Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes — Saturday, April 1, 2017

Español Italian Restaurant
Sacramento, California

Meeting called to order at 1:25pm by President Joel Windmiller. Twenty-nine people signed in today. Joel thanked everyone for coming and thanked Grant Gassman for finding the restaurant, which has been in continuous operation since 1925.

Introduction

• John Thompson from Clarksville Historical Society invited everyone to attend Clarksville Days on the Lincoln Highway in Clarksville.
• Steve Lisuk, member of the Galt Historical Society, attended the winter chapter meeting in their clubhouse and signed up.
• The Walldrons from Placerville
• Carol [last name unknown], who discovered place in Iowa.
• Larry Boerid attended the Galt meeting. He was interested in attending the LH national conference but has a conflict with the annual conference of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society.

Officer, Staff and Committee Reports

State Director: Bob Dieterich

• Unable to attend. No report.

President: Joel Windmiller

• 326 reminder cards sent. One returned.
• Dokken Engineering requested a 1928 marker for the Orangevale Bridge restoration. Members from Dokken Engineering helped cast the marker.
• The bridge restoration is complete and will open for traffic on June 3.
• Dokken Engineering made an extra rebar cage for the marker, so we now have an extra.
• Paul Gilger mentioned that only two people, Joel and Dick Taylor in Iowa, make the concrete markers.
• Originally 3000 markers were made and 2800 were placed by Boy Scouts. One was placed by the Auburn courthouse, one in Sylvan Corners, two in Sacramento, two in Vacaville, and two in Davis.
• Paul Gilger reported that the historical plaque by the terminus marker has been put back up. We were lucky that the plaque was still under warranty. Joel thanked Paul for his work to make this happen. The city of San Francisco required lots of paperwork. It is now aware of the importance of the marker and will stay in touch with us.

Vice-President: Neil Rodrigues

• Update: The stone bridge on the original alignment of the Lincoln Highway in Strawberry is being eroding away at the bottom of the bridge. If it continues to deteriorate, it will be closed to all traffic. Neil is trying to find the authority to get this repaired. Eldorado National Forest put him in touch with the appropriate party at Caltrans to approve the repair. He is now in the process of finding someone to work with; perhaps the Boy Scouts could help.

Treasurer: Grant Gassman

• One deposit: $261.00 from National.
• Distributions: $157.69 for marker restoration, and $200.00 for meeting expense.

Secretary: Jackie Lee

• Jackie was unable to attend. Greg Gassman is recording the meeting, Neil is taking notes.

Gary Kinst: Traveler Newsletter, Historian

• Gary was approached by a reporter from the Napa Valley Register, working on an article about the small stretch of the Lincoln Highway near Napa, from Jameson Canyon across the Carquinez Bridge. Gary happily answered his questions, finding that the reporter had done his research, visiting the web site and even reading The Traveler.
• The Daughters of the American Revolution requested a presentation in Stockton on May 6, 2017. They wanted to know why the highway happened, who started it, and what we are doing now to preserve the highway. They were not interested in all of his photos. Ten years ago, Gary had contacted Huell Howser of California’s Gold, asking if they wanted to do an episode on the Lincoln Highway, but they said had too much on their plate. Now there is a similar program called Rob on the Road, produced by KVIE, the PBS affiliate in Sacramento. Mark Hoffman’s company, Sports Leisure Vacations, is a sponsor of the program. He will suggest to the show’s host, Rob Stewart, that they cover Donner Pass. He is waiting to hear from them about doing an episode on the Lincoln Highway.

Sign Committee Chair: Michael Kaelin

• Galt sign project is complete, thanks to our president, Joel Windmiller.
• Lathrop: Mike attended two city council meetings and pointed out the history of the highway in their area. Now Lincoln Highway signs are complete. It is important to make presentations at the city council meetings to get signs placed.
• Tracy: the overpass on East 11th Street is 67% complete. There will be nice Lincoln Highway plaques at the midpoint of the bridge.
• Banta: a bypass of Banta Road is being studied that will involve Grant Line Road and Bird Road. Mike is not in favor of a lot of signs because there is a lot of commercial traffic on these wide boulevards, making our signs not very accessible.
• Next Mike will work with Kevin Shawver in Lodi and the rest of San Joaquin County to the Alameda County line, and then El Dorado County.
• Mike gives Joel credit for the Rancho Cordova signs, with full cooperation from the city.
• Mike has articles from National Geographic including the National Road from Cumberland, Maryland to Visalia, Illinois. Anyone who wanted the articles or magazines were to see Mike after.

Webmaster: Jimmy Lin

• Jimmy unable to attend, no report.

Speakers

• None to report.

Coach tours/car cruises: Mark Hoffman

• Mark was not present. Paul Gilger reported for Mark.
• One coach tour is planned this year, for the last Saturday of September or the first Saturday in October. The plan is to go up Interstate 80 to Donner Pass and around Lake Tahoe and back on US 50. It will be a grand tour of the Sierras.

Paul Gilger: Northwoods Tour

Paul first discussed the history of Lincoln Highway auto tours. The first one was in 2003 for the highway’s 90th anniversary. Then in 2013, the 100th Anniversary Tours started from New York and San Francisco, meeting in Kearney, Nebraska. In 2015, the Henry B. Joy Tour went from Detroit to San Francisco. In 2016, Jim Cassler planned the National Road/Route 66/Lincoln Highway Tour, ending in Joliet, Illinois.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the revitalization of the Lincoln Highway Association, which took place in Dennison, Iowa. For the past five years or so, the Iowa Lincoln Highway folks have been assisting the Jefferson Highway Association with day trips and organization.

This year’s tour, titled the Northwoods Tour, will start in Colo, Iowa, traveling one day on the Lincoln Highway, then four days north on the Jefferson Highway through Minnesota to Winnipeg, Canada. You must have passport to get into Canada and back into the U.S.

Old Business

• In 2019, the Military Vehicle Preservation Association plans a re-enactment of the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy. It is not open to the general public, and we will not participate.
• We are having our own tour in 2019, from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco. It will start at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, because the terminus marker is inaccessible.
• Jerry Peppers (New York state director): the 2018 Conference will be in New Jersey. There will be a tour from New York City to Washington, D.C. So far, no one has signed up to head it up.
• Joel recognized Paul as our map maker: “Kudos to Paul for all the hard work.”
• Mike Kaelin: Directional signs should be on the original alignments. Scott Miner suggested the corners have directional signs. Gary Kinst showed some brochures that are displayed at places like local historical societies or motels that have racks for information brochures. He suggested topics for our own brochures, such as Lincoln Highway self-guided tours with a map and pictures of the area, or local area field trips on the Lincoln Highway. He asked if anyone wants to take up the challenge of creating such brochures.

New Business

• John Thompson invited us to Clarksville for Clarksville Days on May 6, 2017, from 10am to 3pm. It includes a parade around 10:30. This will be the seventh annual event.
• Cindy Ainsworth, Nevada director and president of the Nevada chapter, was unable to join us.
• Kendra Stoll, History Librarian at Caltrans Transportation Library and History Center
  • The library is at 1120 N Street in Sacramento.
  • It has collections of old photos and maps and a digital library collection. It includes oral histories from workers on the road and people involved in state highway construction.
  • It is open to the public, but due to the small space, reservations are necessary a week in advance. Let Kendra know what you are researching in advance.
• Van Norden meadow restoration: The Forest Service will restore Van Norden meadow, which includes draining most of Lake Van Norden. The project will not affect Lake Van Norden Road, but two culverts need to be repaired.
• The chapter meeting on July 8, 2017 will be in Auburn. Details to be announced.
• Paul Gilger talked about a documentary filmed on the Lincoln Highway called 21 Days Under The Sky, available on Netflix. Four guys on motorcycles tour from San Francisco to Brookly. The Lincoln Highway is the fifth character in the documentary. The cinematography is breathtaking, capturing the changing landscape from west to east. Check the internet for a movie review. (Update: as of May 3, 2017, the documentary is no longer on Netflix.)

Adjournment

• Paul Gilger moves to adjourn, seconded by Michael Kaelin.
• Meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM.

Minutes by Greg Gassman, Neil Rodrigues, and Joel Windmiller. Edited by Jimmy Lin.