Today, we headed out to explore the Columbia State Historic Park in Columbia, CA. Think of it as a little like colonial Williamsburg - only smaller and set in the 1849 era of the California Gold Rush. In this little town, the historic Main Street has been restored to resemble 1850's Columbia, California situated in the heart of gold country.
The only reason it hasn't been restored to reflect 1848 version of Columbia, California is, a) because at the outset of the gold rush, the city was little more than a series of tents and wooden huts that had been hastily slapped together and b) that version of Columbia burnt to the ground in a fire of 1852. The town was hastily rebuilt, largely out of stone, brick or marble from a nearby quarry. This is the version of the town you can visit today.
The historic town section is closed entirely to vehicle traffic and it is only open to horse drawn wagons and a stage coach that takes tourists around the town. The shops are operated by residents and sell a combination of reproduction wares from the era in addition to contemporary things. For instance, I now know where I have to go to buy a pair of bloomers, a corset, a 10 gallon hat, or a pair of buckskin britches. I read that the docents that operate in the historic town have to undergo 6 weeks of historical training and must pass a rigorous exam. This must not apply to food service workers, because our waitress did not appear to be all that friendly or knowledgeable about Columbia. Aside from that, everyone else we met was very warm, friendly and proud of their town.
One of the first things we had to try our had at was panning for gold. We visited the "Miner's Supply" shop on Main Street. There you can purchase a wide variety of souvenir type items some inexpensive and others hand crafted jewelry that was pretty pricey. Rather than spend money on such "trinkets" we decided to invest our hard earned cash by renting a gold pan and getting a quick lesson on how to pan for gold. Our instructor walked us entirely through the panning process. We would hold onto the pan but let him go through the panning motions. Low and behold at the end of the process, we found a few "flakes".....no that is too generous a term....more like "flecks" of gold, which we were able to put into a little vial to take home with us. We also found a lot of small garnet gemstone pieces. We continued with the process, now without the help of our instructor for another 45 minutes. Elisa didn't find anything and I only found a few small flecks and some gold dust. Trust me, those miners didn't have it very easy - it was tedious and hard work under the scorching sun. We were obviously disappointed to realize that we weren't able to add anything significant to the Grandkid's trust fund.
After a quick bite for lunch at a cafe inside the park we took a stroll around the rest of the town. What was very nice is that we were here on a Friday morning. Most of the tourists roll in for the weekend. So, it felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. If you plan to visit Columbia in the near future file that tidbit away if you shun crowds. A pleasant surprise during our lunch was an elderly gentlemen walked into the cafe and stepped up to the piano in the front alcove and kindly entertained us.
An interesting fact we learned was about Wells Fargo. We all think of Wells Fargo as a bank. In the 1840s they were not a bank. Essentially, they were the UPS, FedEx, US Mail and the PayPal of their day, all rolled into one. They were a major operator of stage coach lines and financed the construction of many stage lines that criss-crossed California and the west. They operated the Pony Express, which was short lived and replaced by moving the mail on the stage lines. They also were principally responsible for moving gold from the miners from one place to another. They also would purchase gold at what were suppressed prices in the west (after all, that's where all the gold was) and they would sell it at an exorbitant profit on the east coast. They would insure the transport of valuable items simply because they could afford to at the profits they were making. In some respects you could say that they were taking advantage of their 1850's customers....come to think of it that's what 2017 Wells Fargo did. I guess somethings don't change.
We learned a lot about the California Gold Rush and I was not aware of many of these facts. So, here is your history lesson for the day.
1. It's called the 49er Gold Rush Era - but gold was actually discovered in Janurary 1848 at Sutter's Mill by James Marshall. The term 49'er was adopted because that is the year of the largest migration of gold seekers into the territory. It is estimated that in 1848, the entire population of California by settlers was about 150,000. Similarly there were an estimated 150,000 native Americans and fewer than 10,000 Mexican and immigrants from other countries. By 1849, it is estimated that over 300,000 gold seekers came through San Francisco heading to the gold fields. The town of San Francisco had 3600 residents pre-gold rush and by the next year it would have over 36,000 residents.
2. Neither Sutter nor Marshall struck it rich as a result of the gold rush. Marshall tried to keep his discovery of the gold a secret, but there were simply too many other people aware of his find and the word leaked out.
3. What about Sutter - it was his lumber mill after all? California was not even a State at that time, There were no official land policies and no title companies to keep things square. Sutter's mill was simply over taken by gold seekers. When the gold there ran out, Sutter was left with no workers for his mill as they all left to seek more gold.
4. How long did the gold rush last? The gold rush commenced in 1848 and by 1855, the gold had pretty much petered out. The only mining operations continuing after 1855 were by large company operators with the finances needed to employ ever more aggressive mining techniques.
5. Who made the most $$ from the gold rush. It is suggested that Sam Brannen made the most money from the gold rush. Brannen operated a string of general stores from San Francisco that extended up to Sacramento. He also happened to be the publisher of a major newspaper in San Francisco. When he got news of the gold strike at Sutter's Mill, rather than publish that news, he instead purchased every shovel, pot, pan that he could between San Francisco and Sacramento and he would continue to do so for several years. Imagine a miner heading out to the hills to find his fortune but having to pay the equivalent of $25 for a single egg. Clearly, those who supplied the miners made far more profits than all of the miner's combined.
6. Who suffered from the gold rush? Firstly, the Native Americans. Remember, there was no law at that time, there was no Bureau of Indian Affairs. Native Americans were forced off of their land or their numbers were decimated, if not at the hand of the gold seekers the by the disease they brought with them. It is estimated that fewer than 1/2 of the 300,000 gold seekers that came to California would make a profit - after all everything was expensive. Of those that made a profit fewer than 10,000 would make vast fortunes. The gold rush attracted people from all over the world. The first immigrants to appear were Chinese coming through the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), followed quickly by Mexicans, and other Latin Americans (especially Peru and Chile as these people had mining experience) and then by Europeans. By the 1852 the gold was beginning to play out, at that time Calif passed an "immigrant tax" making it very difficult for the immigrant settlers to mine. Hardest hit were the Chinese and Mexicans. Lastly, the environment. As the gold began to peter out the individual miner with a shovel, pick ax and pan would give way to the corporate mines. They instead would turn to hydraulic mining, wiping out entire hillsides with high pressure water washing the soil and gold down to sluices. Hard rock miners would dig and blast indiscriminately and begin using acids and chemicals to help extract gold that was locked in quartz veins. Interestingly, 150+ years later, there is little visible evidence of the damage done. However, below ground there may still be underlying damage.
7. The gold rush was a male dominated occurrence. In a census conducted in 1850, it was estimated that the female population of eastern-California (where the gold was) was less than 8%. This contributed to the lawlessness of the time. Things would finally begin to settle down and civilization would begin to arrive, when the individual miners began to give up on mining and began turning to farming and commerce and they in turn would bring out their wives and families.
8. So how much gold came out of California? It is estimated that more than 750,000 pounds of gold were extracted during the California Gold Rush. At todays prices of $1420/oz that equates to about $17 billion. In the 1850's gold was trading at about $12 - $14/oz. It is estimated that "peak gold" occurred in 1852 with $81million being extracted in the year.