I didn't want that last picture on top of the page anymore so here's a shot of Suisun Bay one recent evening, and New York Slough, and a tiny dot that represents the hulk of the Solano.
New York Slough takes its name from an 1849 speculation in real estate. In the early days, men of Grand Vision knew that California's magnificent Bay of San Francisco was destined for greatness on a global scale. In 1849 one of them bought an old Spanish land grant and employed some of his Army buds -- Captain William T. Sherman among them -- to survey a city along these waterways that was to be called New York of the Pacific. That didn't go well. There is a city more or less on the spot now by name of Pittsburgh which, no surprise, was a site for steel smelting, conveniently situated where coal from the Black Diamond Mine was closest to a navigable river, but that all came along later. And didn't last forever either.
Is it neat or is it pathetic that I could write all that from memory? I am going to leave it unchecked for correctness of fact.
The Solano was the world's largest train ferry once upon a time, but now it's an island jungle. I took this one September sundown in 2011. Can't tell from this angle but it's HUGE. I love that the walking beam's A-frame is still standing (thing was built in 1878).
3 comments:
The historical stuff is neat. I like to read these.
Apropos of nothing, I was just reading the Past Imperfect blog, where they described a horrific ordeal by survivors of a warship that had been sunk by the Japanese. The survivors were attacked by what is called the worst shark attack ever.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/
And Slough-Foot Sue takes her name from . . . ?
...warship that had been sunk by the Japanese. The survivors were attacked by what is called the worst shark attack ever.
Is this the shark attack referred to in the movie, Jaws, that Ahab...er...Quint had survived?
Post a Comment