In Memory of Col. John Coffee Hays

1-28-1817 • 4-21-1883

Born near Little Cedar Lick, Wilson County, Tennessee. Lived in Mississippi, where he learned surveying. Joined Republic of Texas Army in May, 1836, and served 3 years in ranger/spy companies. Gained fame as an Indian fighter while surveyor ...

Watrous

The Mountain Branch and the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail meet at Watrous. This important spot on the Trail was first known at La Junta, "junction" in Spanish. In 1879, with the coming of the railroad, it was ...

Fort Union National Monument

1851-1891

Once the largest post in the Southwest, Fort Union was established to control the Jicarilla Apaches and Utes, to protect the Santa Fe Trail, and to serve as a supply depot for other New Mexico forts. The arrival of the ...

Under the Oaks

On July 6, 1854, a state convention of anti-slavery men was held in Jackson to found a new political party. Uncle Tom's Cabin had been published two years earlier, causing increased resentment against slavery, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of May, ...

Hurray for Hollywood

Historic Cannery Row

Ever since Thomas Edison’s movie camera captured those first quick, flickering moments of time, Hollywood has been coming to Monterey. More than 60 feature films have been shot in Monterey, and Cannery Row has been one of Hollywood’s ...

Early Canning Processes

Historic Cannery Row

The Row’s first canning operation

In 1902 Otosaburo Noda, a Japanese immigrant farmer, labor contractor and businessman, moved his abalone canning operation at Point Lobos to the rocky shoreline of Monterey. Noda and his partner Harry Malpas built the ...

Monterey’s First Fishermen

Historic Cannery Row

For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans in 1602, the Rumsien people fished Monterey Bay. These native people caught and used nearly every species of fish and shellfish found in the bay. Sea otters, sea ...

Working Women

Historic Cannery Row

Prior to World War II, only women were allowed to work on cannery lines (top). In some canneries, only “white American women” were allowed to pack fish. Working the lines was considered “women’s work.” Even if there were ...

Felix K. Zollicoffer, "Zollie Tree"

Felix K. Zollicoffer: Brig. Gen. Felix K. Zollicoffer, CSA, died here, Jan. 19, 1862, in Battle of Logan's Crossroads (Mill Springs). This Tenn. native was veteran of Seminole War, editor of Nashville Banner, and 3-term U.S. congressman. In heavy rain ...

Medal of Honor Fight, 1875

In the 1870s, the U.S. Army relied on Black Seminole (Seminole-Negro) Indian scouts in campaigns against raiding Native Americans along the Texas-Mexico border. In April 1875, Lt. John L. Bullis and three scouts -- Sergeant John Ward, Private Pompey Factor ...