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Marysville - Yuba City, CaliforniaFebruary 13, 2000Community Section.
Appeal-Democrat
Forbestown mining cyberspaceForbestown now has a virtual address. Bob Osterhout put the Forbestown.com site on the World Wide Web last month "to give a little recognition" to the tiny foothills community, he said. "Ever since then my phone's been ringing," said the 51-year-old Forbestown resident. He also receives three or four e-mails a day from people who visit the site. He publicized the site primarily by putting up fliers in the local post office. "I've gotten a lot of input and stuff from the community," he said. "I think they're dancing in the streets over it now, half are probably aware of it. Half probably don't have computers." Osterhout describes himself as "founder, owner, Webmaster, head .... the whole works" of the site. He believes Forbestown.com is the first foothills community Web site and has aspirations to eventually start sites for the other neighboring towns. Osterhout has been working in the computer industry since the early 1970's and also runs the Road-Kill-Cafe.com and Shopinet.com Web sites, which have links on the Forbestown site. "It's a project I've wanted to do for a while," Osterhout said of Forbestown.com. He returned to the town in July after an absence of about 10 years. Osterhout previously lived in Forbestown for 5 years. "When I first moved up here, I kind of fell in love with the area," he said. "At that time, there was no Internet." Historical photos of the town's settlers from the 1800s and early 1900s are posted on the site, as well as historical information about the town. The Yuba Feather Historical Association assisted Osterhout with the photos and historical background. "They've been just a charm," he said of the organization. Other site features include information about Forbestown organizations, such as the Historical Association's Museum and Mount Hope Bible Conference Center. There are also listings for houses for sale, upcoming local events and links to other sites, including local media, businesses and law enforcement and a genealogical Web site. Visitors can sign a guest book and e-mail Osterhout with any questions about Forbestown. "I want it to be like a community gab session," he said. While he started the Web site more for fun than profit, Osterhout hopes to eventually be able to earn enough money for the site to pay for itself. Start-up cost were $120 and it costs $25 annually for him to keep the site on the Web. If it expands greatly, costs could run $25 a month. Osterhout plans to continue adding to the site before beginning Web pages for other towns. He foresees listing more local happenings, such as weddings, anniversaries, graduations and births of the local residents. "If someone gives me a baby picture, I'll be putting it on the front page," he said. Listings are free for Forbestown residents and $5 for all others. Osterhout says he doesn't anticipate beeing overwhelmed with requests because of the small size of the community. "Anything that happens here in town, I'd definitely like to know about it," he said.
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