Ellen Rand Perkins Van Valkenburg

Ellen Rand Perkins Van Valkenburg was the widow of  Henry Van Valkenburg, who established the San Lorenzo Paper Mill in 1860. He was killed by a tree branch during the storms of 1862. Ellen, who was pregnant with their third child, was left to run the business. The mill was sold under foreclosure later that year.

Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, September 9, 1871

Ellen went on to be one of the founders of a local temperance movement, “Friends of Universal Suffrage,” and in 1871, tried to register to vote. Albert Brown, the Santa Cruz County clerk and an accomplice, formally refused to register her. 

Albert was among many of the county’s esteemed residents that had signed a petition in 1870 to the California Legislature “to secure to the women of this commonwealth the right of suffrage.”

In the ensuing suit, Ellen argued was that under the 14th Amendment many American women like herself were granted citizenship, and therefore, the rights of citizenship which included voting.

Click Here For Full Document

In August 1871, nationally renowned suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Emily Pitt Stevens were in Santa Cruz with Ellen when California's Third District Court ruled against her. 

Elizabeth Stanton delivered these words at a lecture at the Unity Church in Santa Cruz: “in the eye of the civil law we are persons, but in representation we are not persons, and have no political rights which men are bound to respect."

Ellen's lawyer, Santa Cruz Judge Albert Hagan, appealed the ruling arguing that women had a right to vote under the Constitution by virtue of their absolute rights as citizens of the United States under the 14th Amendment. Among those rights, as recognized in the 15th Amendment, was the right to vote.  

The case was heard by the State Supreme Court in 1872, which upheld the lower court’s decision. The reasoning was that Ellen had civil rights before the 14th Amendment, since she was already a citizen, and it gave her no political rights. The 15th Amendment specifically applied to males who had been slaves.

To read the full opinion Click Here (Typed). Or Here (Hand written).

Eliza Burhans Farnham (1815 - 1864)

Courtesy of Burhans Genealogy

Eliza Burhans Farnham was an author, feminist, abolitionist, phrenologist, and activist for prison reform. She married Thomas Farnham in 1836 and they had two sons. In 1844, she was appointed matron of the women's ward at Sing Sing Prison, New York. She had radical views, on how women prisoners should be treated and this eventually resulted in her forced resignation. It was at Sing Sing that she met and worked with Georgiana Bruce.

Eliza’s husband had left for California, and in 1848, she received news of his death. Eliza travelled west to settle his affairs, settling on land he had acquired in Santa Cruz County. Here she became a farmer. She was highly critical of the Anglo men who had married into ranchero families in order to gain title to the land.

In California, women were able to own land, and it was her goal that the profits from her land benefit her sons. However, she wrote: “It is no easy thing for a women to defend property here …”

Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, February 28, 1863,
Courtesy of Newspapers.com

She found the local society to be illiterate and unsophisticated, and her harsh remarks left her lonely and isolated. She sent for Georgiana Bruce. Georgiana’s gentler character enabled the two to gain a place in Santa Cruz’s social and religious circles.

In 1864, she published Woman and Her Era where she promoted the concept that women were naturally superior to men.  She believed that women should not “be compelled to earn money,” but should be “supported by men,” and because of their high moral values they could and should influence society.

She died soon after of consumption.

In the book History of Woman Suffrage: 1876-1885, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton et al. they wrote: "The advocacy of woman's rights began in Santa Cruz county, with the advent of that grand champion of her sex, the immortal Eliza Farnham, who braved public scorn and contumely because of her advanced views, for many years before the suffrage movement assumed organized form Mrs. Farnham's work rendered it possible for those advocating woman suffrage years later, to do so with comparative immunity from public ridicule."

White Redwoods

When snow falls in the Santa Cruz Mountains our beautiful redwoods turn a glimmering white. Although snowfall is not common, true white redwoods are very rare. These are albino redwoods, that is, they are unable to produce chlorophyll, and need a mother tree in order to survive. The albino tree and the mother tree share a root system and thus the albino obtains the nutrients it needs to grow. 

David Kuty, a docent at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park has classified them based upon the color of their foliage. There are six variations including white, bright yellow, green and white, and yellow-green. Most albino redwoods are white. Green and white specimens are much rarer.

Botanist Zane Moore, pictured here next to an albino redwood hedge in the Santa Cruz Mountains, has studied and written about albino redwoods. Two such articles written by Zane appear in the Santa Cruz MAH publication Redwood Logging and Conservation in the Santa Cruz Mountains which is available in the San Lorenzo Valley Museum bookstore.

The locations of these rare trees are not publicized in order to protect them; however an albino redwood can be seen on the Redwood Grove Loop Trail at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Look out for it at stop number 14.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, white redwood sprigs were used in ornamental floral arrangements especially for weddings and at Christmas. Indeed, the casual way in which the sprigs were referenced implies they were not considered too unusual. One such arrangement was described in 1882: “… then there were baskets of tea roses, interspersed with spays of fern, smilax and rare foliage plants, veiled, but not hidden, with the little fairy gypsaphilla, and these were sitting on beds of soft, green wood moss, bordered with flowers and white redwood in Grecian bric-a-brac …” In 1890, a white redwood from Paul Sweet gulch decorated the stage at Signor Enrico de Tomaso's testimonial held at Santa Cruz Opera House.

A ranch at the headwaters of Bear Creek, White Redwood Ranch, was named for the white redwoods that grew “to a respectable size” from the stump of a felled tree. “The green and white trees grow side by side and even from the same stump, and the general appearance of the groves is very peculiar.”

When in 1911, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a white redwood found near in San Mateo County was the “only one that has been found in California,” the Santa Cruz Sentinel responded with an article entitled “White Redwood Not So Rare.”

In 1915, Andrew P. Hill photographed white redwood sprigs in Big Basin State Park, these photographs were published in the San Jose Mercury Herald. The article attests that “white redwood is rare and is only occasionally found where the second growth comes up after cut-over lands have been burned over.” While this may be a simplified statement, it does appear that stress may be a factor in the growth of white redwoods.

In 1917, a beautiful specimen of white redwood was found between Boulder Creek and Felton. It was presented to the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

At Christmas 1928, Santa Cruzan Iva Davis and her relatives gathered white redwood at Skyland Ranch, just off Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

References to white redwood being used in floral displays continue until the 1940s. In July 1936, “Plant Novelties and Fall Flowers” was the subject for the Santa Cruz Flower Lovers club. It was apparently the most interesting meeting of the season with a wealth of odd plants, shrubs, and “freak blossoms.” A large spray of white redwood was described as “lovely … This was grown where no sun ever reached it.”

You can find out more about these amazing mutations at www.chimeraredwoods.com. 

This is a reprint of an article printed in the Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin in the November/December 2015 issue.

Locatelli's Famous Cheese Spread

The Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes
from Famous Eating Places

Newly donated to the Museum Collection is this great little book of Recipes from Famous Eating Places. The book was published in the 1950s by the Ford Motor Company and contains over 250 recipes from restaurants all over the United States.

On page 223, is a recipe for Cheese Spread from Locatelli's Inn in Boulder Creek, California - now Scopazzi's Restaurant and Lounge.

Giuseppe (Joe) Locatelli began construction of the inn in 1915, and it opened as the Italia Hotel. The dining room was added in 1924 and Joe Locatelli's wife Catherine managed the restaurant.  Her food was praised by KCBS radio broadcaster Jim Grady in his show This is San Francisco, especially her “famed salads with Roquefort cheese, her raviolis, and preparation of brook trout.”

From page 223 of the book, a painting of the
Dining Room at Locatelli's Inn by Amber Eustus.

Cheese Spread

1 pound Roquefort or blue cheese
5 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons Worcester sauce
2 tablespoons A-1 sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon pepper
4 cakes Philadelphia cream cheese or 1 pound of cottage cheese

Cut the Roquefort cheese in small pieces. Place in electric mixer bowl. Add lemon juice, sauces, mustard, and pepper. Beat, using low speed, till light and smooth. Add cottage or cream cheese. Beat again to the consistency of heavy whipped cream. This spread can be kept for weeks in the refrigerator in a tightly covered jar.

Tool or Toy

Artifact of the Week

This week New Leaf Community Market in Boulder Creek held a Community Day for the Museum. The Museum stationed a table with literature about the Museum and a few examples of local history books from the Museum store, including Santa Cruz Trains by Derek Whaley.

A visitor to the table, a railroad enthusiast, gave the volunteers this yellow object, which they passed on to me. I must admit I first thought it was a child's toy. A plastic, replica tool with which a three year old might play.

But the markings gave it away - no not a toy, but a tool.



This is a Millerfelpax locomotive reverser handle. It is made of Versylon, which is according to Miller Felpax an "Impact-Modified 6/6 nylon." It is strong, hard, and dense and so lends itself to tough environments such as railroad use.

The reverser is a tool that determines the locomotive's direction. It has three positions - forward, reverse, and neutral. If it is in the forward position and the throttle is opened the locomotive will move forward, if it is in the reverse position it will move backward.

These tools are used on steam locomotives and diesel locomotives. Older tools were made of metal, such as bronze. It is a standard size as the tools are required to fit all locomotives regardless of the manufacturer. It is removable - a safety feature. Removed whenever the locomotive is not in operation.

From the Collection

Artifact of the Week

2011-018-0001 - Front
San Lorenzo Valley Museum Collection 

This is a hand-made, hand-tooled baby carrier from the 1970s hippie era.

Strollers and baby carriages of the time just didn't work well here in the Santa Cruz Mountains and so new mom Estelle E. Fein, who wanted to carry her newborn son, Ariel, around on walks and while doing chores at home, contacted a friend who knew how to tool leather.

2011-018-0001 - Back
San Lorenzo Valley Museum Collection

Together they created this baby carrier, with a leather seat backed by embroidered cotton, denim straps, and leather cord with beads and bells.

October is American Archives Month

And also California Archives Month. Each year California produces an Archives Month poster. This year's poster celebrates 150 Years of  California’s State and National Parks. The photograph is from the Annie R. Mitchell History Room, Tulare County Library collection. 

But what do archivists do?  In the words of Lisa Lewis, archivist:

"Archivists bring the past to the present. They are records collectors and protectors, keepers of memory. They organize unique, historical materials, making them available for current and future research."

But what archival material does the San Lorenzo Valley Museum hold? Hundreds of photographs, letters, scrapbooks, oral histories, newspapers, maps, posters ... the list goes on. Each of these require careful storage to preserve them for future generations. Purchasing appropriate storage can be expensive. We usually purchase our archival material through Gaylord Archival. Our membership with the California Association of Museums gives us a discount, but on average a single archival box exceeds $10, depending on the shape and size. Just take a look at the cost of 20"x24" buffered acid-free tissue - over $44 for just 100 sheets. 

But what does it mean to be "buffered" and "acid-free"?  There is a good explanation here. Buffered tissue (usually with the buffering agent Calcium Carbonate) helps to neutralize acids and prevent acid migration to the objects that the tissue is used to protect. Buffered interleaving tissue extends the life of paper, photographs, some textiles, and artifacts.  We use buffered tissue to interleave the pages of photograph albums and scrapbooks. 

Here is a letter from the collection dated November 1880. The letter is from the South Pacific Coast Railroad Company to lumberman, and founder of the town of Lorenzo, Joseph Peery. 

Dear Sir,

Replying to your favor of the 15th inst. You may cut out the live oak timber on the ranch of the S.L.F.&T.Co. [San Lorenzo Flume & Transportation Company] as desired, and at price named in yours at former date.

Yours truly,

R. M. Garrett