Days Gone by in Contra Costa County, California, Vol. 1
Days Gone By
in Contra Costa County, California
Volume 1
by Nida Rego
Published by the Contra Costa County Historical Society
1997
$17.00 including tax
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.
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