About 2 years ago I came across a soot covered California in a box of very blackened insulators in an antique store. The owner told me they had come to him via an old lineman from Spokane. There were two dripped Star 164's in the box, leading me to think this lot may have originated out of Snohomish County where those were found. Well, the California had an odd orange-ish color, even through the soot, and when cleaned turned out to the one shown here on the left. A strong peachy pink and yellow mix. Saturday my brother brought this one on the right for me to look at. He got it from a lineman who worked for the Hecla Mining Co. up in the Silver Valley. This fellow told him all his insulators came off installations he worked on up there in that area.

Purple 161 California's were still on poles all over the area east of Seattle when I was growing up, but I have never heard of them being found around Spokane. The Peachy color is rare in California's, and leaves me wondering if this first one I found didn't come from up there in the Silver Valley as well. Either way, they look real good together. One is way more orange with a band of yellow across the skirt, while the other has a strong orange dome with a more yellow-straw body. Some of these California colors are simply stunning.