Days Gone By
in Contra Costa County, California
Volume 1
by Nida Rego
Publishedby the Contra Costa County Historical Society
1997
The stories presented in this volume first appeared in the Contra Costa Times in Nilda Rego's remarkably successful weekly column"Days Gone By". In cooperation of the Times and Nilda Rego, the County Historical Society published Volume 1 in 1997, Volume 2 to be published the following year.
Contents
Opening of the Carquinez Bridge
Danville's First Developer
The Houghs of Lafayette
Oil Wells in Orinda
Anything Grows
The Birth of Alameda County
Nancy Joins the WCTU
The Mystery of Sam Bacon
The Greaat Balloon Disaster
Strike Up the Band
The Day the Banks Closed
Murder in the Redwoods
Lin Oy is Misssing
Byron Train Wreck
Squatters Win One
Concord's Own Fire Dancer
Shoot-out in Old Clayton
The Great Tire Contest
Shell Oil Chooses Martinez
Battlesof the County Seat
Bay Point Shipyard Hires Teens
Baseball Summers
Cement Dust and Prunes
Murder Most Foul
Bridge Sinks Ferry
Picture Brides
A Man Called Billy
Put on a Happy Face
The Carpenter and the Farmer
Charlotte Tells a Story
Sheriff Rousts Bareknuckle Fans
Grangers Build Martinez Wharf
Orinda Sisters Deep in Dust
Pittsburg Paradise
The Changing Todos Santos Plaza
Coal in Them There Hills
Cowell Beginnings
El Cerrito Begins
Todos Santos Becomes Concord
The Great Fire
Giant Powder Company
Isabella and Refael
Albert Stone of Alamo
Martinez in the 1850s
Moraga's Little San Simeon
Trees, to Boards, to Ashes
Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon
Concord and BlackBart
Moraga's Wild West
Good Clean Sport
"A Bloody, Brutal Exihibition"
Education? Who Needs It?
The March of Progress
Days Gone By
in Contra Costa County, California
Volume 2
by Nilda Rego
Published by the Contra Costa County Historical Society
1998
Contents
County 'Boys' Eager to Fight in Spanish War
Whole World Passes By Port Costa Saloon
Quilts Improved the Fabirc of Life
County Teachers Had to Pass Grueling Test
World's Largest Livestock Farm in 1897
Nathaniel Jones Helped Farmers Develop Clout
Road to Moraga
Lafayette Dam Has Sinking Spell
Ground Squirrels Plague the County
Indians Kidnapped for Cheap Labor
Memories of Byron Hot Springs
'Floating Palaces' sunk in 1916
Family Plot Became Gregory Gardens
The Judge Made Beer at Port Costa
Black Diamond's Coal Fueled San Francisco
Fleagle Gang Cut a Wide Swath
Job-hunting Black Killed by Constable
Captain Kimball Comes to Antioch
Martinez Enters the Twentieth Century
The Founders of Concord
Early Black Settlers in Contra Costa
County Sheriff for Forty Years
A Widow's Tale of Red Tape
A Drunken Murder for Six Dollars
The Last Execution in Contra Costa County
The Smell of Cocktail Sauce
Panoramic Views From Mount Diablo
Fales Cemetery Moved for Homesites
Moraga's First Family
Catering to the Carriage Trade
John Marchbank and Heather Farm
Geary's General Store
Mission Life Spells End for Indians
Danville Goes Dry
Epidemics in the 1800s
French Jewish Emigre Makes Home and Fortune
First Cemetery in Lafayette
Laidlaws Print the News of Crockett
Education in the 19th Century
When Sherman Marched to Benicia
Critics Went Gaga Over "The Mikado"
The Martinez Canteen in World War II
Laying Out the Dead in the 1800s
Fighting Over Railroad Routes
The Lumber King's Empire
Matinez gets a Railroad
The Flood of 1958
Port Costa Shipped Wheat Worldwide
Aunt Rosie Moved to the Farm in 1923
Blacks Rise in Pittsburg Politics
Women's Suffrage Comes to California
Farm Life at the Turn of the Century
Days Gone By
in Contra Costa County, California
Volume 3
by Nilda Rego
Published by the Contra Costa County Historical Society
2005
Contents
Tom Edwards and Crockett
Jacuzzis' Ranch Reunion
Richard Stege, Entrepreneur
Winemaker Sees Red
The Joneses go to California
1894 Love Letters
A Home in Point Richmond
Jacuzzis Take to the Air
A Bride from the Old Country
Smith Brothers and Mendenhall
A Family in Walnuts
A Formidable Woman
A Stranger Named Joaquin
From Wales to Nortonville
Growing Up in Richmond
The Railroad Comes to Martinez
Growing Big in Canning
A Box of Keepsakes
A Fortune from a Pharmacy
Drought, Tremors, Bad Roads
El Rancho Pinole
A Story of Romances
Judge Bray of Martinez
Scrapbook Family History
Across the Plains
Pioneer Woman