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The History of Sonora By Sydney Gragnet Summerville Elementary
In this part of the report, I am going to tell you about the history of Sonora. Sonora gave itself the nickname “Queen of the Southern Mines.” Did you know that the Opera Hall used to be a flour mill?
Horses helped develop Tuolumne County because they could bring written messages from one place to another. They could also pull heavy equipment that humans couldn’t. Did you know that the Union Democrat was first published in 1854? It doesn’t seem that old to me!
There was an important well in Sonora in the 1850’s. It was important because it was located on the main road into town. An Arastra is a type of mining equipment that is powered by an animal. You put a piece of quartz in the pit and then you hook up a mule or a donkey to a bar. There is a big rock chained to the bar and the animal drags it around and it crunches up the quartz so you can get the gold out of it.
The first white woman to cross the Sonora Pass was 18 year old Nancy Kelsey. She was the only woman in the whole wagon train. She was also expecting a baby! I wonder how she did it all. There is only one explanation. She was very brave.
Tom Horn burned the Old County Jail down because he thought it would help him get out of jail. He thought that if he started a fire, the owners of the jail would get everyone out. But the heat fused the door to the frame and they couldn’t open the door. So they ended up getting everyone out but Tom Horn. Ironic isn’t it? So the fire that was supposed to get him out of jail worked, just not the way he planned. He died in the fire.
Did you know that Sonora was the county seat? This means that it is the city or town that is the center of government for it’s county. That should make people feel proud about living in Sonora. The old mine underneath the Red Church is called the Bonanza Mine. It is called that because there was a lot of gold found there in the 1850’s.
Gravity helped put out fires in early Sonora. The first fire trucks looked like they were pulled by horses. But actually, they were pulled by men.
The first written record of gold being discovered in Sonora was on St. Patrick’s day of 1849. Did you know that Sonora got its name from miners from Sonora, Mexico? Also, William Sugg bought his freedom from slavery for only $1.00!
Now that I have written about the history of Sonora, I hope you feel proud about living in Sonora.
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