When the Association of Northern California Records and Research (ANCHR’s predecessor) formed in the 1970s, members spent several years collecting and transcribing a number of oral histories. These histories have languished in storage files for decades. We rediscovered them this year and decided these voices and their stories needed to be heard. 
 
These personal accounts provide a priceless window to a past long gone. But they also show that people did back then what we do now-live.
 
These memories range from personal accounts about the Bidwells, family cattle drives, early days in Paradise and Chico, hitching canoe rides on riverboat barges, Chico’s first teenage aviator, the discovery of Ishi in Oroville, western Colusa County Indian life and John Bidwell’s explorations, herding geese (it's not what you might think it is), pioneer life in Orland and Newville including feuding Civil War veterans, memories of Modoc County, the town of Prattville and Big Meadows before Lake Almanor flooded the areas, railroad torpedoes, and President Kennedy’s visit to Lassen Volcanic National Park in 1963.
 
Twelve local museums opened their archives to provide photographs that visually enhance this 256-page book. This has been a labor of love for us, and we hope you will agree.