History’s Mysteries: Do YOU know where they are?
© Alane K. Dashner
Okay, Lodi: Where are they?
We’re missing several objects that illustrate exciting stories in Lodi’s history.
This writer has asked everyone she can think of and looked everywhere. The three objects described in this article aren’t in the Haggin Museum nor in the San Joaquin County Historical Museum at Micke Grove… might they be in your closet or shed?
1. Laura DeForce Gordon and Buffalo Bill Cody
By now most readers are familiar with Lodi’s most famous resident, Laura DeForce Gordon (1838-1907), a nationally known champion for women’s rights. This “history’s mystery” object pertains to the week she traveled with Buffalo Bill Cody.
Before he made a fortune touring the US and Europe with his “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” show, William Cody was a rough-riding US army scout on the Great Plains. In 1869, 23-year-old Bill spotted Laura DeForce Gordon in a covered wagon on her way west.
Bill and Laura hit it off. And why wouldn’t they? Bill supported US women getting the right to vote and was quoted as saying “if a woman can do the same work that a man can do and do it just as well, she should have the same pay.” Later as a show-biz promoter, Bill gave Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane star billing.
We don’t know details of what Bill and Laura talked about under the endless Kansas skies, but by 1869 Laura was already an in-demand séance medium and eloquent lecturer – she knew how to work a crowd. (Three years after meeting her, that simple army scout launched his stage career.)
After a jolly week together, Bill and Laura parted ways. He gave her a farewell gift: a pair of field glasses – we would call them binoculars – that she treasured so highly she later had them covered in mother-of-pearl.
Those field glasses are history
The story of Laura DeForce Gordon meeting Buffalo Bill Cody is one of many family memories recorded by Laura’s grand-niece Merle Walker Hieb for the San Joaquin County Historical Museum’s Oral History Project. During that 1984 interview, Mrs. Hieb said she had possession of the field glasses. She passed away in 1995.
Where are those field glasses today?
They must be sitting in a drawer, or a box… unappreciated as the amazing historical artifact they are. Do you have any idea where they could be?
2. Where did the roof ornament go?
At 47 N Sacramento St stands a very old brick building with fading tobacco advertisements on its broad south side. You’ve seen the building a million times, but did you ever look up to the very tip-top? You’ll see an empty post poking up at the sky.
That post once supported an imposing roof ornament, almost certainly an eagle. The ornament was there in an 1887 photo, but it had vanished by a 1951 photo.
The Hassan family, current owners, say they’ve been over every part of the building many times and the ornament is nowhere to be found.
If at some point in history it was a business decision to remove the ornament, surely the spectacle of getting that heavy thing down off the roof would have been worth a newspaper mention. But diligent searching of old Lodi papers turns up nothing.
This writer’s best guess is that the roof ornament met the same patriotic fate as the cannon that used to be in Hale Park. The cannon was melted down as part of the war effort for World War II. Today we know the circumstances of the cannon’s departure… because newspaper articles were written about it.
Where the roof ornament isn’t
It’s not on Lockeford St at the Eagles Lodge. That eagle has its own interesting history – it started out as a roof ornament on top of a Stockton drug store – but its body is very different from the shape that was on top of 47 N Sacramento.
Is it possible that one of us has a very large eagle inside our shed and just didn’t know its historic significance? Do tell!
3. Royal robes in 1907
Perhaps the most thrilling event ever staged in Lodi was the 1907 Tokay Grape Carnival.
We Lodians were feeling bold, having just voted to incorporate and become the City of Lodi. We wanted to announce ourselves to the world, so we gave a “world’s fair” style carnival that reportedly swelled our modest population of 2,000 to 30,000 happy revelers for one weekend. (Years later, that 1907 carnival inspired the annual Grape Festival we love today.)
Serenely presiding over the 1907 Tokay Grape carnival was Lodi’s Bertha de Almado, “Queen Zinfandel.” She had been elected by popular vote and was awarded $300 to make herself a royal costume (see photo).
Where are her beautiful dress, robe, scepter, and crown today – might they be in your closet or attic?
Where Bertha’s costume isn’t
It’s not on the Grape Festival property.
The museum there has many elegant Grape Festival queen and princess dresses and even some crowns and scepters. But not Queen Zinfandel’s costume.
If you have information regarding the whereabouts of any of these History’s Mysteries, please email President@ExploreLodi.org. Be a “History Hero”!