Gail Fiorini-Jenner
As It Was ContributorGail Fiorini-Jenner of Etna, California, is a writer and teacher married to fourth-generation cattle rancher Doug Jenner. They have three children, seven grandchildren and live on the original homestead. Her first novel Across the Sweet Grass Hills, won the 2002 WILLA Literary Award. She co-authored four histories with Arcadia Publishing: Western Siskiyou County: Gold & Dreams, Images of the State of Jefferson, The State of Jefferson: Then & Now, which placed in the 2008 Next Generation Awards for Nonfiction and Postcards from the State of Jefferson. She co-authored Historic Inns & Eateries in the State of Jefferson, featuring 30 locations and their recipes. Fiorini-Jenner has placed in several writing contests: The Jack London Novel Contest; The William Faulkner Story Contest; The Writer's Digest Inspirational Story and Screenplay Contests. She appeared on History Channel's How the States Got Their Shapes, and NPR's West Coast Live. She also writes for Jefferson Backroads.
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Discovered in 1860, the Black Bear Mine was one of the most important quartz gold mines in Siskiyou County, Calif. It was located along the Salmon River…
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Born in 1817, early Siskiyou pioneer Elijah Steele grew up in New York, where he practiced law for several years before leaving for California in 1849. He…
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One spring in Northern California, a miner known as Smith was preparing to return home to his family in Illinois with $2,000 in gold dust. He kept it on…
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Thomas King was born in Ireland and left home at age 12, roamed the United Kingdom until he committed a felony, and was shipped to confinement in…
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Homemade remedies substituted for medicines in mining camps and early settlers’ homes. The Van Matre family of Trinity County concocted a variety of…
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Electric power is taken for granted today, but in the late 19th century it was experimental at best. In Weaverville, Calif., Dr. S.L. Blake urged the…
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There’s no doubt that in general Chinese miners were ill-treated in the mining camps of California. Still, there were exceptions and one such story comes…
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The railroad contributed greatly to the growth of Montague, Calif., where cattle were driven to loading zones for rail shipment to Sacramento and San…
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Timber was essential during the early mining era in Northern California for construction of the flumes that carried water to the gold claims. The first…
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The Liberty Mining District in the Salmon Mountains in southwestern Siskiyou County contained many high-grade gold deposits, first discovered in the…
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Seiad, Calif., once had a school at Schoolhouse Gulch, where if it existed today Hwy 96 would cross its front porch.In 1915, state law required that when…