountain at Polar to witness a sea of tall grass and a good stream of water. This was good news for Jackson's friends and relatives in Coleman County. Many chose to leave the crowded range and move their cattle herds west. Those who answered the call of the wild were Elkins, Mann, Brown, Overall, Sharp, Wallace, and a host of others. They were the point riders who took the challenge of opening Kent, Garza, Crosby, Lynn, Borden, Dawson, Mitchell, Fisher, Scurry, Stonewall, and Nolan Counties to permanent settlement.