My wife and I recently Completed the restoration of the Will S. Green Cottage. Located at 220 Sixth Street, it is the most significant historical residence of Colusa. Our work included the removal of the dilapidated portions of the structure erected after the death of Mr. Green. A new foundation was constructed, the interior of the outside walls re-framed and the building completely rewired and re-plumbed. Also, the exterior walls and the ceiling were insulated; a new shingle roof put on; new flooring installed throughout; and, of course, repainted inside and out.

The foundation of the original cottage consisted primarily of a large stump. A tree within the foundation area had been cut down and the stump retained to support the floor joists through the center of the structure. Over the years, the stump didn't sprout nor rot; it is still there giving support to the building, the same as it has done for 133 years.

The project work was very extensive. Current building code requirements mandated a new foundation and the re-framing of the interior of the exterior walls. A fire retardant roof imitates the original roof. Any other kind of roofing would not have been compatible with the age and style of the building. We replaced the wood flooring in the living-dining area and the halls; installed new linoleum in the kitchen and bath and carpeted the two bedrooms. The fireplace and its chimney had to be rebuilt because of the crumbling mortar. The only item of furniture acquired with the house was a large china closet. Its large size, eight feet wide and nine feet tall, prevented it from being moved through the doors of the house. We refinished it and relocated it in the new dining area.

Jack Staples' "old time knowledge" and assistance made the reconstruction possible. A former carpenter, craftsman and contractor, Jack knew the ways of old buildings, including the repair and replacement of windows, doors, locks and everything else required for a complete reconstruction. I think of the cottage as the house that Jack built.

Some fifteen or twenty years ago, while planning retirement from the bench, I considered practicing law again and have my office in Will S. Green's old home. The County Court House and its immediate neighborhood played a big role in my life. I had worked there or nearby ever since I arrived in Colusa, fresh out of law-school. Over the years, Green's old house interested me as I watched it weather and get more and more dilapidated. I considered buying it some years ago but found that it was not for sale.

A couple of years ago the long time owner died. Mrs. Barbara Boggs inherited the property. The County of Colusa wanted to purchase the land for a parking lot. It had even gone to the trouble of getting permission to demolish the historic home of Will S. Green from the city of Colusa's Historical Preservation Committee. Mrs. Boggs didn't want the house demolished. She wanted it restored. Knowing our desire to save the structure, she sold it to us. Shortly thereafter the Heritage Preservation Committee gave us permission to restore the exterior to its 1880 state.

The Green Cottage is significant for two reasons: first and most important, as the home of Will S. Green, Colusa's most famous pioneer, and second, as one of Colusa's oldest homes. Although several older ones exist, they have been moved from their original location or so changed by alterations as to show little of their original appearance. On the other hand, the exterior of the Green Cottage, as restored, is identical to what it was when built in 1868. Located across the street from the County Courthouse, it occupies the most prominent location of any home in the City of Colusa.

When constructed in 1868 by Walker, Smith and Gifford, Marysville contractors, the cottage was a four-room house with a frontage of thirty feet and a depth of twenty-six feet. Sometime before 1880, a fourteen foot addition, containing two rooms, was added to the rear of the building. Both the original and its addition were of similar construction: single wall construction (horizontal redwood channel siding nailed to vertical 1"x 12" redwood boards), two over two sash windows, gable roof covered with cedar shingles and pine floor.

Insurance maps indicate that the house underwent additions and modifications between 1907 and 1918 after the death of Will Green. Because we wanted to return the house to its 1868 state, we remove all the additions before starting the restoration.

Will S. Green is Colusa County's most distinguished pioneer. He came to California in 1849. At the age of 18, he piloted a steamboat up the Sacrament River to join his Uncle Charles Semple. In 1850 he helped his uncle plot out the town-site of the present day City of Colusa. At the age of 30 he married Josephine Davis. Two years later, in 1864 their first child, Lucy, was born. The Greens moved from a rented house to their new home, on July 10, 1868. Josephine died at age thirty-six in 1881. Ten years later, in Salt Lake City, Will S. Green married Sally Morgan whom he had met at an irrigation meeting there a few years before. Green continued to live in the same house with his new wife until his death July 2, 1905, at the age of 73.

During a lifetime of public service Green held many public offices: County Surveyor (1858-1867), County Superintendent of Schools (1867), President (Mayor) of the Board of Trustees of the City of Colusa (1873-1876), Public School Trustee, California State Assemblyman (1868), U.S. Surveyor General for California (1892), California State Treasurer (1898), Trustee of the California State Library and a director of the State Board of Trade.

From 1863 until his death, Mr. Green was editor-publisher of the Colusa Sun. As early as 1864, he began writing a number of articles advocating irrigation of Sacramento Valley land by canals diverting water from the Sacramento River. He was very active in his efforts to achieve this objective. In June 1863, the Sacramento Valley Irrigation Company met and adopted articles of incorporation with Will S. Green as President. He also was President and Superintendent of the Stony Creek Canal Company formed in October 1881. On December 18, 1883, Green posted the first notice of the propose diversion of waters from the Sacramento River. In 1888, Green dragged a plow on the right of way of the proposed Central Irrigation District canal; thereby breaking ground for the planned 61-mile canal. He organized the Sacramento Valley Development Corporation to attract settlers for the soon to be irrigated land. His efforts over the years to bring water to the dry parched areas of the Sacramento Valley earned him the sobriquet "father of irrigation in the Sacramento Valley".

We, my wife and I, feel that we have been faithful to our plan, and that the building as restored reflects the cottage occupied by Will S. Green and his family.