Sal Manna

I recently had the good fortune to speak with Sal Manna, the President of the Society for the Preservation of Western Calaveras History. Sal is many things to many people, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that, for a man who finds his passion among time-yellowed documents, dates of note and personalities from distant times, Sal is as contemporary and dynamic as they come. With interests and experiences as varied as anyone I've met, I found Sal charming and fascinating; I think you will, too.

Turning 52 years of age on the day I spoke with him, Sal recalled a brief synopsis of his life: He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and left at 6 years of age to move to a South Florida suburb. He graduated from Journalism School at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Sal lived in Los Angeles, California, for twenty-five years before moving to Burson.

The transition from Los Angeles to Burson may seem a little jarring at first blush, but Sal was already acclimated to a more rural lifestyle, for the very reason that brought him here: his interest in the sport of sheep- and cattle-herding and showing Australian Shepherds. Sal maintained his interest in the sport long before coming to the Calaveras Region, working his dogs outside the L.A. area on a regular basis for nearly five years, which kept him connected to a more rural way of life. "Most every weekend, I was at a ranch somewhere [working with my dogs]. So, it wasn't quite as much of a shock as people might think."

Add that to the fact that Sal found himself at a point in his business where he wasn't tied to Los Angeles for his work, thanks in large part to the Internet, and the transition seems even more natural. "All I needed was the Internet, a phone, and as long as a FedEx or UPS guy would drive up a dirt road somewhere, I could be anywhere. I always loved this general area and the gold country. I started looking for a place to live, where I could have my own sheep and set up a training arena and bring my dogs," Sal said.

Along with the sense that professional challenges lay elsewhere, the needs of his chosen sport actually helped him to choose Burson over all the other cities and towns from which he had to choose. One of the most notable features that won Manna over was flat expanses of land, a relative rarity in this region. When Sal found suitable level land for a trial arena, as well as affordable land, Burson was well on its way to garnering its newest resident.

Burson is fortunate that its characteristics drew him in. Sal has been a freelance writer for over 30 years, a profession that has afforded him a freedom and flexibility that he cherishes, and has taken him on a long and exciting journey. Starting with his first paid writing job at 13, Sal wrote a controversial article for the Hollywood Sun Sentinel (now known as the South Florida Sun Sentinel). The work focused on his school's hair policy and took on his Principal's views on the subject. "The High School Principal did not appreciate being criticized for not allowing long hair." Sal notes that it may have been an early point in a theme: freedom. Sal found that writing gave him the freedom that he would continue to value for years, and still values today. "I've had a pretty unusual life, and have been able to be freer than most people." Fast-forward a few decades, and life finds a Sal Manna that has done virtually every kind of freelance writing there is, and ditched his last nine-to-five job in 1978. He ended up specializing in the music industry, writing bios and press releases. Sal has accrued such a rich background in this area that he developed what amounts to an intellectual parlor trick: inviting his interlocutor to choose their three favorite musical artists, and describing his many contacts with that musical entity. Odds are great that Sal has worked with the artists you favor, and even this interviewer, with a lineup of artists from foreign shores, couldn't stump Sal and his vast anthology of personae.

Sal's latest work and passion have been as the driving force behind the Society for the Preservation of West Calaveras History (SPWCH). What may be most interesting is the organic way he came to be such an important factor in refining and updating the town's history: "When I came here, being a curious, journalist-writer type, after a few months, I said, 'I live in a place called Burson; who is Mr. or Mrs. Burson?' I asked around a little bit, and no one knew. I went to the County Historical Society, and they had a fifth grader's essay. written in the 1960's with, like, one photograph. I said, 'geez, there must be more than this.'" Sal began his research at the archives and elsewhere, finding Mr. Burson's gravesite in Lockeford, and that he was a Civil War veteran. From there, things began to snowball, and his detective work wound its way into many of the interesting people and places surrounding the area, including Wallace and Valley Springs.

One of the most striking things about Mr. Manna's discoveries is the serendipity of it all, and how close they came to never having occurred at all. "If someone had given me a 20-page pamphlet with the history of the area. I would've said 'Okay, well, now I have a copy, and now I know.' But there was a vacuum to be filled, and for whatever reason, I showed up at the right time." If not for discovering that need, Sal may have moved on, leaving many local stones unturned.

For Sal Manna, the freelance writer's story is still being written, but a worthy summary would be the search for freedom and a challenge. He continues to freelance, writing for the music industry, pursues his love of Australian Shepherds and their sport, and pursues challenges, including breaking new ground, unearthing and reviving west Calaveras history.

By Tom Bickle