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This cache is part of a series of caches dedicated to the reminiscence and admiration of Roseville's early dwellers. It is part of a series of caches called: "CACHE OUT IN ROSEVILLE"
The town of Roseville came into existence on August 13, 1864, when plans were filed with the Placer County Recorder's Office in Auburn. Blocks were laid out from 1 to 55, but names were conferred on only five of the streets: Atlantic, Pacific, Washington, Lincoln, and Grant.
Fast forward to the 1970's. Business and commercial development along the Douglas Boulevard corridor was delayed several years because a lava cap from the geologic past covered much of the area, with mountains of rock, making development virtually impossible. Several potential developers had tried to develop the area, but had to give up when the City halted blasting operations. The story was (depending on whom you ask) that rock blasting was either prohibited or banned after a man named Bill Strauch blew a piece of granite through an influential Rosevillager's roof. Either way, nobody knew how to clear the land.
They were all amazed when Bill Strauch took a piece of land where the TJ Maxx Plaza now sits and planned to build. "They all thought that Bill had lost it," his daughter, Candy Strauch Stephenson recalls. Bill bought an enormous earthmover -- an Allis-Chalmers HD-41 -- that could move 32 yards of earth and rock at a time. With the big machine, he ripped and dozed the site. "They all stopped laughing at him and went out to buy HD-41's." So now we can credit (or blame) Bill Strauch for the development of today's busy Douglas Boulevard. And there's even a street named after him.