No crawdads were harmed

I am beginning the 31 Day challenge series this month over at write31days.com and combining it with a photograph prompt list from captureyour365.com.

Prompt one is "Where I Work" which is Sacramento, California. One of the missions where I work is to protect the Sacramento Delta. Since I know very little about this complex ecosystem, I went on an educational science-based tour.  One of our stops was Locke.

 

 

Locke is the largest, most complete example of a rural, agricultural Chinese American community in the U.S.  After a fire destroyed the Chinese community in Walnut Grove, several Chinese businessmen decided to start a new community one mile to the North.  

 

 

 

The Chinese community thrived and the town eventually grew to 15 acres.   

 

 

By 1920, Locke was a popular location for Prohibition-era speakeasies due to the lack of police presence and provided recreation for the agricultural workforce and Caucasians from nearly cities.  

While the town population averaged about 600 people, it could swell to 1,500 during the growing season and on weekends. 

 

After World War II, many of the second generation of Locke residents began to leave the town for cities, in search of better economic opportunities.  

 

 

In 1990, Locke was designated a National Historic Landmark and Sacramento County continues to preserve the many original buildings in the historic district.  

 

I never knew this historic little town existed.  Oh, and the crawdad shown at the beginning of this post - he was released back into the Delta.  

On Day 2 I will feature a few more images from the region.