We cannot wait to see you at Columbia Diggins! If you have not registered please contact Amber Cantisano ASAP!!

Columbia Diggins 2013 Info

If anyone has not received information about this year's Diggins event, please email or call the Columbia SHP staff. We are not currently using this blog site except as prior history. We have set up a Columbia Diggins Facebook page, but it is only available to participants, not to the public. If you would like to join, please send a request and you can become a part of the conversation. We look foward to seeing you all next month!

REGISTRATION TIMES

AT PORTALS
WEDNESDAY  9 TO 6:30
THURSDAY     7:30 TO 8:45
FRIDAY            7:30 TO 8:45 AND 5 T0 7:30
SATURDAY     7:30 TO 9:00

LAST MEETING BEFORE DIGGINS

Wednesday, May 30th-
5:00- School Tour leader meeting at the Diggins site( walk through your route and flow of the days program
5:45 to 6:15- Pizza party
6:15 to 7:15 - saftey, last minute annoucements and info on 1852 and venue interpretation

Happy to have you all here at the park in 14 days for Diggings Tent Town 1852 !! 
We are no longer taking registration- if you would still like to help, please call Amber at 209-536-2913 or email acantisano@parks.ca.gov.  We have almost 150 volunteers participating this year- if you are one of them and have some extra time to help us staff a venue etc please let me know.

As we are now critically low in staffing please make sure you are making an effort to contact me and I can pass info on to others in the park as we move in to the last few weeks before DIGGINGS.

Clothing in the Gold Rush

Borthwick remarked on the range of clothing styles he saw:

"Those who did not stick to their former style of dress, indulged in all the extravagant license of California Costume, which was of every variety that caprice could suggest. No man could make his appearance sufficiently bizarre to attract any attention. The prevailing fashion among the ragtag and bobtail was a red or blue flannel shirt, wide-awake hats of every conceivable shape and colour, and trousers stuffed into a big pair of boots."

Before the Gold Rush, clothing was generally made to order, whether by a wife, mother, seamstress, tailor or shirtmaker. California gold seekers brought few items of wearing apparel with them, or wore them out very quickly. The predominance of men, with few women to care for their needs, encouraged the development and expansion of the ready-made clothing industry. J.D. Borthwick noted: "The clothing trade was almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, who are very numerous in California, and devote their time and energies exclusively to supplying their Christian bretheren with the necessary articles of wearing apparel."

Jose Arnaz, of San Buenaventura provided this description of the clothing of Californio women: "The dress of the women. . . was very plain. Ordinary dresses were made of English or American calico, though rich women used the more expensive French goods and had also silk gowns for festive occasions. Stockings were of white cotton, and satin shoes were worn at the balls. Rebozos of cotton and silk were the customary cloaks, and they were so essential that many costing only fifteen or sixteen dollars in Mexico were sold for ten times that amount in California. Fancy tortoise-shell combs were popular, and some ladies had silk mantillas to wear to church. Women of wealth often owned gold or pearl necklaces, gold earrings, and finger rings set with diamonds, emeralds, and other precious stones." [note that this observation was made in a coastal area, prior to the Gold Rush]

--From The Old Town San Diego Retailer's Reference

THE NEXT DIGGINS MEETING WILL BE MOVED FROM MAY 12 TO MAY 5TH..
Where:  Eagle Cotage
When: May 5th from 10:00 to 11: 45 Diggins Meeting.
Discussing cenarios for town and last minute needs for staffing etc.
 For more information contact:  Amber Cantisano
               acantisano@parks.ca.gov
                or 209-536-2913.