Adjacent to the Napa County Courthouse, Old Glory snaps in the brisk breeze from its tether over 100 feet in the air. Fancy iron latticework rises from the sturdy four-footed base into a seemingly delicate tapered top.

It's hard to imagine that 23 years ago, the then almost 100-year-old structure came close to becoming scrap metal.

What is the origin of the Eiffel Tower-like flagpole and how was it saved?

The first record found about a courthouse flagpole was Nov. 18, 1892 in the Napa Register. An aggrieved reporter said the County Board of Supervisors had just "taken steps" toward securing a flagstaff.

"Every county seat ought to have a liberty pole from which to fly the star spangled banner," the article pronounced. "The only wonder is that a move in this direction was not made sooner."

The supervisors wasted no time. A notice was posted in the Nov. 25, 1892 issue of the Napa Register that proposals were being accepted for a "Steel Flag Staff to be erected on the Court House Plaza in Napa City." Bidders were to submit their sealed bids by December 7, 1892.

On Dec. 9, 1892, the successful bidder was announced as Bay City Iron Works, with no city of origin noted. "According to plans two and three for a steel flag staff with a 10-foot base," the board agreed that Bay City Iron Work's bid of $575 was "fair and reasonable and the best bid received."

Bay City Iron Works had 70 days to complete the work.

A more elaborate description of the flagpole appeared in the Dec. 16 issue of the paper.

"The new steel flag staff to be erected in front of the Court House will be a neat, airy, strong structure and very ornamental. An excavation to the depth of four feet is to be made for the foundation piers, which will be of concrete, three feet at the base and two feet thick."

Specifications about the steel work continue with measurements and concluded: "The top will be surmounted by a copper ball of proper size. The structure will be painted with two coats of metallic paint."

Apparently not all of the boards' constituency were pleased with the digging and uproar erecting a flagpole involved. On Jan. 13, 1893 an opinion appeared in the Register.

"Those who were at first disposed to criticize to an unfriendly spirit the act of the old Board of Supervisors, which gave to the public plaza the steel flag staff now in process of erection, will, many of them at least, praise the enterprise when they see the sod green again beneath the ornamental tower and 'Old Glory' waving without a wrinkle from the pole whose top will have an altitude of 108 feet. It will be a grand public improvement worth all the money it will cost; yes, more, it will be 'a thing of joy and beauty forever.'"

It seems that hard feelings were overcome by the time the report appeared in the paper about the new flagpole on February 24, 1893.

"At precisely 12 minutes past 10 o'clock Wednesday, Supervisor Deweese raised the flag to the top of the new staff recently erected in Court House square. The proceeding was introduced by music from Prof. Simonds' College Band and witnessed by about 300 people. As the flag was hoisted, the band played 'The Star Spangled Banner' and the crowd cheered."

There was no preserved written mention at the time about the similarity to Alexandre Gustave Eiffel's 984-foot tower erected in Paris for the 1889 Paris Exposition. The French structural engineer's tower was unanimously chosen out of 700 proposals. Its base was four separate supports called pylons or bents, above which a slender tower was created as the bents tapered upward to a unified column.

Eiffel had also designed the wrought iron pylon inside Frederic Barthodi's Statue of Liberty in 1885. At the time of the tower's design, he was familiar with and acknowledged its similarity to a circular, iron frame tower proposed (but never built) by American engineers Clarke and Reeves for the 1876 Centennial Expo, the first World's Fair held in the United States.

The first preserved written notion that the flagpole was a "friendly gesture to the people of Paris," came in Register a column written by Louis Ezettie in 1984. In his popular column, Ezettie discusses the French Eiffel Tower and gives the sad news that Napa's local tower had serious rust conditions. The city's public works staff recommended the flag tower be dismantled, cleaned, decayed parts replaced or rebuilt and then reconstructed.

An initial estimate for the work was $15,000 (in subsequent articles the figure was raised to $30,000). Removal alone would cost $5,000. There was talk of replacing it with a conventional 50-foot wooden flagpole at a cost of $3,500, thus bringing the total for that idea to $8,000.

Ezettie opined, "The only proper solution in this matter is to restore and retain the tower Š I feel confident that the success of this patriotic project will be emphatically realized as it should be."

Ken Lamme, exalted ruler of Napa Elks Lodge at the time, also urged that the tower be saved. He started a drive to raise money toward the project. Albert Haberger, county administrator and a trustee of the Elks Lodge pointed out that the American flag is one of the major symbols of the lodge.

It took 14 months and the community's volunteer effort to restore the landmark to mint condition. The restoration project was coordinated through Joe Threat, by the Napa-Solano Builder's Exchange, and received support from The Elks Club, Napa Valley College, Kaiser Steel, North Bay Painting and others. Companies and workers donated labor and materials, sandblasted and re-fabricated welds, re-rolled angles and painted the structure. Eight students of Napa Valley College's welding instructor Glenn Self did much of the work. The project was done at no cost to the county.

"I have to say, this is one volunteer project that worked," said then Napa County Director of Public Works Harry Hamilton.

The Native Sons of the Golden West conducted a dedication ceremony for the restored flagpole on April 13, 1985. A Register clip predicted it would stand for more than another 100 years.

Another interesting feature on the courthouse grounds, near the intersection of Brown and Third Streets, is a giant rock with holes scooped out across its surface. A plaque informs visitors that it is a communal mortar rock in which Native Americans ground acorns. The plaque was donated by Napa Grange #307 in 1962.

On Aug. 21, 1942, a newspaper account records the rock's arrival at the courthouse.

"A seven and a half ton Indian grinding rock, containing over 60 holes for pounding and grinding acorns and grain, was place on the courthouse lawn yesterday as a monument to Indian tribes which once inhabited the Napa Valley.

"The historic rock was found on the property of E. Tarreco in the Dry Creek Canyon.

"Dee T. Davis, curator of the museum at Napa Junior College and teacher of California and local history, estimated that the rock was used by the Indians for ages -- probably for a least 1,000 years."

Free amusement -- a flagpole and a rock -- and some people say there's nothing to do in Napa.