goldfields

On July 4th 1849, Charles Ross Parke wrote in his journal that:

I determined to do something no other living man ever did in this place and on this sacred day of the year, and that was to make Ice Cream at the South Pass of the Rockies.

Dreams to Dust: A diary of the California Gold Rush, by Charles Ross Parke, p. 46

South Pass, a low saddle between two ranges of the Rocky Mountains, made passage of the Rockies possible for wagon trains. Many of the travelers noted that they found ice and snow there in the middle of the summer.

Parke’s company had two milk cows, so he had plenty of milk.

I procured a small tin bucket which held about 2 quarts. This I sweetened and flavored with peppermint — had nothing else. This bucket was placed inside a wooden bucket, or Yankee Pale [sic], and the top put on.

Nature had supplied a huge bank of course snow, or hail, nearby, which was just the thing for this new factory. With alternate layers of this, and salt between the two buckets and the aid of a clean stick to stir with, I soon produced the most delicious ice cream tasted in this place. In fact, the whole company so decided, and as a compliment drew up in front of our tent and fired a salute, bursting one gun but injuring no one.

This is almost exactly how my husband and I make ice cream — in a hand-cranked White Mountain ice cream maker, which has an inner metal bucket and an outer wooden pail. Although we don’t have to milk our own cow or get ice from a snowbank.

Ice Cream on the 4th is an old tradition, and long may it wave!

From the Chico Enterprise Weekly, here is what you could expect on July 4, 1877:

The patriotic citizens of Chico, always ready to do homage to the birthday of a great and glorious Republic, made this the one hundred and first anniversary no exception. The weather was most favorable, with the sweet south wind coming in refreshing zephyrs to temper the sultry Summer sun. The joyous occasion was ushered in at midnight by the ringing of a merry peal from the city bells. At sunrise a salute was fired from the old cannon which has hone good service in this city for sixteen years, on many similar occasions, and the bells again took up the chorus, waking the unconscious sleeper to the fact that the day’s rejoicing had opened, and that loyal hearts were even now astir to welcome in the day and throw “old glory” to the breeze.

The 4th of July celebration was an all-day affair. A large crowd, including many from surrounding communities, assembled at the Armory and the Engine house to watch the mustering of the militia and the firemen. At 9:30 a.m. the festivities began with a parade through the streets, ending at “the grove near the Sierra flume.” The program that followed consisted of music by the Chico Brass Band, an invocation by the Rev. J.W. Ellis, a song from the Chico Glee Club, and the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

This was followed by a poem written for the occasion and read by George F. Nourse. The poem, The People’s Pioneer Line, was quite a lengthy one and was printed in the newspaper. It likened the nation to a railway line:

‘Tis just one hundred years and one ago,
With thirteen cars we pulled from Station One,
And under orders steamed along quite slow,
Making by day and night our wondrous run.
From time to time we lengthened out our train,
By adding on new freshly peopled cars,
Til now our line does thirty-eight maintain,
And on our flag there’s just as many stars.

The poem was followed by an oration, given by J.F. Hutton, “full of eloquence and original thought”and also printed in full. According to the newspaper report:

There was a breathless silence prevailed during the delivery of the oration, and at its close the audience broke forth in rapturous applause.  The benediction was then given and a rush was made for the tables.

The tables were laden with barbecued meat, several oxen having been cut into quarters and roasted for 12 hours. 1800 pounds of beef were served, along with a dozen hams, plenty of bread, and a variety of pickles.

Next came the “Comicalities” or the “Parade of Horribles,” described by the reporter as the “most ludicrous, comical and laughable exhibition we have seen in many a day.” After a solemn morning assembly and a good meal, it was time for some entertainment.

The Parade of Antiques and Horribles was an old New England custom in which folks dressed up in grotesque costumes and rode old nags to make fun of local dignitaries and current events. The morning parade was a stirring procession of soldiers, bands, and notable citizens in carriages. The afternoon parade was a parody to lighten the day’s mood.

The Chico parade featured a “burlesque on the City Police force and the City Fathers,” and a depiction of “Brother Jonathan and his family going West in an old cart.” “About half a dozen lengths of stovepipes on wheels burlesqued the artillery representation in the forenoon’s procession.”

I haven’t seen any photos of Chico’s Parade of Horribles, and I don’t know how long the custom lasted. Here’s a photo from a New England parade in the same period.

Juneteenth (June 19th) is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Although only created a national federal holiday in 2021, it has been celebrated annually on June 19 since 1865, marking the date when 250,000 enslaved people in Texas found out that they had been emancipated by executive decree.

Texas was the last area in the South to receive the news that slavery had been abolished. The announcement came over two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Confederacy had no desire to inform the enslaved population that they were free, and it was not until Union troops under Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston that the news reached African Americans in Texas.

Californians might think that Juneteenth is not important to California history, but slavery and its consequences is an issue that transcends the South and the Civil War. Slavery was a major topic discussed at the California Constitutional Convention in September 1849 and there were certainly a number of men at that convention who wanted slavery to be legal in California. And even though California entered the Union as a free state, it was possible to bring enslaved people from slave states into California and nothing in California law would make them free.

I have only explored a handful of stories of blacks, both free and enslaved, in California history. It’s a rewarding topic to dig into, full of stories of hope and courage and determination.

Read about Stephen Hill, who struggled to keep himself free, George Washington Dennis, who purchased his freedom from his own father, and Ida Taylor, who had to wait well past 1865 to find out she was free.

One of the most famous African American pioneers of California (who I have not written about myself), was Biddy Mason, who successfully sued in court for her freedom, and who became a prominent businesswoman in Los Angeles.

And don’t forget Alvin Coffey, the subject of my latest book. Let me know if you would like to get a copy of the book and I will make it happen!

In 1848 Lola left Bavaria for Switzerland, but when King Ludwig failed to join her there, she went on to London and a second marriage. The marriage to a young army officer with a recent inheritance lasted only two years. After the split, Lola decided it was time to leave Europe behind.

For two years (1851-53) she danced and acted on the stage in East Coast cities and then moved on to New Orleans. From there it was only a short ship voyage via Panama to California and fresh fields to conquer.

She had by this time developed a sure-fire sensational hit, the “Spider Dance.” Still posing as a Spanish dancer, she wore a tight bodice and a colorful knee-length skirt with multiple flounced petticoats. (Knee-length may sound modest, but it was considered daring, and it showed off her bare legs.)

Pretending to find a spider hidden in her skirt, she whirled and stamped in a frenzy. She lifted and shook her petticoats and her frantic actions drove the men wild. She was a hit on the stage in San Francisco and Sacramento.

She had other dances on offer, but she always concluded her program with the Spider Dance. It was what her public came to see and she would not disappoint them.

At this same time she married a California newspaperman, Patrick Purdy Hull, whom she had met en route to California from New Orleans. Marriage seems to have been irresistible to the Divine Lola, though this marriage would be no more successful than her previous two. The wedding was announced in the papers:

Note how she styles herself in her marriage announcement. She usually claimed that her birth name was “Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert,” but the Maria Dolores part was tacked on to give credence to the nickname “Lola.” She was born Eliza Gilbert.

Here she gives her name a French spin. She still gloried in the titles of Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal, bestowed by her royal lover. “de Heald” refers to the name of her second husband.

And what, you may ask, is a Chainoinesse of the Order of St. Therese? A chanoinesse is a canoness, a member of a holy order. It’s possible that Lola was created a secular canoness as another royal honor, but that is as much as I know.