The following story was written by Alleghany native Wayne Brooks when he was a Jr. in High School. It is followed by a story about an experience from when my younger son was a teenager.
Left to right: Dick Brooks with sons Wayne and Richard in the Plaza in Alleghany, 1945. The house with the picket fence in the background is the old Rohrig house at the corner of Main and Plaza Court (vacant lot next to the current firehouse). Photo courtesy of undergroundgold.org Wayne Brooks collection.
Anytime you wanted to go somewhere in Alleghany that was off the beaten path; it ended up as a hike. Active kids in Alleghany were in good condition. Hikes to the creek to swim, to the ranch, to Forest, or even down to visit the Van Dorens were met with hills to go up and down. My hiking friends were the Van Dorens, Denny Hughes, Keith and Phillip Willard, Johnny Sullivan, cousin Ken Bruning and my brother Richard.
The trailhead to Kanaka Creek from our end of town started behind Casey’s Place. It was a well-worn trail and was used by the miners that worked in the Tightner Mine when it was running. Our favorite hike was to our swimming holes, The Ophir, Little Hole and Big Hole.
Just over the mountain about a mile from Chips Flat was Seymore’s Orchard. The Alleghany kids would hike to Chips Flat and join up with Keith, Phillip and Johnny. The Orchard was about a mile from Chips Flat. We usually had our 22’s with us and would shoot ground squirrels on the way. The apples were delicious but the one cherry tree produced sour cherries. Apples from this orchard produced many Chips Flat apple pies.
The middle fork of the Yuba River was another hike that was demanding. One camping trip there resulted in memories we would never forget. We were able to fish, hike and swim, all in one location.
After a hike to Forest, a swim in the swimming pool was refreshing. We did our share of maintenance on the pool, which required an occasional mucking out after the winter rains. One winter hike to the Forest swimming pool resulted in a swim with a foot of snow on the ground.
A two-mile hike to the burnt down ranch above Alleghany was a favorite. The reward when we got there was an abundance of blackberries and a great view of Alleghany.
Alleghany and the surrounding hills became our playground. There were new places to conquer, or special places to revisit. A day never went by without having someplace to go or something to do. Thanks to Wayne Brooks for sharing this story!
Like the rules laid out by my parents when I was young, to: “be home for dinner” my own son’s rule as a teenager was to: “be home by dark”. He had too much energy to sit around playing video games and I was glad of that. Another youth in Alleghany, Tommy Foxx had the same energy level as Wyatt, and they were hiking partners. Like Wayne’s story above, they hiked all over. It wasn’t unusual for them to “walk” to Forest City and back.
One summer day when Wyatt was a young teen, I was in the yard, working on a dry stack rock wall when suddenly I sensed that something was wrong. I jumped up, found my husband David and said: “We have to go find Wyatt!” It was about 3 in the afternoon, so he wasn’t late, but David saw the look on my face and said: “OK”. We got in the truck and he asked: “Which way?” I pointed to head out of town. We were almost at the dump turn-off when we saw Tommy and Wyatt on their skateboards heading our way. My first thought was: “False alarm” but then I saw the expression on their faces. They were frightened!
Here is their story: They were up at the transfer station (dump) which wasn’t locked in those days, looking for “good stuff” when a mother bear with a cub showed up! She stayed outside the fence checking them out, but could easily get in. They knew the danger of mama bears and were afraid to exit the fenced area. They found a ladder and leaned it against the dump shed and climbed on top where they felt a little safer. There was a mattress in the dumpster, which they pulled out and put on top of the shed for a more comfortable wait. They waited and waited but the bears did not leave. Finally, the hot sun started to get to them. They decided to make a run for it. That is when we met them on the road.
I have no idea how I felt Wyatt’s fear, but I have heard that kids have some of their mother’s cells in their bodies. There is speculation that this explains phenomena like this, but who knows? My maternal grandmother (Grandma Rodriquez) had a “sixth sense” and she often knew when any of her kids or grandkids were in crisis. Perhaps I inherited a little of that from her.
A man named Ivar who lived in Forest City was the dump attendant at that time. I always wondered what he thought when he came to work and found that mattress on top of the dump station.