Luck: The Only Lady Present – Part One

by Sheryl Rambeau

Gold, discovered in the tailrace of a mill under construction in Coloma, January 1848, set off a fever that eventually spread around the world as anxious gold seekers began to converge on the new western territory looking to make their fortunes.  By ship, by wagon, by horseback, on foot — would-be miners from all walks of life and from multiple countries converged on the California Mother Lode, looking to make a fortune.

The 1849 California Gold Rush could be looked at as an early version of the state lottery: file a claim in the right spot, make a fortune..  Many prospective miners arrived in the gold fields thinking they would spend six months or so, get filthy rich, and return to civilization as wealthy men.

Some actually did.  But while the odds of “finding the big one” were better than current odds of picking the right numbers, fate – or Lady Luck– often played a major role in the decision between instant riches and failure.

The find at Sutter’s Mill wasn’t actually the first time that someone had come across the precious metal in California:

In 1842, Spaniard Francisco Lopez was riding across one of the Spanish land grant ranchos forty miles north of Los Angeles when he stopped for lunch and dug up some wild onions to add to his meal.  Gold particles were clinging to the onion roots.  The word spread and a mini-Rush ensued.

Over the next two years approximately 1,000 gold seekers worked the general area, until the Mexican government saw a chance to capitalize on the industry and told the rancho owner he was required to collect fees from the miners and taxes from the sale of any necessities to these miners.

The patron was reluctant to risk collecting money from the would-be miners, so discouraged them as ‘trespassers’ instead.  Available gold had greatly diminished anyway, and by 1845 the placer mines were deserted.

A wagon train coming to California from the Midwest in early 1847 stopped at a tributary stream of the Yuba River to allow their animals to graze and the immigrants to rest.  Three women, Mrs. Adna Hecox, Mrs. Joseph Aram, and Mrs. Isaac Isbell were doing their laundry, when Mrs. Hecox noticed shiny specks clinging to her towels and sheets.  When she showed them to her minister husband, he guffawed and told her she was a fool and it was no such thing.  In a fit of temper, she tossed her flakes, determined to say nothing more.

Meantime, Mrs. Aram, working slightly downstream, reached into the water and picked out a small nugget.  Unwilling to face the ridicule her friend received, she tucked the nugget away until the wagon train arrived at Sutter’s Fort.  There the nugget was assayed and was indeed pure gold.

Some of the wagon train members recognized their missed opportunity and  attempted to return to the spot after the news of the find at Sutter’s Mill spread, but found many others there ahead of them.  None of the three ladies’ husbands were successful at searching for gold.

It should be noted that some of the early pictures of the placer mines sometimes show women carrying water for the operation of a rocker, or doing other light physical tasks in the recovery of gold, but no picture ever shows a woman panning, the final step in the separation of the valuable metal.  Presumably, she could not be trusted not to spill some of the valuable mineral over the edge of pan while getting rid of the last few grains of the unwanted sand.  Additionally, superstitious miners refused to allow any females to go into the lode mines, claiming it made for very bad luck.

Luck: The Only Lady Present – Part One is an excerpt from the article “Luck: The Only Lady Present” by Sheryl Rambeau.

Related articles:

• After the Gold Rush: Workers discover artifacts from boom days of the 1880s in San Francisco (dailymail.co.uk)
• Striking it rich in California’s Gold Country (goldbuginvestor.wordpress.com)
• Gold!!!! (thelintinmypocket.wordpress.com)
• January 24: James W. Marshall Discovers a Small Amount of Gold at Sutter’s Mill in California, Sparking the California Gold Rush (todayifoundout.com)

Feel The Spray

A morning dip at Stumpy Meadows is a great way to cool off on a hot August day!

photo thanks to countrygirl from Georgetown

Pioneers Of The Divide: The McConnell Brothers

The Story of The McConnell Brothers

Brothers Samuel and Thaddeus McConnell, in partnership with John Cody, built a sawmill approximately ½ mile below the Johntown camp. The brothers also purchased a large nearby plot of land that had been used to grow vegetables.  Thaddeus planted more garden and built a house there.

They began to sell vegetables to the surrounding mining camps. One of their customers, a Mr. Devine who ran a boarding house in Georgetown, angrily complained one day that his turnips arrived minus their tops and he demanded to know why.  He was assured it wouldn’t happen again and the following week he received his turnips, complete with leafy tops, for 30 cents a pound.  (Mr. Devine was shortly thereafter hanged, for killing his wife.)

A third McConnell brother, Thomas, joined the partnership the following year (1851) and they all prospered.  Thomas took over the management of the newly established trading post, and often slept in the store with a couple of loaded pistols by his side.  They added another 160 acres in the area known as Johntown Flat and the brothers continued to expand their commercial enterprises. Several peach orchards sprang up, the trees bearing fruit quite quickly.

At a Fourth of July celebration in 1852 that prominently featured vegetables from the McConnell and Cody gardens and tasty peaches from the orchards, one of the McConnells suggested Garden Valley as an appropriate name for their gardens, sawmill, and expanding Miner’s Store and the name was unanimously adopted for their properties.

Johntown continued to prosper, but was quickly overshadowed by the rapidly expanding Garden Valley.  When a post office for the area was established in December of 1852, Garden Valley was the name used.

John Cody sold out his interest in December 1853 and died the following year.

A fire started in the sawmill in 1857 and burned the town of Garden Valley. The McConnells were offered money to reopen their businesses, but they declined assistance.  The lumber mill was not rebuilt.

The above is an excerpt from the article “The Movers and The Doers” by Sheryl Rambeau.

photo of Thaddeus C. McConnell via: usgennet.org

Related articles:

Sacramento County Biographies: Thaddeus C. McConnell

RootsWeb: McConnell Family History

“Friday Nights on The Green”

Georgetown even had a good garden nursery that helped build the town into a tree-shaded and flowered family settlement. It is said that the original plants from this nursery gave rise to the spectacular display of wild Scotch broom that covers the surrounding hillsides every spring.

Pioneers of The Divide: Shannon Knox

The Story of Shannon Knox

Shannon Knox arrived in Georgetown very early in 1851 and started to dig for gold.  Although a carpenter by trade, he built a small crude log cabin close to the commercial structures of the original George’s Town encampment, west of what is now Lower Main Street.  He lost this cabin to fire, started in the canvas sided Round Tent Saloon {which was a common name throughout the Mother Lode for such saloons] when a photographer attempted a photo of a dead miner in July 1852.  Flames spread throughout the entire village, burning it to the ground.

Construction of a new community was promptly begun just southeast of the original, the current location of Georgetown.  Knox, returned to his original trade and built a number of new homes and commercial structures.  Using the funding from these sources, he began construction of a grand two story home on the corner of Sacramento Street (Highway 193) and Main Street.  Lumber used in the outside walls was two feet wide, with no knots.  The stair rail, downstairs parlor arch and interior sliding doors were shipped around Cape Horn by sailing ship.  This home is the oldest surviving structure in Georgetown, enduring all subsequent town fires.

Shannon Knox House, circa 1960

 
Knox left Georgetown in 1862 for the Nevada silver rush.  With partner John Keiser from Mamaluke Hill, he established a claim for high grade silver in Squaw Valley that started a minor rush there.  The mining camp was named Knoxville for him.  The deposits were not very rich, rumors of ‘salting’ the mines surfaced and the town disappeared.  Knox returned to Georgetown and lived his life out.  Family members remained in residence until 1938.

Shannon Knox House on February 22, 2007

 

The above is an excerpt from the article “The Movers and The Doers” by Sheryl Rambeau.

Black & white photo courtesy of Sheryl Rambeau. Color photo courtesy of vntghippy

Related articles:

• Pioneers of The Divide: Ellen Mason (georgetowndivide.wordpress.com)

Shady Vegetable Gardens

by Carmen

Most people envision their gardens as being in full sun all day long, and yet there may be some of us that have more shade in our yards than full sunshine. Is it still possible to have a vegetable garden? I say yes, you can! You may not be able to have all of your favorites, but then again you may be able to grow plants that others cannot. Then you can barter with those in your community that need what you have grown for what you are not able to raise in your own garden – see my article “Bartering.”

So what can you grow in a shady garden? All varieties of lettuce, arugula, endive, cress, radicchio, Swiss chard, and spinaches; members of the cabbage family such as broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and Chinese cabbage are also able to grow in areas of limited sunshine. All plants do need some time in the sunlight, but those listed above are able to grow where other plants won’t. If your plants are growing under or near trees, they may be fighting for the proper nutrients to survive. A soil test kit is available at your local nursery or garden center, so test to see what you may need to supplement your soil with. Better yet, build a raised bed and, in the methods described in my previous article “Raised Bed Gardens,” be sure to add an organic, totally biodegradable weed barrier to keep the tree roots and sprouts from coming up before building the soil base for your plants. Then they won’t be competing for the nutrients from the trees.

There are plants that hate shade: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and all varieties of squash. So use your shady yard to your advantage and plant your sun lovers in pots – on bases with rollers for heavy containers – so that they can be moved around your garden area to maximize the sunlight you have available. Containers can also be used for those plants that are most delicate and need to be moved into the shade to keep them from burning. You may also consider shade cloth to protect your shade loving veggies.

If your garden area is only partially shady during the daylight hours, there are plants that will work well for you. Most varieties of greens like kale, mustard, and collards tolerate partial shade well. Some herbs will, too, such as mint, parsley, coriander [cilantro], thyme, and tarragon. Several varieties of peas and beans are also tolerant of partially shady conditions, as are many root vegetables. A few examples of these are potatoes, radishes, beets, turnips, onions, and garlic.

The value in knowing whether or not the plants you have chosen will grow best in the shade or in full sun is that, when you plant your plants in the areas that provide the right amount of sunshine, they will all produce at their maximum production. Knowing what your plants need will help you have a very bountiful harvest.

I think that all homegrown vegetables taste much better than their store bought relatives. Maybe it is because we know exactly what we have or have not used in growing them or because they were grown in our own gardens or the gardens of our friends. Most importantly, I believe they taste better because they were grown and tended by our own hands, with loving care and the personal touch that only we can give them. Knowing all we can about the vegetables we grow can only make the final outcome of our harvest that much better.

Help your garden out by knowing what it needs. Maximize your sunshine and shade; harvest early and often; replant those varieties that quickly go to seed in order to have an abundant supply all through summer and fall; freeze, can, and dry to prolong the pleasure of the harvest that God has given you.

Enjoy the fruits of God’s blessing and your labors!

via: Off The Grid News

 
Eventually the easy gold pickings began to thin out, other precious metal finds were calling, and suddenly mining wasn’t on everyone’s mind any more. The next natural resource ready to be exploited presented itself in the form of the huge tracts of timber in the area.

Pioneers of The Divide: Ellen Mason

The Story of Ellen Mason

California gold attracted many women.  The chances of “striking it rich” induced any number of females that had no other chance to earn large sums of money to brave the conditions and seek their fortune.

Ellen Mason was born a slave on a southern plantation.  She was fortunate to have a tolerant owner and she wasn’t afraid of hard work.  Ellen did extra domestic chores and eventually earned enough money to purchase her own freedom.  She promptly came west on the heels of the gold seekers.

Ellen chose to settle in Georgetown, the first recorded female (other than Indians) to settle on the Divide.  She set herself up as a laundress, washing miners’ shirts.  In the very early days of the Gold Rush, it wasn’t uncommon for miners to send their dirty laundry on schooners to be laundered in the Sandwich Islands and China, because no one wanted to leave a potential strike long enough to take care of such a mundane chore.

Ellen made enough money to buy freedom for two sisters she had left behind in the South and move them West.  Ellen lived in Georgetown as a woman of means until 1878, then moved to Oakland where she died in 1908.

The above is an excerpt from the article “Georgetown Divide Women” by Sheryl Rambeau

Georgetown’s 8th Annual Nature Fest Coming May 7th