Coloma is the textbook Northern California field trip. After all, it's where James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, forever changing our western landscape. It was where I spent a warm afternoon as a grade schooler, running along dusty trails and daydreaming of life as a gold miner in search of a fortune.
I find it puzzling that, a scant mile or two away from the gold discovery monument you'll find a historic site that until recently was hidden history for most people. Gold Hill is where the courageous Wakamatsu Colony Settled 21 years after Sutter’s discovery, representing the first Japanese settlement in North America. This location is also the only settlement outside of Japan that was established by Samurai, the legendary military nobility.
Fortunately more people are beginning to learn of the Wakamatsu Tea & Silk Colony. In fact, last weekend’s Wakamatsu Festival attracted some 700 people. It was great to see people of all ages and backgrounds grow in their understanding of the value of this historic site.
Kay Ryugo, a retired U.C. Davis professor who has been to the site many times, welcomed the big turnout. He has been to the Wakamatsu site many times, first visiting as a boy. His father Jutaro was a farm laborer at the ranch and told Kay about seeing smoke billowing from San Francisco across the sky after the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.Kay remembers his father’s stories of the Wakamatsu site and meeting the Veerkamp family, longtime property owners.
The Wakamatsu Colony site is in the Sierra Foothills about a one-hour drive from Sacramento. Thanks to the Japanese American community, American River Conservancy and many other dedicated groups and individuals the site is being preserved and restored. It's a history lesson not only for Kay Ryugo's family, but for all of us.
Learn more - Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Farm
Jim Morris is Communications Manager for the California Rice Commission. Jim has worked in communications for more than 20 years. When he’s not on the job, he enjoys his family, faith, football, outrageous monster stories and running marathons.
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