Whats the biggest lie thats survived local history books?
One of my favorites is Mountain Charley being bitten by the bear in 1854–and that he wore a silver plate in his head for the rest of his life. It’s not true. On his insistence, they put a silver plate in his head to cover a hole, but only for a week, because he got an infection. They had to operate on him and remove the plate. He got another infection and had to be operated on again, on the dining room table of National Hotel on South First Street in San Jose in 1855, using ether. They cleaned out the abscess in his brain, and he lived until 1892. What’s the oldest historical spot in the valley? Well, supposedly the first Mission Santa Clara was built Jan. 12, 1777, on the site of an Ohlone Indian village, at the north end of where San Jose Airport is today. And this really upsets me. It was called Tamien, like the light rail station they named in Willow Glen. Why did they name it that–just to confuse people? What’s the best-kept secret in the valley’s history? I could get in big tro
