The preservation of the Armstrong Redwoods in Guerneville

Annals of Horticulture in North America
 for the Years 1889-1893

News in the nation in 1892

Big news in L.H. Bailey's Annals of Horticulture in North America..."A botanic garden for the preservation of California red woods has been established during the year by the donation in trust of 640 acres of red wood timber land in Sonoma county by Col JB Armstrong of Santa Rosa The tract is on the north bank of the Russian river The timber is in a good state of preservation The trustees of the garden are Miss Kate Armstrong daughter of the donor. E J Wickson, Charles H Shinn, Luther Burbank, and Robert U Johnson."

But was this premature news?

The Gnome-Mobile and Armstrong Redwoods and the Shinns

 

[No official pics to avoid Disney problems :O) ]

SOMEWHERE...while searching for the Shinn family's connection with the Armstrong Redwoods in Guerneville, I ran into a reference to the 1967 Disney movie, the Gnome-mobile. Being a fan of the Shinns and gnomes and the redwoods and vintage Disney, I had to find the movie.  

The original book, The Gnomobile: A Gnice Gnew Gnarrative with Gnonsense but Gnothing Gnaughty  was written in 1936 by Upton Sinclair !

The Walt Disney Museum wrote  "Celebrating 50 Years of Riding Along in the Gnome-Mobile" with the background. Upton Sinclair asked Walt to feature the Gnomobile in 1937 and he finally made a movie in 1967. But what inspired Sinclair to write the book in the first place? Kids? Grandkids? What was happening with lumbering in 1937? 

By the way, the Shinn connection was with getting the Armstrong Redwoods protected. A whole other story.