GLOBALISM=AGENDA 21=SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT=WORLD GOVERNMENT=LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY=NO CONSTITUTION=LOSS OF
FREEDOM=NO AMERICA |
MOUNTAIN
MILL HOUSE |
Morning
Union, 15 July 1871 M. W. Curley, of the Mountain Mill House, is constructing extensive trout
ponds a few miles from Calistoga, at the foot of Mount St. Helena. Sacramento
Daily Union, 21 July 1871 The survey
for the Mountain mill site, St. Helena mountain, has just been completed by
Moran, the plan of which can be seen at this office. The capacity or the
water-power is 125,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. The dam is 100 feet in
length, and the flume 650 feet, with 15 feet head at the lowest stage of
water The Mountain Mill House fish-ponds are located adjoining the mill site,
aid will soon be stocked with fish, when anglers may enjoy themselves in a
manner which can't be beaten, by a dam site. Russian
river flag 10/12/1871 The
Calistoga Tribune gives an account of the shooting of James M Finley, by
Thomas Dye, at the Mountain Mill House on St. Helena mountain, ten miles from
Calistoga. The fracas was the result of an old feud, Finley was shot in the
thigh; amputation is necessary, and the wound may prove fatal. <<<>>> McNulty’s
Mountain Mill House PHOTO BY DAVID BERRY According to 1960s reports from the Napa Valley
Register & the Oakland Tribune, Felix and Delia McNulty bought 157 acres
in 1873, at the intersection of the Old Lawley Toll Road with the Palisades
and Oat Hill Mine Road. They took title from the colorful Sam Brannan, who
had bought up thousands of acres in the area during the 1860s. The McNultys
commenced building in 1880, using redwood lumber brought from a mill on the
Mendocino coast. The wide boards were hand sawed, and transported by freight
team over the coastal mountain range, across the valley and up Mt. St Helena.
The piers were redwood resting on rock columns in lieu of a foundation. The house was two
storied, with six bedrooms upstairs (plus a bathroom of more recent vintage.)
There is a huge kitchen, scene of preparation and processing of vast
quantities of food. The dining room is large, with long tables where hungry
drovers, coachmen and passengers were fed. Later innovations include a large
living room at the rear, and a bar. There are two
downstairs bedrooms, both with fireplaces. In one of these, Delia McNulty was
brought to bed of a daughter, Lilly, in 1882. A few years make later a son,
Willy, was born there. McNultys, as Mountain
Mill House was called in its heyday, was a beehive of bustle and activity.
Several stage lines carried passengers over the mountain, most of them
families seeking relaxation at one of the lake resorts. Freight wagons
creaked along the dusty road, lifelines to cities and the coast. They carried
the necessities of life to resorts and families on the mountain and over into
Lake County. Herds of sheep and
cattle moved slowly along the road on their way to market, kicking up clouds
of thick yellow dust. McNulty's was a favorite stop for the drovers on the
way to Calistoga and the railroad. Stages leaving
Calistoga had a three and a half hour trip to the stop at Mountain Mill
House. Tired horses were turned into the corral there, or lodged in a barn
which burned in the 1940s. It stood where the pond is now. Weary drivers,
sweaty and dusty, and their cramped and jolted passengers, refreshed
themselves at McNultys. They drank thirstily of the cold spring water, or
buttermilk fresh from the churn, for there was no bar. Those who wanted
something stronger got it at the Toll House Inn at Silverado. Delia and Lilly
worked as pioneer women have always worked unendingly, from daylight until
long past dark. There was the garden
to plant and tend, poultry and eggs to
be raised and readied, cows to milk, butter to churn, fruit and vegetables to can, rooms
to clean, beds to make, dishes to wash, clothing and linen to wash and iron.
It was all hard labor, and the hands
were those of Delia and Lilly. 0n their part, Felix
and Willy took care of stock, cleaned stables, fed and watered, raised field
crops, cut wood for the many fireplaces, and worked three cinnabar mines on
the place, none of these produced much except hard, back-breaking toil. As the 20th Century
crept into the second decade, the Mountain Mill House changed. Horse and buggy
days were going, with a clip-clop of hoofs, and cars were coming over the
mountain. Freight began to move in trucks along the dusty road and in l925
the present Highway 29 was started. By the time it was open to traffic in
1926, Felix and Delia were dead, and so was the Mountain Mill House. Willy
had been gone a long time. Only Lilly was left. Independent, social,
hardworking, she hung on to the spot she loved. She rode a small black horse
to various jobs of housework for families over the mountain or in the valley.
She lived in the big house alone, as year followed year and no traveler had
sought the McNulty hospitality for a long, long time. Gray crept into her
hair; her laughter was stilled. The bustle and company that brought laughter
was gone. During the 30's the property was sold, with Lilly reserving a
three-acre patch. On this patch she built a small cabin for her home. She no
longer wanted to live in the big house filled with ghosts of those long dead
and echoes of laughter long silent. She loved the mountain, the tall cedars,
the sun on the meadow by day, the sigh of the wind by night. A Mrs. Roberts of Los
Angeles was the first buyer, but the
land came back to Lillie and she then sold to Fred Sells, who in turn
sold to Al Beacher who sold to Herb Gordon. Later Gordon sold to Henry
Brandenberg. After years of taking the property back between owners, she sold
it to the Girl Scout Council of Oakland in 1958. This time she sold the
entire acreage, including her own home, retaining a lifetime tenancy. During her later,
lonelier years, Mountain Mill House occupied by strangers and old friends
dropping away, Lilly developed a fondness for wine. It gave warmth and
comfort to a starved and lonely spirit, and softened the rough edges of life
for an old, tired and infirm woman. The last few years of her life she spent
winters in town, at the insistence of friends. She came back with the first
wildflowers, hungry for the sights, sounds and smells of spring on her
mountain. Her one wish was to die there, where she was born. Late in March, 1965,
Lilly left Santa Rosa where she had wintered with friends and went back home
for the last time. Her body was frail now, but her spirit burned bright and
unquenched. She died in her cabin at Mountain Mill House, alone, as she had
lived, three days after her return. <<<>>> Read
More Local History CALIFORNIA WHITE
CAP MURDERS 1890 MIDDLETOWN,CA THE HISTORY
OF MIDDLETOWN’S CORNER STORE DID
LILLIE LANGTRY REALLY VISIT MIDDLETOWN? MIDDLETOWN – BEFORE
YOUR GRANDPARENT’S DAYS Compliments of: Bill Wink |