30 June 2009

Tribune Tuesday: Drank Warm Water

Items of interest from today's edition of the The Oakland Tribune, in 1891.

DRANK WARM WATER
The Berkeley Ice Supply Gave Out Yesterday

There was a great demand for ice yesterday at Berkeley and so great had been the demand on the two preceding days that the supply gave out about 10 A. M. yesterday and no more could be obtained until in the afternoon. During Saturday and Sunday the only ice dealer in town sold two tons of ice and yesterday the central telephone clerk was kept busy most of the time answering calls for ice.

From: The Oakland Daily Evening Tribune, 30 June 1891, Page 5, Column 1

26 June 2009

Researching World War I

I had reason recently to do some research on an ancestor of my husband who died at St. Mihiel during WWI. Along the way I collected these links to online material regarding The Great War, and thought I would share!

* Great War Archive from Oxford University includes original documents, images and recollections submitted by individuals. You can also check out the archive's Flickr group for photoes, posters and more.

* BYU's World War I Document Archive includes personal memoirs and diaries.

* Site linking to various personal diaries posted online. The site is hideous, but the links work, so no fuss!

* Great War Photo Archive has over 3,000 photos covering different subjects, including weapons, high ranking individuals, and troop photos.

* Color Photos from WWI, mainly from the Western Front

* Aftermath, which focuses on the legacy and ramifications of WWI both on the personal and international level.

War Diaries
Not personal diaries, but unit diaries which detail actions of individual units during the war

* Canadian War Diaries from the Canada Library and Archives

* Surrey Regiment Diaries

23 June 2009

Tribune Tuesday: A Baby Left Alone

Items of interest from today's edition of the 1891 Oakland Tribune

A Baby Left Alone in a Buggy Comes to Grief

Yesterday afternoon a lady wheeling a baby in a carriage started out calling on friends on New Broadway. She left the buggy and its occupant outside on the sidewalk while she went in to see her friends. The buggy was on a slight decline and the jostling of the baby set the wheels moving with a result that the carriage and its occupant rapidly neared the edge of the sidewalk where a horse was tied. The buggy struck the curb at the edge of the sidewalk, and the vehicle tipped over, throwing its occupant out to the ground. This frightened the horse, who broke its moorings and ran away, nearly stepping on the helpless baby. A passenger on the street car jumped off and lifted the infant back into the buggy. The mother was informed and a lively scene ensued. The baby cried and the mother grew hysterical and in her endeavor to express her gratitude to her baby's rescuer, threw her arms about his neck. A tiny stream of blood was noticed flowing from a wound in the child's head, and this occasioned a fresh outburst of grief. A small gathering had assembled by this time, and a doctor was called. His services were not needed as a small scratch only was on the child's head.

From: The Oakland Tribune, 23 June 1891, Page 5, Column 3

18 June 2009

Google Books Updated

Google announced updates to some features of Google Books today.

The most interesting thing I see is the contextual "search within this book" results page, showing clips of pages where search terms appear. This should make evaluating search result relevancy a HECK of a lot easier than it was prior to this update.

Also interesting is the enhanced ability to embed books within a website or blog such as:




One simple copy and paste line allows you to embed a book! I think I see a major update coming to the Google Books Index to follow suit!

16 June 2009

Tribune Tuesday: The Yosemite Park

Items of interest from today's 1891 issue of The Oakland Tribune.

THE YOSEMITE PARK
The Military Driving Out the Cattle-
An Old Prospector Lost in the Mountains-Deep Snow Still Lies on Glacier Point


WAWONA, Cal., June 16.- Lieutenant Davis and a party of ten men returned last night after a trip of ten days patrolling the newly made Yosemite National Park. They were ordered by Captain Wood to go through the northern part of the park in search of sheep and cattle which were said to be in that section. They went through the Little and Big Hetch Hetchy valley and as far north as the snow line would permit, but found no sheep in that section and but very few cattle. The owners of these were getting on to their own lands as rapidly as possible. The party found an old man who had gone into the mountains prospecting and had been lost. He was nearly famished for the want of food but recovered under proper treatment. The party returned by the way of Yosemite and Glacier Point, and found the snow on the point five feet in depth in many places.

From: The Oakland Tribune, 16 June 1891, Page 1, Column 4

09 June 2009

Tribune Tuesday: A Dangerous Bathing Place

Items of interest from today's 1891 Oakland Tribune.

A Dangerous Bathing Place in the Hills Near the Cable Road

The old quarry just below the bridge on the gravity loop on the Piedmont cableline, which for years has been filled with water, is again being used by the Oakland young hopefuls for a swimming pond. Every day as many as ten or twelve of these youngsters sport through the cold waters of the pond, and evidently enjoy themselves. As the cable cars pass by the s[?] visions of limbs rapidly disappearing in the water may be seen. This pond has a history. Formerly it was an active quarry and much stone was taken from it. One day, however, a man struck a spring and before his fellow workmen could get their tools out of the way the place filled up with water, hiding the cars on the tracks and all the implements used in working the quarry. Frequent accidents have happened here. Only recently a boy was drowned, and it was impossible to find his body until Professor Fleming in a diving suit discovered it under the wheels of a car at the bottom. The place is dangerous and hardly a summer passes by but some injury or fatality happens.

From: The Oakland Tribune, 09 June 1891, Page 8, Column 2

02 June 2009

Tribune Tuesday: Starving

Items of interest from today's edition of the The Oakland Tribune, in 1891.

STARVING
An Old Man Adrift in the Bay
FOR THREE DAYS WITHOUT ANY FOOD.

Floating About Almost in the Very Track of Ferry Steamers
Rescued by Oakland Men Just as the Tide Was Carrying Him Out Between the Heads to Sea


Deputy City Engineer Wison [sic] is one of the crack yachtsmen of the coast and passes nearly every Sunday coasting somewhere near the Heads. He is captain of the sloop yacht Pilgrim and for his trip on Sunday last secured the company of City Engineer Morgan and Mr. Miller. They left Oakland creek early in the morning and moved out through the Golden Gate, where, after tacking about they sailed for home again. It was getting dark as they came in, but it was light enough for them to see something dark floating in the water between Goat and Angel islands, and heading for it they found it to be an old hulk. It appeared to be abandoned, but on coming alongside they found an old, gray-haired man stretched inside suffering from some great prostration.

They revived him with spirits and when the old man was able he told them the story of how he came to be thus adrift. It was as follows:

"On Thursday last," he said, "I bought this hulk for $5 from a man in Oakland. It was lying at the foot of Grove street, and it was my intention to take it to San Francisco and room in it there, for rent is too high- more than I can pay. Getting an oar, therefore, I left Oakland creek with the tide at 12 midnight on Thursday and tried to row across the bay. The current was too strong, though, and I was gradually carried away and drifted on toward the gate. Morning came and I was out of the line of the ferry steamers, but I tried to attract their attention, failing, however, they doubtless thinking that I was a fisherman. So the day passed on without my being noticed and then night came still without relief. To make a long story short, I have been drifting about for three days without food and water and was feeling pretty nearly done for when you sighted and rescued me."

This ended the old man's narrative, and as he said he still desired to go back to San Francisco, the Pilgrim towed him and his old bulk there and moored him in Mission Bay. Then the Pilgrim set back for home and reached her headquarters at Oakland creek at 5 o'clock yesterday morning.

"The old man and his bulk were drifting out to sea," said Captaim Wilson to a Tribune man this morning "when we picked him up. The tide was running out fast too, and it would not have been long before he would have been through the Golden Gate."

From: The Oakland Tribune, 02 June 1891, Page 1, Column 7