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When you first come
across the old building in Bear Valley you might think it is an antique
store. Once you ring the huge bell above the front door and step
inside you might think it's a museum. It's actually the home of David
Trabucco and Shalmaria Jones. They've made the old store their home
for two years. Shal, who has been busy displaying David's and her
collection of family memorable said "It (the building) was pretty rough
when we moved in".
The two foot
thick walls of the store make it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
The ceiling is original red wood, but the inside walls have been
re-plastered and the floor replaced. Their home really isn't open
to the public, but the couple seem to invite curious visitors in and
even have a guest book.
The story goes that in 1860 Luigi Trabucco,
David's Great Grandfather, returned to Italy with a large
dowry and married Elena. She was well educated in a Convent and when
they returned to Bear Valley she kept all the books and records for
the store that they purchased from the Chinese owners in the
1870's.
There are charcoal drawings of Luigi and
Elena Trabucco displayed beside Elena's trunk. Supplies came by
train to Bagby, then mule train to the store. The miners often paid
for their goods and supplies with gold. A recent visitor,
Robert Chandler, head historian for Wells Fargo, said that Mrs.
Trabucco paid for goods by sending gold to San Francisco by way of
Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has records that the gold was assayed by
the mint and then credited to the Trabucco's Store major
accounts such as Levi Strauss and A J Folgers. They in turn, paid
off the stores smaller accounts.
There is an original hand-painted sign on the
pitted plaster at the front of the building that says 'Mrs. Trabucco
Groceries'. David relates, "All the people want to know if
the holes, (in the front of the store) are bullet holes and if you
tell them no it is the woodpeckers, they are disappointed." While
David was going through the old things he discovered a wooden barrel
that had empty beer bottles that were to be sent back to the Buffalo
Brewing Company in Sacramento for recycling. One of the bottles was
full and had never been opened. He also discovered a file box of
original receipts for the store's purchases. In an old safe from
Hornitos he keeps a small bottle of Mercury labeled from the
Mariposa Drug Store when the phone number was 72J. There are
counters and shelving from the original store and even a trap door
that leads to a cellar where salted hams and meats were kept cool.
A painting of the old house next door by Duncan Spencer, that shows
David in the yard, hangs in the kitchen. David became friends with
Spencer, a well known artist, when he came to paint in Bear
Valley. David is also the "Mountain Man" in a well known John Burce
painting.
David invites visitors to guess what the two
large three dimensional paintings displayed on the wall are
of. He smiles and explains that they are replicas of old cigar
boxes that he salvaged from a restaurant in Monterey CA, "An the
dust and cobwebs are from Bear Valley". David states. "I am not an
antique buff I just like to collect things. The more room you have
the more you pack in." When asked if it is difficult living in a
"Museum", Shalmaria says, "We enjoy ourselves. It is a work in
progress."
For more
information on Bear Valley:
http://www.mariposaresearch.net/BVTrab.html
Books on Mariposa County History: http://www.historicmariposaandyosemite.com/books.html Mariposa Museum And History Center: http://www.mariposamuseum.com/
Linda Gast |
