BURSON, CA – November 12, 2009 – Did you know that the 1960s “Big Valley” TV series was inspired by a woman rancher in West Calaveras? Or that both the first and the most famous olive orchards in the entire region were in Wallace? How about Capt. Messenger during the Civil War or Catts Camp or the San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada Railroad or the area’s connections with Charles Darwin and Old Ironsides? Volume II of “Something From Nothing, The Early History Of West Calaveras County,” the second collection of the popular monthly columns penned by historian Sal Manna for the Valley Springs News, tells all of those fascinating stories and more, and are available for purchase beginning November 12.

Sal Manna with Something From Nothing, Vol. II: Photo by Tammy Beilstein

The 48-page, full color magazine adds numerous photographs to the original columns and follows Volume I which was published earlier this year. The only authoritative color publication ever produced about the area’s history, most of the magazine’s subjects had never before been written about.

Copies are currently available at the Valley Springs News, 10-G Nove Way, and from the author (for $12.50, including postage and handling, sent to PO Box 714, Burson, CA 95225). For further information, please call 772-0336.