The Chapter will be moving to electronic distribution of the newsletter and other communications. Rising postage costs and green issues move us away from paper. Please keep in touch if you need a paper copy. We will also migrate the Chapter mailing list to the SIA email service provider, Constant Contact.

Restarting the Samuel Knight Chapter

Perhaps everyone has heard of the Stephen Colbert “bump” that works to the favor of authors interviewed on his show. Alas, it appears that there’s a post-conference slump. Our chapter has experienced a slump in activities and membership since we hosted the 2008 National Conference in San Jose. The time has come to make a big effort to restart our chapter.

I’ve been making significant efforts over the last several months to organize tours of active industrial and historic sites and find some interesting evening speakers. My goal is to have at least ten events per year from now on, perhaps more if attendance warrants.

To reach out to people that haven’t heard of us we’re marketing our chapter in several different ways. First, I’ve designed a small poster and a membership brochure. We’re sent these off to every major public and academic library in the Bay Area, to any department in Bay Area colleges and universities that might have an interest in industrial archeology, and to preservation groups, museums, and non-profits that might have interest in the our realm.

Second, we’re going to work with other groups interesting in industry, history and preservation. Many groups have a focus on a specific city or county, or on a specific area of transportation, or a specific field of work. The interests of our membership intersect to one degree or another with many of these groups. So we’re conducting some experiments in coordinating and cooperating with others.

Some of their members will find our events of interest and likewise. The first two groups that we’re trying to share events with are the Oakland Heritage Alliance and HeritageYP. So you’ll be invited to their events although you may have to pay a non-member fee for some events.

The Oakland Heritage Alliance <http://www.oaklandheritage.org/> advocates the protection, preservation, and revitalization of Oakland’s architectural, historic, cultural and natural resources. They’ve been putting on walking tours for thirty years and this year’s touring program started on July 10th and runs through Sept 12th with eighteen tours available. Information on their tours is can be found on their web site at <http://oaklandheritage.tumblr.com/post/50641386/current-events>. A selection of tours of interest to our members follows below.

HeritageYP <http://www.heritageyp.org>, aka the San Francisco Heritage Young Preservationists Network, is a recently formed group of younger preservationists, some from San Francisco Architectural Heritage, with which is it loosely affiliated, and others, including a number of folks who work as architectural historians and archeologists. You don’t have to be under forty to join though. They’ve had hard hat tours of buildings under renovation or construction, as well as other events including several to try to preserve the Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room.

We’ll list upcoming events of the OHA and HeritageYP in our newsletter and on our web site.

We’re also reaching out to members of the academic community because people in a wide range of fields have some interest in industrial archeology. Departments that we’re communicating with include archeology, geography, preservation, history (of California, America, business, labor, technology), geology, engineering, and others. Our goal is to attract more membership from faculty and students.

There are also people who work for local, state and federal agencies that have an interest in industrial archeology too. We’re talking about the SIA with people working in Economic Development agencies, Caltrans, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the California State Parks (which oversees the California State Parks, Jamestown, etc.).

So, we’re hoping to see old and new faces at our upcoming events.

We need your help grow our chapter. Here are some things you can do to make our chapter more active and fun for yourself:

1. Try to find one friend who would enjoy the SIA and get them involved! Bring them to an event and point them to our website.

2. Drop off some of our brochures and posters! If you belong to another organization where there are other folks interested tell them about us. Download our brochure and poster from the web site, or email me (ameadow@gmail.com) and I’ll put some in the mail.

3. Let us know what you’d like our chapter to do! If you know of a site that you’d like to visit, whether it’s historic or active, drop Jay and myself a note and we’ll see what we can do. And tell us what you don’t like too.

4. Get involved in running the chapter! We need other people to help organize and run events. Free coaching and support!

Upcoming Chapter Events

We’re starting to schedule tours of tours of active and industrial sites now through the spring. The reality is that tours of active sites are generally only possible on weekdays since most companies only operate on weekdays. Weekend visits to historical sites are still possible, and preferable for many people. To the extent we can we’ll schedule events for weekends. For the most part there’s no cost to our events for members with the occasional exception of an admission fee to some museums. A couple of events that we’re looking at will have a cost but we’ll let you all know in advance.

Some of the events we’re scheduling cover the food industry. Food is increasingly in the news and more people are interested in where our food comes from. Alice Waters, who founded Chez Panisse in 1971, has had a huge impact on how food is cooked - and on where the ingredient come from, including how they’re grown and made. Michael Pollan, who teaches journalism at UC Berkeley, has written half a dozen books on this topic in recent years including "The Botany of Desire", "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" and "Food Rules". Richard Walker, a geography professor at Cal, wrote a history of agriculture in California. Titled "The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California" (New Press, 2004), he shows how agriculture in California has been agriculture practiced on an industrial scale, and one that operates very different from other states and has been ignored or misunderstood by many students of agricultural. So look for some tours and speakers on the agriculture starting with our first tour of the season.

A couple of years ago we had several evening speakers. We’re restarting this program as well. We’re holding these lectures in the Director’s Boardroom of the Historic Central Building, Tony’s office building, in downtown Oakland at 1400 Broadway.. It’s a beautiful wood paneled room that can hold 25 people or so. It’s located right above the City Center/12th Street BART station and is just a few blocks off the freeway. There is on street parking, and several parking structures nearby. The doors to the building are locked at 6pm so we’ll have someone at the door to let members in. If you’re late please call or text Tony’s cell phone 510-334-8161. If that fails then try Jay’s cell phone 408-981-8678.

August 5, 2010 (Thursday), 7:30pm - Evening speaker: Richard Anderson, Topic: Applications of Digital Images to CAD in Industrial Archeology

Location: Historic Central Building, downtown Oakland (details and directions below)

RSVP to Tony Meadow, ameadow@gmail.com, cell 510-334-8161

In some cases sets of historic photographs of IA sites can be “mined” for dimensional data for use in 2D and 3D CAD modeling, an application of digital techniques to old images that can be very productive. The site plan for the Irondale Furnace complex in Birmingham, Alabama was recovered this way, for purposes of archeological site management, protection and interpretation to the public. This presentation will focus on how the CAD modeling, historic photographs and basic site dimensions taken in the field were used to arrive at a fairly accurate digital recreation of the principal furnace structures.

This image shows a CAD reconstruction of a furnace complex projected onto an old photograph. Using only a handful of old photographs and using a CAD program “in reverse” Richard Anderson will explain how he did this. Photo courtesy of Richard Anderson.

Often dimensional information about an industrial archeology site is as significant to document as the site’s visual appearance or business and technical history. Properly taken, photographs can yield dimensional data for reports and drawings or kept in archival storage for later information retrieval. Digital imaging presents many more opportunities than film for taking and adjusting images for extracting dimensions, particularly in drawings, whether the drawings are done by hand or in a CAD system. Some steps can apply to scans of film or photographic prints as well. A few basic post-processing steps produce images that can be traced or used to supplement or substitute for drawings. There are basic techniques for setting up camera equipment for rectified photographs that aren’t difficult or expensive. If you are aware of the kinds of distortions produced by photography then you can compensate for them.

Richard is in town helping to document the Wapama steam schooner <http://www.maritimeheritage.org/ships/wapama.htm> and will talk a bit about the work he’s doing on that project.

About our speaker: Educated as an architect, Richard Anderson took a job with HAER in 1978 as a temporary career hoping to buy a little time while he refined his goals. HAER suited Richard well so he stayed till 1989. In addition to conducting numerous field projects for HAER and occasional private clients and museums, he rewrote the HAER field manual and wrote the HAER Guidelines for Recording Historic Ships, both still in use. Since beginning work as a private consultant he has finished projects for numerous museums and government agencies, ranging from traditional HAER documentation to mapping projects, digitizing historic drawings and writing occasional site histories. He served as SIA’s national secretary from 1995 to 2010. Richard can be reached via e-mail at <rkanderson@ftc-i.net> or at 803-983-5088. His web site is <http://www.habs-haer.com>.

September 17, 2010 (Friday), 10:30am - Tour: Fiscalini Farms and Fiscalini Cheese Co. (Modesto)

Location: Fiscalini Farms, Modesto

If you want to attend you must RSVP Tony Meadow, ameadow@gmail.com, cell 510-334-8161

Allow at least two hours to drive from the San Francisco Bay area.

Cheese in Modesto? Yes! Fiscalini Cheese makes world-class cheddar cheese, mozzarella, and other cheeses in Modesto. Fiscalini Farms is a third-generation dairy, founded in 1914, that uses innovative practices to ensure the health and comfort of their cows. This is a farmstead operation, meaning that the dairy and cheese-making are onsite together and managed by the same family. Though not as well known as Cowgirl Creamery in Marin yet, I expect they will be as more people try their award-winning cheeses.

Nestled between the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east, and the California Coastal Range to the west, the dairy lies at the northernmost end of Stanislaus County. As the first commercial dairy farm in the United States to receive animal welfare certification, the Fiscalini Cheese Company has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to the humane treatment of the animals used to make their products. Fiscalini Farms was also among the first dairies in the state to be certified by the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program for environmental responsibility.

The barn area consists of two free-stall barns, each capable of housing 750 cows and the milking parlor. Free-stalls allow cows to lie down comfortably and move about easily throughout the building, socializing with their neighbors. The barns are raked free of manure twice a day, and the lanes are flushed out six times a day so that the cows are lying comfortably, and the area remains clean. In the summer, soaker hoses wet the cows down, and then powerful fans keep them cool-as well as chasing away flies. A nutritionist provides the dairy with special rations to maximize intake and milk production. Cows are fed twice a day.

The dairy has recently built a methane digester to reduce their carbon footprint. The digester generates electricity and compost-like fertilizer. Heat from the generator is http://fiscalinifarms.com/captured and used to preheat the digester tanks and, over time, the cheese plant.

Employees are specially trained in proper handling of cows, and selected for how they behave around dairy animals. Unlike many other dairies, Fiscalini handles cows frequently, because we know they are the milk-makers and essential to our success. If an employee strikes a cow, they lose their job.

Everybody working at Fiscalini Farms is aggressive about cleanliness. Tractors that are used for manure handling are thoroughly cleaned before use in feeding. Mechanical traffic is kept to a minimum near livestock, and the feed area, where highway trucks enter and unload feed, is separate from the livestock confinement area. The free-stall barns and milking areas are regularly flushed several times a day; drinking troughs wiped and cleaned twice a week, and storage areas are carefully maintained.

Cheese-making is managed by Mariano Gonzalez, hired away from Shelburne Farms in Vermont several years ago. Some of the cheeses they produce include Fiscalini cheddar, San Joaquin Gold, extra mature bandage-wrapped cheddar (made from raw milk), Lionza (aged 6 months), smoked Cheddar, mozzarella (bocconcini, ciliegini, & ovolini), scamorza smoked mozzarella and flavored cheddars (dill, garlic, pepper, etc.). Their cheeses have won gold and silver medals in regional, national and world shows. Fiscalini Bandaged Wrapped Cheddar was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2007 World Cheese Awards in London, the first non-British cheddar to win the title of “Best Cheddar” at this show.

About our host: John Fiscalini is the third-generation owner of the Modesto dairy founded by his grandfather, Mateo Fiscalini, in 1914. After he visited Lionza, the small town in the Swiss Alps where his family originated, he decided to enter the cheese business to continue the tradition of his Swiss ancestors. In 2000 he rescued a used stainless steel vat from a scrap pile, reconditioned it, and moved into the Fiscalini Cheese Company building. After installing the vat, a boiler, a refrigerated aging room, and making numerous parts from scratch, John was ready to make his first batch of cheese. Together with Tom Putler, Fiscalini’s first cheesemaker, San Joaquin Gold was created, and an American Original was born. Four months later, an opportunity of a lifetime presented itself to John, and Mariano Gonzalez joined the Fiscalini Team as lead cheesemaker. John has a strong commitment to operating his dairy and cheesemaking operations in the spirit of the 21st century: taking excellent care of his cows, his staff and the environment, while making world-class cheeses.

You can read more about the dairy at <http://fiscalinifarms.com/> and all about the cheese at <http://www.fiscalinicheese.com/>.

This will be our most delicious tour ever!

Details about the tour:

Sept 17, 10:30am – Tour Fiscalini Farms & Fiscalini Cheese

We’ll be touring the dairy, the biodigester and methane-powered generator, and the cheesemaking operations. We’ll be walking about half a mile on flat ground in total. When we enter the cheesemaking plant we’ll be walking through a boot/shoe bath containing chlorine bleach to minimize any contamination from shoes. Please wear suitable shoes - expensive shoes, sandals, etc. are not good choices for this event.

Bring a cooler! You’ll have a chance to purchase some of their cheeses and they’ll do better on the way home if they’re kept cool.

Drive to this address. We are trying to coordinate carpool arrangements. Please call Tony Meadow at 510-334-8161 before Sept 10th.

Fiscalini Farms

7206 Kiernan Ave

Modesto, CA 95358

Sept 17, 1:30pm – Lunch at Barnwood Restaurant

Following our tour here we will head over to the Barnwood Restaurant in Ripon, about five miles away, for lunch. The town of Ripon is on Highway 99, just north of Modesto, and just south of Highway 120.

Barnwood Restaurant

338 East Main Street

Ripon, CA 95366

Tel: (209) 599-4324

Family owned and operated The Barnwood Restaurant & Catering has been a leader in the local food industry for three decades. It is our pleasure to serve the San Joaquin and Stanislaus Valley residence in our restaurant and also off sight catering. We feature American, Italian and Greek food. Half pound 100% certified Angus burgers are our most popular lunch item.

Directions to Barnwood Restaurant from the Fiscalini Farm:

Head east on Kiernan Ave toward Hall Rd (1.3 mi)

Turn left at Hammett Rd (1.2 mi)

Turn left to merge onto CA-99 N (1.1 mi)

Take the exit toward Ripon (0.2 mi)

Turn left at E Main St

I’ll also have some handouts for optional activities in the afternoon.

If you want to attend you must RSVP Tony Meadow, ameadow@gmail.com or cell 510-334-8161. We’re going to carpool as much as is practical.

October 13, 2010 (Wednesday) 7:30pm - Evening speaker: Ellen Joslin Johnck, Topic: The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project: A Cultural Landscape Approach for the Resource Management Plan

Location: Historic Central Building, downtown Oakland (details and directions below)

RSVP to Tony Meadow, ameadow@gmail.com, cell 510-334-8161

Viewing the San Francisco Bay from an airplane window shows beautiful palette of color--red, reddish-brown, pink, green, yellow, gray-white. This amazing array of colors is the commercial production of salt in its varying stages of evaporation through a pond system on its journey to kitchen, cattle salt lick, or pharmacy. The cultural and environmental history of the South San Francisco Bay and the salt industry is a dynamic story of human endeavor and interaction with the landscape. This story tracks the transformation of the landscape into one of the largest production centers of salt in the U. S. through the method of solar evaporation. This 15,200-acre salt pond landscape is now undergoing the largest wetland restoration on the West Coast.

South Bay Ponds

A striking palette of color - red, reddish-brown, pink, green, yellow, gray-white - is the view of South San Francisco Bay from an airplane window. Photo courtesy of Laura Watt.

Our guest speaker, Ellen Joslin Johnck, will provide information on this fascinating industrial landscape and how a cultural landscape analysis can be used in the Restoration Project to document the landscape’s cultural resources; develop a heritage tourism plan and establish a basis for justifying the landscape’s cultural significance and potential eligibility.

Events sponsored by other groups

We’ll feature events of interest to our members that are sponsored by other organizations. First up, the Thirtieth Annual Walking Tours sponsored by the Oakland Heritage Alliance. Later, Steel Day, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction happening on Sept 24, 2010.

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tours, July 10th through Sept 12th, 2010

This is the thirtieth year that the Oakland Heritage Alliance has offered walking tours. All tours happen on a Saturday or Sunday. Most do not require a reservation but some of them do. Regular tours cost $10 for OHA members and $15 for non-members; reserved tours cost $20 for members and $25 for non-members. Details of tours, how to sign up and so on are on the OHA web site at: <http://oaklandheritage.tumblr.com/post/50641386/current-events>

There are several tours that are of interest to SIA members.

Sunday, August 1, Tour offered twice: 10 am and 1 pm

NEW! FROM COACHES TO HOT RODS: A CENTURY OF MOAL COACHBUILDERS

By Reservation Only! Limited to 60 per session. To reserve: 510 763-9218

Founded a century ago in Oakland by French wheelwright William Moal, Moal Coachbuilders has evolved into a premier builder of custom coachworks vehicles and hotrods. Third generation master builder Steve Moal and his sons welcome us to their world of hand-built automotive artistry. Follow the creation process from design concept to dazzling completion. View projects under construction and see a special display of iconic Moal customs over time. Come learn the history of the Coachworks in its East 12th St. neighborhood. —Steve Moal, Michael Dobrin & Phil Linhares

Sunday, August 22, 10am–12:30pm BROADWAY AUTO ROW

With the opening of the Chevrolet and Durant Motor assembly plants in East Oakland in the early 20th century, Oakland became “the Detroit of the West,” and Upper Broadway was referred to as “Auto Row.” Learn about historic showrooms from the 1910s to the 1940s, and the distinctive utilitarian brick and tile garages. A level walk. — Valerie Winemiller

Saturday, September 11, 10am–12 noon JACK LONDON DISTRICT: 3rd and Franklin Streets

Explore several fragile, endangered historic districts: Wholesale Produce Market and Waterfront Warehouse districts. Early 20th century industrial, shipping and warehousing activities are being replaced with office, commercial and lifestyle loft uses. Historic structures have been adapted to new uses and new apartment buildings have multiplied. The District boasts the country’s finest collection of sidewalk trash receptacles. A level walk. — Gary Knecht

Sunday, September 12, 12:30–3pm TILES AND TERRA COTTA IN UPTOWN OAKLAND: Howden Tile Building, southeast corner of 17th and Webster Streets

This district abounds in buildings whose facades are made of fired pottery. Enjoyment and appreciation of the medium is our primary objective. We will study the evolution in design and uses of terra cotta during its period of preeminence—1906 to 1931—including radical changes in the use of color. We will also address issues specific to the preservation and restoration of architectural ceramics. A level walk. — Riley Doty

Steel Day – Sept 24, 2010 American Institute of Steel Construction

The American Institute of Steel Construction has organized a national effort to encourage steel fabrication companies and service centers to open their doors to their customers and members of their communities to learn about steel and construction with steel. Last year 175 companies offered events all over the US.

There are four companies in California participating this year so far. Find them and get information on how to attend by going to <http://www.SteelDay.org/>.

Contact and Membership Information

President

Tony Meadow

30 Pine Hills Court, Oakland, CA 94611

Mobile: 510-334-8161

Email: ameadow@gmail.com

Secretary/Treasurer– Memberships, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster

Jay McCauley

1350 Vance Drive, San Jose, CA 95132

Home: 408 926 2312

Email: mccauley3@sbcglobal.net, jay@knightsia.org

Membership

The Chapter was inactive in 2009, and is rebooting in 2010. We are extending your 2008 membership through the end of 2010, and have not cashed checks from new members, whose membership will also be extended through 2010. The Chapter urges its members to also join the National SIA.