The weddgiinfgt that became Napa history: 42 www.nAPAVA L L E Y L I F Emagaz ine. c om Article and photos by indra fortney Have you ever driven down a Napa street and wondered how it got its name? Mary Page relaxes in the garden. L ong before the acres of vineyards that now cover the Napa Valley were planted, two families settled here, and their surnames remain on the street signs for Ragatz and Trubody Lanes. John Trubody traveled from Cornwall, England to the Americas with his new wife, settling in Missouri. But ten years later, plagued by bouts of fever and chills, they took the advice to move to a warmer region. Trubody built a wagon with the help of a blacksmith, and in the spring of 1847 the family headed west to California. Trubody got a job working for John Sutter, building Sutter’s new flour mill on the American River. This resulted in a fortuitous opportunity: after Trubody had finished the flour mill project and moved to Yerba Buena, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma. When Trubody got wind of the news, he packed the family on a schooner and headed upriver to Mormon Island (many of the more than 2,500 immigrants who re-located to this Folsom area were Mormon—thus the name). This thriving gold rush town lasted only a short time in the books of history, as a fire destroyed most of the township in 1853; sadly, it was never rebuilt. After a few false starts, he got the break he was looking for, finding gold on a newly exposed sand bar. Trubody and his son, William, together sluiced out $10,000 worth of gold in six weeks. house + home
NVLife_MayJune_2014
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