1927 - Blackie's Harbor, Triple Rock Lake, Miller University, and Little Germany
Mount Rose and Mount Grace, California - 1927
As with all other cities in the world, Mount Rose and Mount Grace did not live in a microcosm and were heavily influenced by other nearby cities - as shown by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and now the 1927 Beebs River Dam Project.
Although it was many miles downstream, officials warned that the backup of the Walsh River would flood the two towns. Evacuations near the waterfront were prepared, and when the day came....nothing happened...at first.
That's because no one was near Triple Rock Lake that day. If they had, they would have seen the water swell and spill over its shores, before receding and redefining the lake's boundaries.
That wasn't there before...
More importantly, the water spilled over and washed away a barrier that was preventing the lake's connection to the Beebs river to the south.
The new water connection and increased lakeshore meant people began to take notice, and within a year, Captain Black's Fishing Co. opened for business.
This was the spot
Pretend these boats are older...
Mmmmm...fishy smell
Dozens of people began driving to Blackie's (as it came to be known) to get fresh fish every day - which meant, of course, that the automobile was hugely responsible for his success, and warranted the paving of the road to the shore.
Directly up the road from Blackie's was Miller's Mill and the small community of Milldale composed almost entirely of mill employees.
The road to Milldale
And directly north of the river on the Mount Rose side, Kenneth Miller had just opened the area's first institution of higher learning: Miller College.
First degree: underwater basket weaving
Dozens of students enrolled the very first year, and plans were made to expand immediately.
The college also meant more infrastructure had to be made. A bridge was built specifically to spur growth near the college.
Wasteful? Maybe.
All this was possible because the town was growing. A lot. Jean-Pierre Michaud had to vastly increase his wine production, now that it was a huge hit in the newly rebuilt and rapidly growing city of San Francisco.
The old part
The expanded field
Specialty grapes for the REALLY expensive bottles
Of course, since Michaud was expanding on the south side, Wolfgang von Wolfhausen had to expand his beer production on the north side.
To help him was a new neighborhood of Mount Rose called Little Germany.
Guten Tag!
During World War I, Germans in the US were put into internment camps, and a wave of anti-German activity swept the nation. Fortunately, many were able to seek refuge in Mount Rose. The town didn't seem to mind, probably because they were all drunk of Wolfhausen's beer.
Bitte...
Little Germany grew rapidly, and boasted the highest pub rate per capita...15 beer halls in 9 different buildings.
This boom of authentic Germans allowed Wolfhausen to expand beer production, while keeping his beer the highest quality possible, and allowed him to get away with calling it a "German Beer" even though it was made in California. After all, if it's made just like it was in Germany only by Germans...it shouldn't matter what country it's brewed in...right? No one knows because everyone was too drunk to argue...
Wiedersehen!
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