West Calaveras resident Sal Manna has been a freelance journalist and writer for three decades, with publications in Time, People, Playboy, The Los Angeles Times, Boston Herald, Newsday, and many other newspapers and magazines. He is the Contributing Editor (History) of the Valley Springs News and writes a monthly local history column titled “Something From Nothing” for that newspaper.  Compilations of those articles are regularly published.  He has also co-authored the “Northern Calaveras County” and “Angels Camp and Copperopolis” editions of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series and has been published in the California Historical Society’s quarterly journal.  In 2006, he founded and became President of the nonprofit Society for the Preservation of West Calaveras History, which can be reached at westcalaverashistory.org. He lives in Burson, CA.