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LOOKING BACK AT THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH Mining History by Harold Hough Aug/Sept 2008 This year is the 160th anniversary of the California Gold Rush. Although it seems that historians want to frame the gold rush in terms of racism, environmental damage, and greed, it was the gold rush that opened up the West and made mining one of the nation’s largest industries. Although everyone knows about Sutter’s Mill, many of the stories of the California Gold Rush have been forgotten. Here are a few of those stories about the people and the gold they sought. BULLS AND BEARS Did you know that the phrases “bull market” and “bear market” came from the California gold fields? They were coined by famed journalist Horace Greeley, who wrote for the New York Tribune. While visiting the California gold fields he happened to attend a bull and bear fight in Columbia. It was from this event that he began referring to fluctuating stock markets as bull and bear markets. THE COUNTY SEAT Gold mining towns often fought between themselves to become the county seat. Not only was prestige involved it also provided a boost to property values. Usually these fights were decided at the ballot box or in the territorial capital. However, boom town Jackson, CA had a better idea when it wanted to take the honor from Double Springs. The Jackson city fathers invited all the big politicians from Double Springs to a big party at the largest saloon in town. While everyone was having a good time, several Jackson citizens rode over to Double Springs and loaded all the county records into a wagon and brought them back home. The next morning, when the sober Double Springs leaders learned what happened, it was too late and Jackson became the county seat. Jackson’s fame was short lived though. Several months later an election was held and the winner was Molilumne Hill. But it was later learned that Molilumne Hill also played a trick to win. In this case, they employed that old Chicago political strategy, “vote early and often.” It seems that Molilumne Hill voters spent the day visiting voting places and voting more than once. Jackson did have more luck in mining. Jackson mines continued to produce gold for 80 years. THE WATER LEAK THAT PAID OFF One of the earliest gold mining sites was Auburn, CA, which had first come to the attention of gold prospectors thanks to Claude Chana, one of Sutter’s workmen, who left his employ to find his fortune. Unfortunately, the placer deposits he found were too far from water, so he left them for better gold fields. The prospectors who followed him, however, continued to mine the gold by carrying the paydirt down to the river. In this manner, the average worker could earn $700 to $1,500 in gold a day. However, as with many boom towns of the time, the placer deposits were soon exhausted and many left for the next discovery. One of those who remained was a man named Jenkins, who reasoned that he could bring in more gold if he brought water to the site rather than move the dirt to the water. So, he built a flume from the river to his claim and began to rework it even though the results were marginal. One day, his water suddenly stopped. When he investigated, he found a break in the plank on the bottom of the flume, which allowed the water to pour out onto an abandoned claim and wash a large hole in the ground. At the bottom of the hole, Jenkins was the gleam of gold. The discovery caused him to change the location of his operation and in the next month he mined $40,000 in gold. A DIFFERENT ANGEL George Angel camped on a small tributary of the Stanislaus River and became a part time prospector and trader. The camp soon became known as Angel’s Camp and today is the best known California gold camp thanks to Mark Twain, who visited the town 17 years later and after hearing a story from the bartender at Angels’ Hotel Bar, wrote the story about the famous jumping frog and a bet. |
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