Louise Kirk referred us to review pages 61 & 61 from Joanne Levy's They Saw the Elephant. The quotes are relevant to Diggins construction, so it seemed like a good time to post them:
Louisa Clapp believed, as did Mrs. Berry and thousands of other wives, that accompanying her husband to the mines was preferable to being left behind, whatever the discomfort. Like most emigrant women, Mrs. Clapp readily adapted to her rustic log cabin. As Harriet Ward, a fifty-year-old grandmother, observed of her log home: "Living in such a house does not make half the difference with one's happiness you would imagine."
Even so, Louisa Clapp's home at Indian Bar, near Rich Bar, was a far departure from her New England, or Even San Francisco, experience. Dame Shirley's cabin still enchants those who tour it with her:
"Enter my dear; you are perfectly welcome; besides, we could not keep you out if we would, as there is not even a latch on the canvas door. . .
The room into which we have just entered is about twenty feet square. It is lined over the top with white cotton cloth, the breadths of which being sewed together only in spots, stretch apart in many places, giving one a birds-eye view of the shingles above. The sides are hung with a gaudy chintz, which I consider a perfect marvel of calico printing. The artist seems to have exhausted himself on roses; from the largest cabbage, down to the tiniest Burgundy, he has arranged them in every possible variety of wreath, garland, bouquet, and single flower. . . .
A curtain of the above-described chintz, (I shall hem it at the first opportunity), divides off a portion of the room. . .
The fireplace is built of stones and mud. . . The mantle-piece---remember that on this portion of a great building, some artists, by their exquisite workmanship, have become world-renowned-- is formed of beam and wood, covered with strips of tin procured from cans, upon which still remain in black hieroglyphics, the names of the different eatables which they formerly contained. Two smooth stones---how delightfully primative--do duty as fire dogs. I suppose that it would be no more than civil to call a hole two feet square in one side of the room, a window, although it is as yet guiltless of glass.
We'll continue this later. If you are on the edge of your seat, our library has two copies of this book for your use, as well as many other research options! Library hours are Tuesday 12-2, Archive Thursday 10-12. The Library/Archive is located behind the Main Street Firehouse.
We promised to post the map of the Diggins site, and we will soon, along with the registration forms and schedule sign-ups.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Kudos to our great construction crew!
Hard at work this morning, before the frost had melted, even, was our hard-working construction crew, finishing up the new Theatre.
Thanks to: Jerry T, Larry B, Bernie W, Dave W and John H!
They'll be back out again tomorrow if you want to join them.
Thanks to: Jerry T, Larry B, Bernie W, Dave W and John H!
They'll be back out again tomorrow if you want to join them.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Work Crew Schedule Additions
The Work Crew is scheduled to work next Saturday & Sunday, January 19th & 20th, starting at 9am.
There is also a work crew meeting after the docent meeting on February 9th at 1:00.
Notes from Meeting
The Diggins Planning meeting on January 11th was very well attended! It was great to see everyone there. In Attendance: Dave W., Bernie, Gary & Yvonne, Larry, Danette & Floyd, Dave & Judith, Tom & Dolores W., Sherrin, John H., Marianne, Diane M., Ruth F., Thonni & Alan, John and Melinda H., John and Diane G., Jerry & Sandy, Jim & Louise, Amber & Kim.
We were able to confirm venue heads for most of the venues. We still have questions about Cazneau's Theatre, Wheelright, Express Office, Dag Studio, and a couple of smaller venues.
There are lots of grand plans for construction improvements, but we are, as always, limited by labor and funds. Larry and his crew are going to do what they can to accomplish what they can, but will most likely be prioritizing the bakery, canvas for the newer buildings, and doing what they can to develop a "starter" boarding house on the outskirts of town.
Amber led a productive brainstorming session on interpretive opportunities, and here are some of the ideas suggested: more roaming town with purpose (docents making demonstration purchases, etc), more business transactions occurring between costumed interpreters (auctions, selling out businesses leaving mines), develop a newspaper for the coffee saloon and reading room, info scavenger hunt for release at portals (or, alternatively, suggested questions and prompts for visitors to ask interpreters), head shots and "bios" of interpreters to post on this site or in green room, so our many interpreters can be spurred to interact with each other spontaneously, suggestions for interpreters to break ice with the curious public, merchants requesting drafts at the express, peddlers selling used items, cooked potatoes for sale, used clothes "bone man", better heirloom agriculture products.
Our next meeting is March 1st at 6pm. We are hoping to finalize shift schedules, budgets, and other fun stuff then!
Friday, January 11, 2008
NEW Subscribe via Email
We had a problem with the "widget" (the free bit of software that makes this feature work) and had to replace it.
If you subscribed before, you probably need to do it again!
We apologize, but remember, this is all new to us too!
If you want us to subscribe your email address for you, call us at 209-588-9128, and we'll be happy to do it for you.
If you subscribed before, you probably need to do it again!
We apologize, but remember, this is all new to us too!
If you want us to subscribe your email address for you, call us at 209-588-9128, and we'll be happy to do it for you.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Current Events 1851
Current Events 1851- March 1852
California as a State and Place:
California has been a State since September 1850
President Millard Fillmore at the helm of the United States
If you are a woman or a foreigner you need not be familiar with the following:
California’s Governor is John McDougall originally from Ohio. His proclamations earn him the nickname “I John.” Peter Burnett was the first Governor elected in 1849 serving to 1851
Lt Governor is Samuel Purdy.
California’s Senators are John B. Weller and William M. Gwin (pro-Slavery)
The Congressional Representative for Tuolumne County and the First District is Edward C. Marshall a Democrat
The Ninth Assembly District (originally the San Joaquin District) in the State Legislature is where Columbia is located and your representative is Benjamin Moore.
The State Legislature has reinstituted the Foreign Miners Tax that was so devastating to the economy in 1850. The 1852 tax is primarily aimed at Chinese. Latinos suffered from the 1850 Foreign Miners Tax.
World events of importance to Columbians and certain foreigners:
Queen Victoria is still on the throne. Crowned: June 20th, 1837 The ruling British cabinet is headed by Edward Stanley in February 1852. He has replaced the Russell Ministry who has ruled for five years.
France’s Second Republic ends in 1851 after three years in a coup by President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in December. Unarmed citizens are massacred in the streets by troops.
Argentina’s Juan Manuel de Rosas is defeated by Uruguay in February 1852 at the Battle of Monte Caseros.
In July 1851, Victoria, Australia is declared a colony independent of New South Wales.
China is still in turmoil and rebellion, there is famine. Many Chinese are arriving in California. There are beginning to be thoughts that perhaps the Chinese are not such a good thing. Many politicians initially believe that they are good for the State. In fact Governor “I John” MacDougal calls for land grants to be given to Chinese who have the potential to be “one of the most worthy of our newly adopted citizens.” In 1852 50,000 Chinese come to California, defying a Chinese law that includes the death penalty for leaving the country. Even though many politicians accept the Chinese in California with open arms, competition is heating up for gold, and ideas are changing.
Ireland’s Famine continues. Widespread blindness is now occurring from malnutrition. 250,000 people leave Ireland in 1851, emigration will peak in 1852.
London is the World’s largest city with 2.37 million people living in it.
Issues in the U.S. for Americans in Columbia
Slavery Issues:
As part of California’s entry into the Union in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law has been enforced. This allows Southerners to hunt blacks who have escaped to freedom. Many Freedmen are also kidnapped and sold into slavery. The law is highly controversial. Demonstrations are rampant. In February 1851 Boston blacks break an accused slave out of jail, and President Fillmore demands that Massachusetts uphold the Fugitive Slave Law. In Syracuse, New York, in October, abolitionists rescue another accused fugitive slave from jail.
Cincinnati Papers in January of 1851 tell of a story of black woman who has crossed the Ohio River when it was frozen to attempt to be free of slavery. When caught, she cut the throat of one of her children rather than let her live in bondage.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published in 1851 and produced as a book in March of 1852. Harriet Beecher Stowe relates the episode of Eliza Harris who murdered her child as she crossed the Ohio River in January of 1851. The book is widely popular and 120 editions are published by the end of 1852.
Westward Expansion:
Sioux Chiefs are persuaded by government officials to give up lands in Iowa and Minnesota Territory in July 1851. A large gathering at Ft Laramie uses gifts and arguments to persuade the chiefs of many tribes to move to lands “reserved” for them.
In 1851 a small town that will be named Seattle in 1853 is founded in the Oregon Territory.
Transportation:
The Flying Cloud an American Clipper Ship is launched in 1851. She displaces 1,783 tons and sails from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days! Clippers are now the fastest ships on the run around the horn. In 1852 the Sovereign of the Seas is launched and demonstrates that a 2,421 ton clipper is practical.
In 1851 the Erie Railroad is completed connecting New York with Lake Erie. President Fillmore and Daniel Webster take a 447 mile ride. Webster’s rocking chair is secured to a flatcar for the trip. But to get to New York City, a steamboat must be taken across the Hudson River. However, the New York and Hudson River Railroad actually gets into the city itself and is the first railroad to do so, connecting with horse car lines.
In 1851 the Pennsylvania Railroad reaches Pittsburg and the Baltimore & Ohio reaches the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia won’t be a state until 1864). By February 1852 the first train from the east reaches Chicago (the Michigan Southern Railway). The Pacific Railway, a grand name, is the first Railroad to lay tracks west of the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri in 1851. In all during 1851 4,400 miles of railroad track are laid between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi.
The British Navy Frigate Birkenhead, an iron hulled paddle-wheeler, strikes a reef while rounding the Cape of Good Hope in February 1852. 455 of 648 are lost, all 56 women and children survive.
Steamboats regularly serving Stockton from San Francisco are the John A. Sutter (first Steamboat into Stockton) that blew up in 1851 in a boiler explosion. Others regularly serving California River Ports were Lady Washington (sunk 1849 returning from Coloma on its first trip), Senator (arriving 1849), Comanche (sunk 1853 Suisun Bay by collision with), J. Bragdon, Sagamore (blew up November 1, 1851 killing 50 people in San Francisco), Secretary, Commodore Preble, and the General Warren. On July 11, 1850, New World steamed through the Golden Gate with 250 cash-paying passengers on board and enough money in her safe to pay off creditors. On New World's first run to Sacramento April 1, 1850, Wakeman halved the best time heretofore made by any other steamer, setting a record that held for a decade.
Small boats often less than 100 feet could travel up the Sacramento as far as Red Bluff or on the San Joaquin almost as far as today’s Fresno. They went up the Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers, up the American, Feather and Yuba. They parted the tules on French Camp Slough, went into the South Delta to Old River, and slogged their way into Suisun City and up the Petaluma River -- and to many waterways in between.
Freighting to the mines was done with mules and oxen. When roads were developed teams of 20 or more mules pulled multiple wagons full of goods to camps. Camps tucked into some of the more rugged country were accessed by mule trains without wagons. Freighting could command high prices.
The California Gold Rush:
The rush to Kern River is started in 1851. It is short lived and disappointing.
The U.S. Mint produces four million $1 gold pieces. They are small, but made mostly of California Gold.
The Australian Rush in New South Wales begins in 1851.
In Nevada City, Hydraulic Mining techniques are first used.
Items of interest:
Colt’s 36 Caliber Revolvers are exhibited in England. They are not immediately accepted because they are American. Samuel Colt gives one to Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales in 1851.
Porcelain Dentures are patented in 1851 by Dentist, John Allen. Allen helped to found the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1845.
The New-York Daily Times (now known as the New York Times) begins publication in September 1851 with a steam press. By the end of the year it has a circulation of around 20,000. Other New York papers include the Tribune (Horace Greeley) and Courier and Enquirer (one paper).
A fire in the Library of Congress in 1851 destroys two thirds of Thomas Jefferson’s collection housed there. Thousands of other books are also destroyed, congress will allocate $100,000 to replace and improve safety.
During 1851 the great Crystal Palace in London is built. It is the largest glass structure in the world. It will be used to house exhibitions. It used 1/3 of England’s glass production for a year and 2000 men to put together.
Maine passes the first U.S. Prohibition law in June 1851.
The average consumption of coffee per person in the U.S. is 6 ¼ pounds.
Interesting Sayings:
Pregnant women were in an “interesting condition” or “visiting the country.” Newborn children were often said to be “discovered under the gooseberry bush” or “found in the cabbage patch.”
California as a State and Place:
California has been a State since September 1850
President Millard Fillmore at the helm of the United States
If you are a woman or a foreigner you need not be familiar with the following:
California’s Governor is John McDougall originally from Ohio. His proclamations earn him the nickname “I John.” Peter Burnett was the first Governor elected in 1849 serving to 1851
Lt Governor is Samuel Purdy.
California’s Senators are John B. Weller and William M. Gwin (pro-Slavery)
The Congressional Representative for Tuolumne County and the First District is Edward C. Marshall a Democrat
The Ninth Assembly District (originally the San Joaquin District) in the State Legislature is where Columbia is located and your representative is Benjamin Moore.
The State Legislature has reinstituted the Foreign Miners Tax that was so devastating to the economy in 1850. The 1852 tax is primarily aimed at Chinese. Latinos suffered from the 1850 Foreign Miners Tax.
World events of importance to Columbians and certain foreigners:
Queen Victoria is still on the throne. Crowned: June 20th, 1837 The ruling British cabinet is headed by Edward Stanley in February 1852. He has replaced the Russell Ministry who has ruled for five years.
France’s Second Republic ends in 1851 after three years in a coup by President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in December. Unarmed citizens are massacred in the streets by troops.
Argentina’s Juan Manuel de Rosas is defeated by Uruguay in February 1852 at the Battle of Monte Caseros.
In July 1851, Victoria, Australia is declared a colony independent of New South Wales.
China is still in turmoil and rebellion, there is famine. Many Chinese are arriving in California. There are beginning to be thoughts that perhaps the Chinese are not such a good thing. Many politicians initially believe that they are good for the State. In fact Governor “I John” MacDougal calls for land grants to be given to Chinese who have the potential to be “one of the most worthy of our newly adopted citizens.” In 1852 50,000 Chinese come to California, defying a Chinese law that includes the death penalty for leaving the country. Even though many politicians accept the Chinese in California with open arms, competition is heating up for gold, and ideas are changing.
Ireland’s Famine continues. Widespread blindness is now occurring from malnutrition. 250,000 people leave Ireland in 1851, emigration will peak in 1852.
London is the World’s largest city with 2.37 million people living in it.
Issues in the U.S. for Americans in Columbia
Slavery Issues:
As part of California’s entry into the Union in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law has been enforced. This allows Southerners to hunt blacks who have escaped to freedom. Many Freedmen are also kidnapped and sold into slavery. The law is highly controversial. Demonstrations are rampant. In February 1851 Boston blacks break an accused slave out of jail, and President Fillmore demands that Massachusetts uphold the Fugitive Slave Law. In Syracuse, New York, in October, abolitionists rescue another accused fugitive slave from jail.
Cincinnati Papers in January of 1851 tell of a story of black woman who has crossed the Ohio River when it was frozen to attempt to be free of slavery. When caught, she cut the throat of one of her children rather than let her live in bondage.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published in 1851 and produced as a book in March of 1852. Harriet Beecher Stowe relates the episode of Eliza Harris who murdered her child as she crossed the Ohio River in January of 1851. The book is widely popular and 120 editions are published by the end of 1852.
Westward Expansion:
Sioux Chiefs are persuaded by government officials to give up lands in Iowa and Minnesota Territory in July 1851. A large gathering at Ft Laramie uses gifts and arguments to persuade the chiefs of many tribes to move to lands “reserved” for them.
In 1851 a small town that will be named Seattle in 1853 is founded in the Oregon Territory.
Transportation:
The Flying Cloud an American Clipper Ship is launched in 1851. She displaces 1,783 tons and sails from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days! Clippers are now the fastest ships on the run around the horn. In 1852 the Sovereign of the Seas is launched and demonstrates that a 2,421 ton clipper is practical.
In 1851 the Erie Railroad is completed connecting New York with Lake Erie. President Fillmore and Daniel Webster take a 447 mile ride. Webster’s rocking chair is secured to a flatcar for the trip. But to get to New York City, a steamboat must be taken across the Hudson River. However, the New York and Hudson River Railroad actually gets into the city itself and is the first railroad to do so, connecting with horse car lines.
In 1851 the Pennsylvania Railroad reaches Pittsburg and the Baltimore & Ohio reaches the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia won’t be a state until 1864). By February 1852 the first train from the east reaches Chicago (the Michigan Southern Railway). The Pacific Railway, a grand name, is the first Railroad to lay tracks west of the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri in 1851. In all during 1851 4,400 miles of railroad track are laid between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi.
The British Navy Frigate Birkenhead, an iron hulled paddle-wheeler, strikes a reef while rounding the Cape of Good Hope in February 1852. 455 of 648 are lost, all 56 women and children survive.
Steamboats regularly serving Stockton from San Francisco are the John A. Sutter (first Steamboat into Stockton) that blew up in 1851 in a boiler explosion. Others regularly serving California River Ports were Lady Washington (sunk 1849 returning from Coloma on its first trip), Senator (arriving 1849), Comanche (sunk 1853 Suisun Bay by collision with), J. Bragdon, Sagamore (blew up November 1, 1851 killing 50 people in San Francisco), Secretary, Commodore Preble, and the General Warren. On July 11, 1850, New World steamed through the Golden Gate with 250 cash-paying passengers on board and enough money in her safe to pay off creditors. On New World's first run to Sacramento April 1, 1850, Wakeman halved the best time heretofore made by any other steamer, setting a record that held for a decade.
Small boats often less than 100 feet could travel up the Sacramento as far as Red Bluff or on the San Joaquin almost as far as today’s Fresno. They went up the Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers, up the American, Feather and Yuba. They parted the tules on French Camp Slough, went into the South Delta to Old River, and slogged their way into Suisun City and up the Petaluma River -- and to many waterways in between.
Freighting to the mines was done with mules and oxen. When roads were developed teams of 20 or more mules pulled multiple wagons full of goods to camps. Camps tucked into some of the more rugged country were accessed by mule trains without wagons. Freighting could command high prices.
The California Gold Rush:
The rush to Kern River is started in 1851. It is short lived and disappointing.
The U.S. Mint produces four million $1 gold pieces. They are small, but made mostly of California Gold.
The Australian Rush in New South Wales begins in 1851.
In Nevada City, Hydraulic Mining techniques are first used.
Items of interest:
Colt’s 36 Caliber Revolvers are exhibited in England. They are not immediately accepted because they are American. Samuel Colt gives one to Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales in 1851.
Porcelain Dentures are patented in 1851 by Dentist, John Allen. Allen helped to found the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1845.
The New-York Daily Times (now known as the New York Times) begins publication in September 1851 with a steam press. By the end of the year it has a circulation of around 20,000. Other New York papers include the Tribune (Horace Greeley) and Courier and Enquirer (one paper).
A fire in the Library of Congress in 1851 destroys two thirds of Thomas Jefferson’s collection housed there. Thousands of other books are also destroyed, congress will allocate $100,000 to replace and improve safety.
During 1851 the great Crystal Palace in London is built. It is the largest glass structure in the world. It will be used to house exhibitions. It used 1/3 of England’s glass production for a year and 2000 men to put together.
Maine passes the first U.S. Prohibition law in June 1851.
The average consumption of coffee per person in the U.S. is 6 ¼ pounds.
Interesting Sayings:
Pregnant women were in an “interesting condition” or “visiting the country.” Newborn children were often said to be “discovered under the gooseberry bush” or “found in the cabbage patch.”
Food for Thought
November, 1852: Documented Diggin’s Businesses.
Eastman from Columbia Gazette.
21 Produce and Grocery Stores (these are primarily general merchandise stores)
4 Hotels
7 Boarding houses
4 Banking and Exchange Offices
2 Book and Stationery Stores
5 Doctor’s Shops
5 Law Offices
3 Tobacconists
7 Bakeries
1 Tin shop
1 Paint shop
2 Barber shops
3 Meat Markets
3 Blacksmith shops
8 Carpenter shops
3 Silversmith shops
1 Printing Office
3 Drug stores
2 Wagon maker shops
3 Laundries
4 Livery stables
1 Reading room
1 Brewery
1 Ground Coffee depot
1 Daguerrotype room
1 Boot and Shoe shop
1 Wine and Liquor store
1 Fruit and Confectionery store
1 Mexican Fandango house
“In addition to these we have a large hall for a theater, as well as an amphitheater for bull & bear fights; and last, though not least, we have a church, with regular preaching at two different places every Sabbath. A Sunday School which is well attended; a Masonic Lodge, a Division of the Sons of Temperance and a Vocal Music Society."
There were also many businesses that were not able to be classified by the Gazette as they were “kept by European, Asiatic and South American; taking our town in the aggregate, we have as heterogeneous a mass of human beings as can be found in any other mining town in California.”
Eastman from Columbia Gazette.
21 Produce and Grocery Stores (these are primarily general merchandise stores)
4 Hotels
7 Boarding houses
4 Banking and Exchange Offices
2 Book and Stationery Stores
5 Doctor’s Shops
5 Law Offices
3 Tobacconists
7 Bakeries
1 Tin shop
1 Paint shop
2 Barber shops
3 Meat Markets
3 Blacksmith shops
8 Carpenter shops
3 Silversmith shops
1 Printing Office
3 Drug stores
2 Wagon maker shops
3 Laundries
4 Livery stables
1 Reading room
1 Brewery
1 Ground Coffee depot
1 Daguerrotype room
1 Boot and Shoe shop
1 Wine and Liquor store
1 Fruit and Confectionery store
1 Mexican Fandango house
“In addition to these we have a large hall for a theater, as well as an amphitheater for bull & bear fights; and last, though not least, we have a church, with regular preaching at two different places every Sabbath. A Sunday School which is well attended; a Masonic Lodge, a Division of the Sons of Temperance and a Vocal Music Society."
There were also many businesses that were not able to be classified by the Gazette as they were “kept by European, Asiatic and South American; taking our town in the aggregate, we have as heterogeneous a mass of human beings as can be found in any other mining town in California.”
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