William Kendrick Square Historical Marker, Greensburg, Louisiana

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William Kendrick Square Historical Marker, Louisiana

In 1837, William Kendrick donated the land on which the St. Helena Parish courthouse sits. The modern courthouse was completed in 1938, replacing the original building built in 1855. He was born in 1755 in Granville, North Carolina, but moved to Greensburg, Louisiana.

Kendrick participated in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He was a slave owner in the parish and owned the Kendrick Plantation. He had a total of 14 children.

He stayed in Greensburg until his death in 1838. The location of the courthouse was named after him in 1976.

Historical Marker Inscription

St. Helena Parish seat moved here 1832. Land for Court House Square donated by William Kendrick 1837. Present building completed 1938 replacing brick structure built 1855. Designated William Kendrick Square 1976 by Police Jury.

Location

30° 49’ 45.828” N, 90° 40’ 2.682” W38 S Main St, Greensburg, LA  70441, United States

Osceola Ghost Town Historical Marker, Ely, Nevada

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Osceola Historical Marker, Ely, Nevada

The Osceola mine was one of the most successful mining camps in Nevada. In 1872, a 12-mile gold-bearing quartz vein was discovered in the area. The rush didn’t really begin until 1877 when more gold was found in the canyon. But Osceola really didn’t take off until the 1880s when hydraulic mining was used. This type of mining uses water to remove sediment.

Osceola was not the most forgiving place to live. So, miners had to create two 18-mile-long pipelines to haul in water. Yet, the amount of water needed was not provided. Mining had actually started dropping off in the area until a massive gold nugget – valued at $6,000 – was found. This kept people motivated to continue mining until the 20th century.

Three fires hurt the town, but it was a massive fire during the 1940s that wiped out the town. By that point, the town had gone from a high population of 1,500 down to 100.

A few people still live in Osceola, but not many, and there are no services.

Historical Marker Inscription

Osceola

1872-1940

Osceola, most famous of the White Pine County gold producers, was one of the longest-lived placer camps in Nevada.

The gold-bearing quartz belt found in 1872 was 12 miles long by 7 miles wide.  Placer gold was found in 1877 in a deep ravine indenting the area.  Miners first used the simple process of the common 49” rocker.  Hydraulic monitors later were used to mine the gold from the 10’ to 200’ thick gravel beds.  One gold nugget found was valued at $6,000.

Osceola was a good business town because of its location near the cattle and grain ranches and gardens in the Spring and Snake Valleys.

Famous district mines were the Cumberland, Osceola, Crescent and Eagle, Verde, Stem-Winder, Guilded Age, Grandfather Snide, Red Monster, and the Saturday Night.

The camp produced nearly $5 million, primarily in gold, with some silver, lead, and tungsten.

STATE HISTORICAL MARKER NO.  98

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE

WHITE PINE PUBLIC MUSEUM, INC.

Location

39° 4’ 16.830” N, 114° 26’ 58.482” W

US-6, Ely, NV  89301, United States

Beclabito Dome Historical Marker

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Beclabito Dome Historical Marker

Located in the Four Corners area on First Nations Diné (Navajo) Nation Land, the geological dome was created due to volcanic activity. Deep in the earth, extremely hot temperatures liquified the rocks. When they reached the surface, they cooled and hardened again. The hot magma beneath these re-hardened rocks kept pushing to the surface. This created this unique dome.

Historical Marker Inscription

Colorful red rocks of Entrada Sandstone are domed up by deep seated igneous intrusions to be exposed by erosion. The same igneous activity created the Carrizo Mountains to the west. Uranium deposits in the Morrison Formation just above the Entrada created New Mexico’s first uranium boom in the East Carrizo south of here in the 1950’s. Elevation 5,600 feet.

Location

36° 49’ 51.912” N, 109° 0’ 53.090” W498 US-64, Shiprock, NM  87420, United States

Sheldon Union Academy

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Sheldon Union Academy Historical Marker, Sheldon, SC

Sheldon Union Academy was founded in 1893. It was a school to teach rural black children living in Sheldon. It was opened after the American Civil War. It operated in the community for nearly 50 years until 1918.

At that time, the school board gave the property to Beaufort County. Since Sheldon Union Academy had been operating as a private school, it was converted to a public school, and a new school was built on the land.

Historical Marker Inscription

Front

Sheldon Union Academy, later Sheldon School, opened in 1893 on this site and educated the black children of rural Sheldon community for almost fifty years. The original Sheldon Union Academy board, which founded and governed the school from 1893 to 1918, included S.T. Beaubien, M.W. Brown, P.R. Chisolm, H.L. Jones, S.W. Ladson, F.S. Mitchell, and N.D. Mitchell.

Back

Sheldon Union Academy, founded by an independent group of community leaders, was a private school until 1918. That year its board deeded the property to Beaufort County, which built a new public school on this site. Sheldon School, which taught grades 1-7, closed in 1942 when the county consolidated its rural black schools.

Location

32° 36’ 11.088” N, 80° 48’ 2.460” W701–737 Trask Pkwy, Seabrook, SC  29940, United States

Greenhill Community/Greenhill Farming

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Greenhill Community Historical Marker, Mount Pleasant, SC

Originally called Spark Hill, the location would later be called Greenhill. It was one of several African American communities in the Greater Mount Pleasant area. Freedman Hardy Green bought 30 acres in the area in 1870. Children from the neighboring Old Village community would walk to the town to attend the Laing School. The community was sustained by farming.

Now, the area is a residential community.

Historical Marker Inscription

Greenhill Community

In 1870, freedman Hardy Green purchased 30 acres of land along Mathis Ferry Road. The area was called Spark Hill, but was later named Greenhill by the Moultrie School District. Children walked several miles to Laing School, then in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant. Greenhill received electricity in 1942, paved roads in 1951, and was annexed into Mount Pleasant in 1983.

Greenhill Farming

Farming was the major source of income in Greenhill. People, produce and livestock were carried aboard boats from a dock behind Somerset Point to the Charleston City Market. In the 1920s and ‘30s, mules and wagons transported goods to a ferry at Shem Creek. The LOOP Bus became a major source of transportation in the 1940s. Greenhill continues to thrive as a residential community.

Location

32° 48’ 52.128” N, 79° 52’ 6.900” W

932–940 Mathis Ferry Rd, Mount Pleasant, SC  29464, United States

James Stuart Cain Historical Marker, Bodie, California

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James Stuart Cain House Historical Marker, Bodie, California

Bodie ghost town is located in California off Highway 395. The reason that the town still stands today is largely due to James Stuart Cain. Cain moved to Bodie in 1879. He was only 25 but quickly made his fortune by investing in lumber, mining, freighting and banking. He brought lumber across Mono Lake, which helped build the town properties and mines.

Later, he would be the owner of the town bank as well as the Standard Mill. Cain and his family would own most of the town by the time he passed away in 1938. He and his family were dedicated to preserving the town, hiring security to guard it and caretakers to maintain the vacant buildings.

In 1962, the family gave the ghost town to the State of California. It is run by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. It is preserved in a state of “arrested decay” so that it looks exactly the same as it did during its heyday period. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The state legislature created the Bodie State Historic Park in 1962.

Historical Marker Inscription

Pioneer banker and mining man born in 1854 and moved to Carson City, Nevada, in 1875. Shortly thereafter he and Martha D. Wells of nearby Genoa were married and moved to Bodie where he engaged in lumber, freighting, banking, and mining operations. At one time he owned Mono County’s only bank. In 1938 Mr. Cain passed away at 84 years of age. Through his faith and efforts Bodie remains today.

Dedicated September 12, 1964.

Location

38° 12’ 47.892” N, 119° 0’ 42.430” W

Main St, Bridgeport, CA  93517, United States

Mount Lassen/The Noble Pass Historical Marker

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Mount Lassen Historical Marker, Shingletown, California

This marker commemorates the early pioneers who crossed the peak of Mt. Lassen in 1852. Mt. Lassen sits at 10,451 feet. In May 1852, William H. Noble led emigrants through the Sierra via a wagon road. The pass linked the Humboldt-Nevada Road with Shasta and Northern California, and it was on this pass that the emigrants first looked at Sacramento Valley.

The previous year, Noble had seen the pass and recognized that it would work well for commercial use. He and a few other men convinced emigrants to start taking the pass in 1852. Because of his discovery and convincing pioneers to actually use the pass, it eventually became known as Noble Pass.

Historical Marker Inscription

Chaos Crags

Mt. Lassen

Mt. Lassen

10,451 Feet

This tablet marks the route of those early pioneers who, in 1852, first went over

The Noble Pass

Linking the Humboldt-Nevada Road with Shasta and Northern California, and their road is followed at this locality by

The Park Highway

Dedicated to the Pioneers of Northern California by Mr. & Mrs. B. F. Loomis

Sponsored by the Shasta Historical Society

MCMXXXI

Location

40° 33’ 29.058” N, 121° 31’ 54.528” W
Lassen Volcanic National Park Hwy, Shingletown, CA  96088, United States

Lenore Tram Historical Marker, Lenore, Idaho

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Lenore Tram Historical Marker, Lenore, ID

Lenore, Idaho, was a major railroad station during the early 1900s. In fact, it had its own post office, general store and hotel. It was also the location of the largest grain tram on the lower Clearwater River.

The tram would carry the grain four miles from the top of the canyon and then down the river to the railroad freight stop. Between 75,000 and 100,000 bushels would be carried to the railroad tracks from Camas Prairie each year. Camas Prairie was located 1,600 feet above at the top of the ridge.

In 1937, a fire destroyed the tram, and it was never rebuilt.

Historical Marker Inscription

In 1898, after rail service from Lewiston reached Lenore, a tramway was begun to ship grain from Camas Prairie (1600 feet above) to a new freight stop directly across the river.

Previously, grain wagons descended a long steep hill from the prairie. Gravity moved full tram buckets down, sending empty buckets back up the cable loop. By 1903 the completed system carried up to 100,000 bushels of grain each year. In 1937 a fire destroyed the entire system.

Location

46° 30’ 22.908” N, 116° 33’ 10.338” W

37966 US-12, Lenore, ID  83541, United States

The Finn Hall

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The Finn Hall Historical Marker, Woodland, WA

Originally built in 1916, the Finn Hall in Washington State was a lending library for immigrants from Finland.  The original Finn Hall burned down. Finn Halls (or Finnish halls) were the names given to the cultural centers for Finnish immigrants to the United States and Canada.

The historical marker is inside a five-acre park where the original hall was located.

Historical Marker Inscription

In 1916 Finnish immigrants constructed a hall near site under the name of a literary association (Kirjallisuus Seura), forming a lending library. Although they brought their diet, language, and saunas with them, some old country beliefs were left behind. These people found it necessary to meet where they could study the social customs of their new country, challenge and question partisan politics, and reflect on new insights. At this cultural center were held language classes, meetings, athletic activities, wedding dances, funerals and programs with oratory, drama, poetry, vocal and instrumental music. Steaming kettles of coffee and the warmth of dignified waltzes, pulsating polkas and schottisches brought togetherness to these rugged individualists.

Life to them was involvement.

Erected By

Descendants and friends of Finnish Settlers
Woodland Bicentennial Committee
Washington State Highways Commission
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
Cowlitz County Parks and Recreation Dept.

Location

45° 56’ 36.630” N, 122° 41’ 34.908” W

Old Lewis River Rd, Woodland, WA 98674, United States

The Emigrant Trail Historical Marker, Truckee, California

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The Emigrant Trail Historical Marker, Truckee, California

This trail was the original wagon route that went over Donner Summit when emigrants moved west towards California. During the 1850s and 1860s, emigrants were heading to California, hoping to obtain land, gold or new opportunities. They often faced harsh conditions from the weather, terrain and attacks from Native Americans whose lands they were traversing or trying to take over.

The Emigrant Trail crossed many Midwestern states. Pioneers along this trail would eventually reach California, Utah, Washington or Oregon.

Currently, the trail is a recreational area for biking, hiking and other activities.

Historical Marker Inscription

The Emigrant Trail in the pioneer days of California came through the low pass to the north, facing this monument. The trail turned west at this point for a distance of twenty-six hundred feet where a tablet describes the route then followed.

Placed by Historic Landmarks Committee, Native Sons of the Golden West, September 14, 1929.

Location

39° 19’ 32.862” N, 120° 13’ 0.990” W
11769–11771 Donner Pass Rd, Truckee, CA  96161, United States