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1999

September

• Ranch life full of drama

• Long family roots grew on Winters fruit ranch

• Go Long built a new life for his family in America

• Marble, healing water spring from Tolenas site

August

• Rossi family steered Dixon for seven decades

• A Look Back in Time

• Many women helped build Solano County’s character

• Emigh recalls simple, fun times in Rio Vista

• Lena celebrates 100th with Rio Vista memories

June

• Vacaville life in the ‘20s was picturesque

May

• John Lowe’s father arrived in Suisun Valley in the 1920s

• Roy Mason continues ranching tradition with cattle, grapes

• Sources on Solano County history abound

April

• County abounds with sites to uncover region’s past

• Orchardist prospers after early struggle

• Ranch work: Hardest job a family ever loved

• Ranchers carve homestead from wilderness

March

• Woman recounts time living in Suisun Valley

• Ex-Vacan recalls town’s Japanese past

• Tracing ranch ties through generations

• Longtime Solanoan recalls family’s past

February

• English teacher recalls days in the fields

• Moreno family builds legacy in Vacaville

• Carrying on family’s agricultural tradition

• Agricultural tradition of Solano recounted

1998

December

• Solano County’s community news from 1870s

• Commerce ebbs, expands in Solano past

• Men and women of Solano County’s past remembered

November

• Suisun ranks in top western train robberies

• Oral history gives look at Chinese culture

• Chinese enjoy long history in Vacaville

• Chandler clan lumberyards spark growth

• A year in the life of Solano County’s past

October

• Looking back on market past

• Freitas recalls family’s trek to Solano County

• Local ventures change hands as 1871 begins

September

• Death, intrigue, scandal part of the times

• Solano County communities bustling in 1871

• Solano’s citizens full of vigor in 1870

• Suisun City becomes city of enterprise

July

• Pena Adobe has a colorful history

• County grows, mellows and heats up

• Steamers, trains provide Solano transportation

• Suisun City grows roots around it’s businesses

June

• County rich with opportunity, thefts

• Transportation major part of county

• Parking meter roots deep for Vaca man

• Adam Willis was a ‘pioneer of pioneers’

May

• Solano County offers many ways to see past

• History centers, sites found all over county

• Celebrations held all over county in 1868

April

• Despite fires, Suisun thrives during 1860s

• Trade, growth boom in county

• Quakes riddle county in 1800s and rock homes

• Vallejo booms while Benicia cheers Lincoln

March

• Boy dies after Green Valley wagon accident

• Suisun booms in population and activities

• New avenues aiding women in fruit picking

• Sermons, fruit and bicyclists engross town

• Looking back on days of Vacaville childhood

February

• Many catch fever for gold in California

• Many manifest Solano’s destiny

• ‘49er gold rush has golden tie to local man

• Buildings turn into dwellings and barrooms

January

• County grows and ruffians rile children

• Life in 1860s flows along on land and water

• Bridges built over troubling waters in town

• Solano sees violence at the polls, piers and prairies

1997

December

• Solano locale for business, hectic activity

• Newspapers tell varied tales of Solano County

• Solano celebrates post-Civil War era in 1865

• Writers impressed with local area in 1860s

November

• Elmira hotels, turkey shoots thrived in 1884

• Downtown landmarks date to the mid-1800s

• Vaca Valley’s fruit industry comes of age

• Wild West lore and Democrats

October

• Vaca business boomed during the late 1800s

• Vaca businesses, families expanded in 1884

• Bustling with bachelors and much business

• Vacaville downtown marked boon in 1884

September

• Oral histories hearken back to simpler times

• Beloved memories of growing up in Vallejo

• Uhl family’s peachy start in Vacaville

• Young, Wood families part of Solano history

July

• Plenty of crime in Solano County in 1864

• Solano sprouted food, good times in 1864

• Early Solano was off to races for holiday

June

• Plenty of attorneys to fill ‘old courthouse’

• Civil War-era Solano full of commotion

• Elmira a quiet town but for trains, gunfire

• Solano County life goes on at its own pace

• Prosperity causes changes in Vacaville

May

• Solano County communities busy in 1884

• Mail-order business was plumb hard work

• Area fruit growers faced prosperity, ruin

• School, church, musical activities abound

• Dixon’s 1897 began with a ball

April

• Town ‘built around the shipping of fruit’

• Pony Express riders rode through Solano

• County cultural, economic scenes brighten

• Building a bustling business in Vacaville

March

• Fruit operations make a mark in Vacaville

• May air of 1883 filled with picnics, rain

• Animal husbandry big business in Vaca

• Elmira was center of activity, trade

• Newspaper editor gives scene of Vacaville

• Papers swear, bicker over Union alliance

February

• The Depression shuts down Big Camp

• Chinese pioneers make it big at ‘Big Camp’

• An 1879 tour saw a plethora of growers

• Reporters took probing tour into country

January

• Writings reveal turn-of-the-century life

• Vaca street named after early builder

• Pioneer prospered with cattle, stores

• Vaca streets named for earliest settlers

• Chinese a vital part of Solano history

• Congregation locked out of its church

1996

December

• Civil War becomes center of Solano life

• Solano’s arsenals ready for ‘Dixie-ites’

• Number of doctors grows in Solano

• The fight for Suscol land turns deadly

• Suisun newspapers face off over charges

November

• Steamboat travel, hunting bit of 1858 life

• Port made Suisun City the county’s hub

• Healing springs, fine hotels and plumbing

• County voters pick Fairfield as new hub

October

• Solano no stranger to ghostly visitors

• Property disputes lead to anger, deaths

• Sunday Law sets aside time for church

• County cash squeeze cut judge’s, DA’s pay

September

• Influx of Chinese prompts local response

• Guns cause chance, willful deaths in 1858

• Indian trails transformed into highway

• Suspected horse thief escapes lynch mob

• Attempted-murder plot shakes Vacaville

August

• Wagons, buggies accent life in Suisun City

• In 1857, traffic accidents involved horses

• Hoping for gold in them thar - rootops?

• Big top’s fall doesn’t ruffle circus audience

July

• Temperance preachers make the rounds

• Benicia artist dabbled in oils and rescues

• Cost of business in 1857 Benicia lowered

• Nut Tree: American as Mom’s apple pie

June

• Grizzly Island slowly evolves to preserve

• Before it was Grizzly Island, was it ‘Grisly’?

• Vallejo detained in revolt 150 years ago

• Strange medicines and standard crimes

• Horse racing popular in summer of 1856

May

• Solano enjoyed glorious spring in 1856

• Benicia a bustling, growing town in 1856

• Crime no stranger to early 1800s Solano

• Benicia a vibrant business hub in 1800s

April

• 1850’s news of the day came through Benicia

• Suisun City the business hot spot

• Land in Collinsville only cost $5 deed fee

• Hunters flock to Solano County for ducks

March

• Mare Island had vital role in Navy history

• Gas, murder and missiles in hills’ history

• Prehistoric camels roamed Potrero Hills

• Early hotels were favorite gathering spots

• At old hotels, you slept with your boots on

February

• Floods and fire made many idle roomers

• Hotels flourished during Gold Rush period

• Armijo’s holdings torn by ownership wars

• Brandy and hides were Jose Armijo’s trade

January

• Berreyesas inundated long before lake formed

• History reveals itself to treasure hunters

• Fruit-growers, robbers savor trains’ arrival

• Railroad brings Solano on track in 1860s

1995

December

• Christmas trees become tradition in 1800s

• Solano Christmas holidays festive in 1800s

• One shove destroyed original Vacaville jail

• Thieves targeted horses, mules and oysters

November

• After Depression hits, fruit industry the pits

• Vaca fruit industry blossoms in late 1800s

• Silkworms, name ‘Davisville’ meet their fate

• Crime accompanies prosperity in Davisville

October

• Davisville - nearly Veranda City - founded

• Indians, grizzlies succumb to newcomers

• After Mare Island stint, Farragut damned torpedoes

• Cmdr. Farragut, Navy call Mare Island home

• Vigilantes hung together in 1800s Solano

• Mare Island named for general’s swamped steed

September

• Vallejo: Dignified in face of adversity

• Gen. Vallejo sets out to tame the territories

• Township of Tremont never really took off

• Cement bonds community with work, play

• Cement bonds community with work and play

August

• Town gains fame as fruit-growing capital

• Vacaville thrives on ranching and farming

• Wolfskill family set tone for Solano’s future

• Soft land, big fire and cars sink Suisun City

July

• Suisun City becomes 1880s commerce center

• Rockville grew into crossroads for early routes

• Water and wine fuel growth of Green Valley

• Town of Cordelia launched with high hopes

• Bird’s Landing finds strength as retail center

June

• Montezuma outlasts scam, shady characters

• Shipping built Maine Prairie; rail killed it

• Solano townships boomed, then went bust

• Vallejo faces decline, gains business footing

May

• Vallejo’s shot as state capital is short-lived

• Hard-working Japanese find Vaca a magnet

• Agriculture boosts Rio Vista as major port

April

• Becoming port of call put Rio Vista on map

• Musical chairs in Fairfield

• Loss of Capitol, decline of port end dreams

• Benicia born as port, spurred by Gold Rush

March

• Dried onions: Basic ingredient in K-rations

• Family feud rocks Lagoon Valley settlers

• Juan Manuel Vaca: The don of Vacaville

• Pena Adobe: Monument to pioneer family

February

• Tragic demise of “People of the West Wind”

• Silveyville rolls into Dixon when railroad arrives

• Solano’s base grows up quickly during war

• Air Base originally meant to house bombers

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About

This is an archive of the History Column "Echos Of Solano's Past" written by Kristin Delaplane Conti. These articles were written weekly during a 4 year span. Kristin retired from the column on September 26th, 1999. Her column has been replaced with "Solano: The Way It Was". Written by Jerry Bowen and Sabine Goerke-Shrode.

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Most recent entries

• Ranch life full of drama
• Long family roots grew on Winters fruit ranch
• Go Long built a new life for his family in America
• Marble, healing water spring from Tolenas site
• Rossi family steered Dixon for seven decades
• A Look Back in Time
• Many women helped build Solano County’s character
• Emigh recalls simple, fun times in Rio Vista