Lincoln Highway Association California
Lincoln Highway Association
California

Quarterly Chapter Meeting Minutes — Saturday, July 13, 2019

Rainbow Tavern and Lodge
Soda Springs, California

  1. Meeting called to order: 1:09 pm
  2. 44 people signed attendance sheet
  3. Introductions
    1. Bill von Tagen from Idaho: ½ of the Idaho membership
    2. Monica Pitsenberger from Adventures in California History and the wife of our chapter vice-president
  4. Approval of April meeting minutes
    1. Trey Pitsenberger moved to approve the April meeting minutes.
    2. Leon Schegg seconded the motion.
    3. Motion passed.
  5. Officer, staff, and committee reports
    1. Neil Rodrigues: State Director
      1. Wyoming Conference in Rock Springs
        1. Meeting and tours, historic sightseeing
        2. We (the California Chapter) are the host for the 2021 Conference
      2. Brochures will be funded by National
      3. Bill von Tagen donated $250 to our chapter
      4. National funding: Agreed that we should have a budget item for signage for each state. A write-up needs to be made to ask for funding from National.
      5. Survey: results will be coming out in the next Forum.
      6. Online service for renewing memberships are in our future.
      7. History: Jimmy has already added a history section to the national LHA web site. Check it out!
      8. Map: It would be great to add a written or video tutorial.
    2. Joel Windmiller: President
      1. Old Business
        1. West Sacramento Signage: pair of signs given to Public Works Department to be mounted on a light pole east of the Jefferson Boulevard intersection, under Historic US 40 sign.
        2. Truckee Sign Replacement: Contacted Mark Clark of Truckee Public Works concerning replacement of Historic Lincoln Highway signage along Donner Pass Road. Replacement signs made of thicker aluminum with reinforced bracing for snow removal along Donner Pass Road.
      2. New Business
        1. Placer County Railroad Subway “L” Painting Project: Contacted Peter Kraatz and Kevin Taber of Placer County Public Works Department office in Kings Beach. They have been given approval to paint our red, white, and blue Lincoln Highway “L”s on the railroad subways along the 1913 and 1926 alignments of the Lincoln-Victory highways and U.S. 40 between Applegate and Baxter.
        2. Replica Marker Restoration Project: Several replica concrete markers have had a weatherproof coating applied and its red, white and blue paint refreshed, in West Sacramento, Gold Run, and Donner Summit. The coating will protect the markers from further concrete spalling and cracking due to temperatures changes during the summer and winter seasons.
        3. Terminus Marker area clean-up: Paul Gilger informed the board of the overgrown weeds and brush around the Terminus Marker behind the bus stop in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Joel contacted Nathan Tinclair, Deputy Director of Partnerships at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, concerning the area around the marker. Nathan sent a crew out to cut down the weeds and minor brush. Trey and Monica visited the site and saw that the area had some work done, but that a pole remained on the ground which still needed to be removed. Additional email was sent to Nathan concerning removal of the pole.
        4. A new Facebook Group, Lincoln Highway in the Golden State, was created in June 2019 to focus on the California section of the route. Gary, Trey, Jimmy, Paul and Joel are administrators. Please check out the group and join.
        5. Certificates of Appreciation to Trey and Monica Pitsenberger for their work in promoting the Lincoln Highway, and to Neil Rodrigues for his work as state director and photographer
    3. Trey Pitsenberger: Vice-president
      1. Arts Council of Placerville will be doing a display for the army convoy. There will be lots of memorabilia from 1919. The convoy will be coming through Placerville and hopefully we will be able to do something when the convoy comes through on the 100-year anniversary tour.
      2. Folsom Prison was involved in building the section of the Lincoln Highway near Clarksville. Maybe we could do something with the Folsom Prison and the inmates to commemorate their involvement with the Lincoln Highway. Trey has a piece of the LH that was torn up that could be given to the prison. It would great to get Folsom signed in conjunction with these activities.
      3. We are painting “L”s in Newcastle, Applegate, Weimar, and the South Yuba Bridge.
      4. Placerville City Council: The next step is trying to get them interested in signing the road.
      5. Webber Creek Bridge in El Dorado County: Trying to figure out if we can paint our sign on the bridge. Who would we need permission from the county?
    4. Grant Gassman: Treasurer
      1. Deposits
        1. $630.00: Rainbow Lodge lunch reimbursement
        2. $35.00: Rainbow Lodge lunch reimbursement
        3. $560.00: Rainbow Lodge lunch reimbursement
        4. $144.00: National
      2. Disbursements
        1. $819.06: Rainbow Lodge lunch/meeting room
        2. $1,038.68: Rainbow Lodge lunch/meeting room
        3. $884.85: Klingstedt Bros. for the brochures
      3. Balance: Contact chapter for details
    5. Paulette Johnston: Secretary
      1. Paulette attended the Lincoln Highway Conference in Wyoming. At the conference, Neil Rodrigues was awarded Friend of the Lincoln Highway.
      2. Also at the conference, Nolan Stolz presented his orchestral suite, Lincoln Highway Suite, which was amazing.
    6. Gary Kinst: Chapter Historian
      1. Unfortunately, Gary could not attend due to health issues.
      2. There was much praise at the meeting for the latest issue of The Traveler.
      3. Bob Dieterich was the first person to be put on the cover of The Traveler twice (and two issues in a row): once to honor him for winning an award from the chapter, and again to mourn his passing and remember his legacy.
    7. Jimmy Lin: Website Update
      1. Jimmy presented a report on LHA web stats. High-level takeaways:
        1. Traffic overall is relatively flat, although homepage traffic is inching up.
        2. Mobile traffic is on a long-term trend to surpass desktop traffic.
        3. The big holes in our social media strategy: no YouTube or Instagram accounts. Jimmy will set those up.
      2. Jimmy also presented a history of the Lincoln Highway Association’s website.
    8. Michael Kaelin: Signage
      1. Ken Cooper of Manteca is a new member and Michael wanted to thank him for getting him here today.
      2. Reviewed a list of successful projects all over California.
      3. Requested more people to help take on signage work.
    9. Mark Hoffman: Coach tours
      1. Working on a couple coach trips for next year.
      2. Hoping to do one with a lunch stop at the Rainbow Lodge
      3. For more information about his tour company, you can tune into Mark’s radio show, The Travel Guys, on KFBK 1350 AM and 93.1 FM in Sacramento on Sundays at 3–4 pm, or online at travelguysradio.com.
      4. Please let him know if there are places along the highway that would be a good stop.
    10. Cindy Ainsworth: Nevada chapter president
      1. Day trip on August 24 to Fallon. Jim Bonar will be one of our tour guides. There will be a stop in Dayton at the Historical Society of Dayton Valley. Information given out on a business card.
      2. At the Depot Brewery on East 4th Street in Reno (1928 alignment), signs have been installed, and an interpretive map is being mounted as early as next Saturday. A dedication will follow.
      3. Along East 4th Street, buildings are being restored and the Lincoln Highway is being recognized.
      4. Pitch Black Printing is hosting an exhibit on the Lincoln Highway, called Reviving Lincoln.
      5. Bill von Tagen donated to the chapter for signage.
    11. Bill von Tagen: At-large Director
      1. “At-large director” means that Bill doesn’t represent a particular state but still does his part in educating others about the LH.
      2. Planning committee on Rock Springs Conference: Please give feedback. Bill played a role in securing a grant from the Wyoming Office of Tourism to help with the Lincoln Highway conference.
      3. Bill will be giving a presentation at Donner Memorial State Park next Friday at 5:30 pm. It will be about the history of the railroad and the LH. He has also given presentations in Idaho about the LH so people will at least know it exists.
      4. Signage is near and dear to his heart because this is often how people get their first inkling of the existence of the Lincoln Highway.
  6. Old business
    1. 2019 Military Convoy Tour (Paul)
      1. 80 people in 50 cars signed up
      2. Driving instructions down to the last 2 days
      3. 3500 miles, 17 days
      4. In California on Sunday, September 15
        1. Carson City Mint
        2. Lunch in South Lake Tahoe
        3. Dinner will be the closing dinner for the tour
    2. West Capital Avenue signage in West Sacramento (Joel) — discussed above
    3. 2019 Conference in Rock Springs, Wyoming (Neil) — discussed above
    4. 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad (Bill) — discussed above
    5. Truckee sign replacement (Joel and Bill) — discussed above
    6. Members — no report
  7. New business
    1. Awards (Joel) — discussed above
    2. Norm Sayler: President of the Donner Summit Historical Society
      1. Norm led the effort to get Historic US 40 recognized by the state. Eddie Lang was instrumental in having it signed.
      2. Norm regrets not getting the Lincoln Highway recognized at the same time as US 40. He thinks that we should rally to get LH and Victory Highway designated as a historic highway, through the state legislature or Congress.
      3. Jimmy has some information on what needs to be done in order to be recognized as a historic highway.
    3. Placer County Railroad Subway “L” Painting Project (Joel, Trey, and Monica) — discussed above
    4. Replica Marker Restoration Project (Joel) — discussed above
    5. Terminus Marker area clean-up (Joel, Paul, and Trey) — discussed above
    6. National Conference (Neil)
      1. 2020 Conference will be in Jolliet, Illinois
    7. Facebook group: Lincoln Highway in the Golden State (Joel) — discussed above
    8. Signs (Michael and Joel) — discussed above
    9. Adventures in California History (Trey) — discussed above
    10. Members: No report
  8. Jimmy Lin moved to end meeting. Neil Rodrigues seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
  9. Intermission: 5 minutes
  10. Presentation by Neil Rodrigues: Donner History Along the Lincoln

Respectfully submitted
Paulette Johnston, Secretary
September 2, 2019

Edited by Joel Windmiller and James Lin

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