Branches on the Conejo
Schroeder weaves an emotive, anecdotal memoir of the families who settled the Norwegian Colony north of Los Angeles in the Conejo Valley around Thousand Oaks, tamed the land, and then saw their ranches and farms dwindle away under development pressures. The work leans heavily into the roles played by women in the Western Expansion, and the remembered stories of her great great grandfather working with his neighbors to blast the Norwegian Grade out of solid rock to build a road to Ventura.