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Volume I, Number I Sonora, California WinterThe Mountain Home Gazette8By Michael Gahagan Mountain Home Gifts is celebrating its tenth Holiday Season with an expanded and updated inventory of goods, supplies, provisions, a new art and poster gallery and the first edition of The Mountain Home Gazette. The indubitable publication will feature items and pricing for mountain and high country homes and cabins highlighting goods, furnishings and genuine merchandise available at the store location and in a newly developed online store. The Mountain Home Gazette, available in-store, by mail or in a digital version, will not only feature history columns, dispatch-es from the high country, but also cur-rent news, views, tidbits and events along the Sonora to Sonora Pass “trails” that will “appeal to visitors and longtime res-idents alike,” according to fearless Editor Michael Gahagan. In addition, future plans will include fea-tures such as “Classyfieds,” a directory of local organizations “Spheres of Influence,” and event updates, to keep you current with all the community doin’s.8READ ALL ABOUT IT! EXTRA! EXTRA!LOCATED AT THE N. E. CORNEROF WASHINGTON AND LINOBERG streetsThe MountainHome GazetteHappyHolidaySeason!GazetteGazetteAt the northeast corner of Washington and Linoberg Streets since the late 1800s. The building has formerly housed optometry ofces and a restaurant.The Current Home of Mountain Home GiftsMountain Home Gifts, Historic Corner of Sonora The mid-town Sonora street corner location of Mountain Home Gifts has been literally the cornerstone of Sonora com-merce for the last 100 years or more. Just across the street, is the home of the Sonora Union Democrat, one of the oldest daily newspapers in the state of California. The Union Democrat is housed in a building that was originally built for Sonora National Bank in 1913. In 1917, the Sonora National was purchased by the First National Bank and operated until around 1931 when it was purchased by Bank of America. The building was sold to the Sonora Union Democrat and remains the newspaper’s headquarters to this day. Just across Linoberg Street (now Linoberg Lane, pedestrian park and out-door dining area), is the home, since 1991, TheThe Mountain HomeMountain Homeof the Diamondback Grill, formerly the Lasso Coffee Shop. The restaurant has been a diner for over 90 years and in earlier days represented a true slice of Americana across the street. Catty-corner from Mountain Home Gifts, The Sportsman has been there since the 1920s. Van Vleer Meat Market was the first business to move into the brick con-structed building in the 1930s. In 1941, the Punters moved into the recently vacated meat market. Vic Filiberti partnered with Harold Hobbs in 1947, when it was the Punter & Burns Cigar Store. For 70 years the historic bar and gun store, The Sportsman, has become the last of its kind in California where you can buy a beer, purchase a firearm and ammo in the same place. Photograph from the book “Sonora”
“The mountains are calling and I must go,” exclaimed John Muir, the patron saint of environmentalism, an epic gure who saved Yosemite and helped establish it as part of the national park system in 1890. “If you understand exactly what he meant you will nd Mountain Home Gifts in Sonora the per-fect store for you,” according to John Williams, proprietor. “How ever you spend time in the mountains, at the cabin, at a campsite or at your moun-tain home Mountain Home Gifts has just the right gift or artwork for your place in the mountains,” John explained. Mountain Home Gifts opened in 2010 in downtown Sonora. It was a love of time spent growing up in the mountains that led third generation pharmacist and So-nora pharmacy owner John Williams to open the store. Raised in Sonora and having attend-ed elementary and high school in Sonora, John went on to Oregon State University to get a pharmacy degree. John returned to Sonora after college and eventually bought the family pharmacy. The idea to open Mountain Home Gifts came from John’s own love of the moun-tains and as he often says, “I opened the Sonora, California 2020Page TwoMusin’s ’n Cogitations from Sonora to the PassBy Michael GahaganMountain Home Gifts for High Country Lifestyle Highway 108 Originally a Toll RoadThe MOUNTAIN HOME GAZETTEA Distinctive Quarterly“For the peopleand by the peoplefrom Sonora to the Pass”Mountain Home Gifts87 South Washington Street Sonora, California 95370209.533.5319e.mail: info@mountainhomeshop.comonline shopping: mountainhomeshop.comwww.facebook.com/MountainHomeGifts/ The oldest trans-Sierra emigrant trail to California crossed over the spectacular Sonora Pass. Today’s Highway 108, from the Sonora Pass to Sonora, travels along a similar route as the old Sonora-Mono Toll Road. The Sonora-Mono road was eventual-ly completed in 1864 to increase the ow of supplies from Tuolumne County to new gold camps on the east side of the Sierra Ne-vada. When the gold rush fever subsided and the mines played out, the area’s vast forests along the road provided cattle grazing and logging opportunities. The Stanislaus National Forest was created in 1897 and other areas developed later along the Sonora-Mono Road include Twain Harte, Condence, Mi-Wuk Vil-lage, Sugar Pine, Long Barn, Dodge Ridge, Strawberry, Pinecrest, and Kennedy Meadows. The Sonora Pass Corridorstore because it was the kind of cabin gift store I wanted to shop in but no one was opening one, so I opened one.” Mountain Home Gifts has become a unique and special store with a collection of gift items and artwork that celebrates all aspects of spending time in the mountains. “There is more than just cab-in décor, you can nd items for camping, hiking, RVers or just beautiful décor for any home,” John added. The store has an extensive book selection that includes hiking guides of the sierras, Yosemite and Sonora history and cabin and outdoor cooking. Mountain Home Gifts is also a source for eece clothing and mountain themed hoodies and t-shirts. “What makes the store truly unique,” John said, “is that more and more, the items at Mountain Home Gifts are now being de-signed by us and made exclusively for the store.” “Searching out great artists and manu-facturers to create our designs,” John said, “and with a visit to the store in downtown Sonora or to the store’s online website and shopping cart, you can see and feel this love of the mountains,” California Highways
Page ThreeTHE MOUNTAIN HOME GAZETTE For more detailed information about the listed events and scheduling up dates:NOTICE ABOUT EVENTS: Many events are being postponed or canceled due to Coronavirus. Please check the event’s main webpage (see below)or call the organizer directly ahead of time to check the status of the event.Northern hub for Yosemite National Park visitorsNorthern hub for Yosemite National Park visitorsHistoric downtown Sonora info: www.sonorachamber.com Queen of the Southern MinesQueen of the Southern Mines sonorasonora Mountain Home Gifts87 S. Washington Streetat the corner of Linoberg209-533-5319Gifts for everyone who loves the mountainsIf you visit just one shop in Sonora, this is it!Mountain Home GiftsPhotograph from the book “Sonora”Bustling Downtown Sonora (Circa 1920)Editor’s Note: The book “Sonora” containing several hundred vintage pho-tographs of Sonora can be purchased at Mountain Home Gifts along with a number of other titles of publications celebrating the history and lifestyles of Tuolumne County and its high country communities along Highway 108 from Sonora (elevation 2,946’) to the historic Sonora Pass (9,623’), the second highest highway pass in California. Sonora (actually Sonora Camp) was named by the fortune seekers from the State of Sonora, Mexico. They came from all over the world to this place after the rst ofcial strike was recorded on May 17, 1849. The mining camps quickly became bustling international settlements. Because of the rapid growth of fortune seekers in the Sonoran gold elds, the boisterous boomtown, with a population of some 5,000, began to organize as a city with the surrounding population swelling to some 20,000. In 1851, the “Queen of the Southern Mines” as Sonora was becoming known, was incorporated as the 11th community in California, also becoming the county seat of one of the original 27 counties in the state. During the early years of the gold rush in the Mother Lode, Sonora became known as the richest town among those springing up from Sacramento south to the rapidly civilizing community. The Union Democrat, a surviving early newspaper still published in Sonora, proclaimed on July 29, 1854 “the miners on Woods creek are reaping their ‘golden harvest.’ This is decidedly the best mining district in not only the state, but the world.”Mountain Home Gifts, Historic Corner of SonoraPints in the Pines/Oktoberfest, Twain Harte Oct 3Sonora Certified Farmers Market Oct 3Sugar Pine Trail Run, Twain Harte Oct 3Airport Day, Pine Mountain Lake, Groveland Oct 3Ice Cube, Black Oak Casino Resort Oct 42nd Saturday Art Night (pending), Sonora Oct 10 Tuolumne County—Regional Events ScheduleVeterans Day Remembrance, Columbia Nov 11 2nd Saturday Art Night (pending), Sonora Nov 14 Annual Sonora Christmas Parade Nov 27Sonora Victorian Christmas Festival Nov 27Paul Thorn, Black Oak Casino Resort Dec 102nd Saturday Art Night (pending), Sonora Dec 12 Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau 800.446.1333 Events page: www.visittuolumne.com/eventswww.facebook.com/TuolumneCountyWorth ItsWeight in Gold!FF RR EE EE Sign Up Now!Send Us Your Email Address to receive (no extra charge) by email the quarterly Mountain Home Gazette, our monthly newsletter, periodic special notices about Sonora area events and our sensational seasonal sales.Send email address to:info@mountainhomeshop.comLike Us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/MountainHomeGifts/online shopping: www.mountainhomeshop.com
Mountain Home GiftsMountain Home Gifts87 South Washington Street, Sonora, California 95370209.533.5319info@mountainhomeshop.com www.facebook.com/MountainHomeGifts/ online shopping: www.mountainhomeshop.comCelebrate seasons at the cabin at Mountain Home. Let’s Get Toasted sign 5 Inch, $8.95, Watermelon Slice Salt & Pepper $12.95, 4 ounce Mini Enamelware Mug, $3.85.For those who have a special place in their heart for Pinecrest Lake here in the Sierras we think this sign says it all. American made this 5 1/2 inch square wood block sign is $8.95.Some of our our classic jute rug rustic cabin place mats. Available at the retail store and the online store $10.95. online shopping cart: www.mountainhomeshop.comOne of the many books in the store library now for sale.Perfect for those relaxed evenings any time of the year at the cabin, or mountain home, $26.99. Buy It Now! Buy It Now!