American Fire

Last Saturday, around the time I finished my mountain bike ride to the two mines on Foresthill Divide, a fire broke out on Deadwood Ridge, about three miles to the southeast. This is an uninhabited area with steep hillsides covered in dense timber unburned for several decades.

As of this writing, Sunday, August 18, the American Fire has covered 12,950 acres and is 45% contained. There are 1,433 personnel involved in the firefighting operations.

At times this past week the smoke has drifted into the Sacramento Valley. I've watched firefighting aircraft heading to or returning from the fire pass near my house.

I had wanted to ride my mountain bike today to the site of Damascus, an abandoned mining town on Foresthill Divide. But with temperatures in the nineties and smoke from the fire, I decided to go another day. Instead, I drove to Foresthill to check on the smoke conditions. At Foresthill is an overlook of the Middle Fork American River. The canyon had less smoke than I expected. The winds were carrying the smoke in another direction.

A Tahoe National Forest ranger was at the overlook to answer questions from the public. She stood by a large board with a map of the fire containment boundary, plus other information. I stayed at the overlook for some forty minutes and several people came by, many asking questions.

The ranger didn't know when the fire would be extinguished. Lightning storms were in the forecast and they could complicate matters. No historic mining structures had been destroyed. The cause of the fire was under investigation - she wouldn't elaborate on this.

The cause of the fire prompted conversation amongst the visitors. Deep in the national forests including this one are marijuana grow operations, often manned by illegal immigrants from Mexico. (If you're hiking on a remote trail and see PVC pipes, you're in trouble. If you're hiking on a remote trail and you see PVC pipes and empty Jarritos bottles, you're in real trouble.) The general consensus amongst the visitors was that people on a marijuana grow operation had started the fire.

Hopefully the Forest Service will find who caused the fire.

Tahoe National Forest ranger answering questions

Smoke in the canyon of the Middle Fork American River

Wheatland Hop Riot Centennial

The Wheatland Hop Riot occurred one hundred years ago today. The site wasn't too far out of the way of my other business, so I drove there for a visit.

An electrical substation now sits where the conflict occurred.

It was an awful summer for picking hops. About 2,800 people arrived at Durst Ranch looking for work but there were only 1,500 needed positions. With a surplus of labor, wages were low and living conditions were horrendous. There were too few toilets. The workers felt they were being cheated of their wages. Into this mix of heat and filth and discontent were some Wobblies, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, who agitated for better conditions. The ranch met some but not all of their demands. The Wobblies called the workers together. Speakers addressed the crowd in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. A larger meeting was called for the next day, August 3rd. With a strike brewing, the ranch called in the local authorities to evict the Wobblies. 

The confrontation took place at a meeting of the workers. The armed authorities tried to arrest a Wobbly leader giving a speech. The crowd went after them. When the shooting ended, the dead included a district attorney, a deputy sheriff, and two workers. Several others were wounded. Workers immediately fled the ranch. Two hundred National Guardsmen sent by the governor arrived on August 4. They surrounded the camp containing the remaining workers and assisted the authorities in serving warrants. The event made national and international news. Two Wobbly leaders went to jail for over a decade.

Today an electrical substation covers the site of the riot. Seen in the distance is the Durst Ranch house. Further down Spenceville Road, the hop drying bins still stand.

Highwater Brewing Company in the Bay Area has commemorated the riot with their Hop Riot IPA. (8/4 update: I found a bottle of Hop Riot IPA at Wine Plus and will open it soon.)

The hop drying buildings still remain.