BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?

Subject: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 04:01 PM

A relative of mine worked for a time in Sacramento, Calf. during the mid 1920s. I learned this from another common relative.
I only know, from the person concerned (now deceased) that he worked as a "Long shoreman" while in the USA. Could this have been on some riverside docks in Sacramento ?
Anyone from there listening ???

Subject: RE: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 05:26 PM

Well, we weren't around in the 1920s but Sacramento is on shores of the Sacramento River (what are the odds of that?), the largest river in California. It is certainly navigable for large ships up to and beyond Sacramento. A lot of folks came to California during the gold rush of the late 1840s and 1850s and they landed at San Francisco and took a steamboat up the river to Sacramento.

So, it's certainly possible that this person was a longshoreman in Sacramento during the 1920s. More.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: Peace
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 05:56 PM

[e-mail]

That is the e-mail address for the International Longshoremen's Association (AFL-CIO). They might be able to direct you to someone in Sacramento who could see if your relative's name appears in union rosters from that time. There is an office in Sacramento.

(It could have been Longshoremen and Warehousemen in those days.)

Best of luck in your search.

Subject: RE: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 01:30 AM

Hi - there's a new Website, Sacramento History Online, which may give you the information you're seeking. Yes, there were docks along the Sacramento River, mostly in Old Sacramento. These were replaced by the Port of Sacramento facility in more recent times - ships going to the port travel through canals. It's a kick to be driving along country roads, passing ships that are in a canal, a hundred yards away - and when the water level is high in Winter, the ships are often high above the roadway.

The Sacramento River is navigable for maybe a hundred miles above Sacramento, and there was a lot of riverboat traffic. The sidewheelers Delta King and Delta Queen were built for the Sacramento River - in 1926, I believe. The Delta King lost its engines in a renovation, and is now a floating restaurant and hotel at Old Sacramento; and the Delta Queen now masquerades as a Mississippi riverboat. There has also been a lot of barge traffic on the Sacramento river over the years. The Port of Sacramento Authority has been near bankruptcy in recent years, and there isn't much commercial traffic on the river any more. But until World War II, Sacramento was a busy port.

Hope that gives you a start.

-Joe Offer-
(I now live in the Sierra Foothills near Colfax, but I lived in Sacramento for 20 years and I love the history of this area)

Subject: RE: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:54 PM

Grateful thanks to Bev 'n Jerry, Peace and Joe Offer for your prompt and accurate help. I now have ample proof of how Sacramento looked around about the relevant time and hope , from contacts , to be able to trace my relative's doings in that beautiful looking place.
Mudcatters Abu !

Subject: RE: BS: What was Sacramento like in the 1920ss ?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 09:26 PM

It is truly a SHOCK!...to be driving through the dry-land central valley of California, with "golden" (dead) grass, all around and suddenly view an "ocean forging ship" in the middle of Stockton....50 miles south of Sacramento and 100 miles from the coast.

The river appears in several Chanty verses.

http://www.portofstockton.com/

Sincerely,
Gargoyle