goldfields

Who doesn’t love a picture of a miner, a gold prospector, a forty-niner? Here he is, on the cover of the Wasp for October 17, 1891, in his red flannel shirt, blue Levis, tall brown boots, and broad-brimmed hat. Those clothes, together with a beard, was how you knew the cartoon was depicting a miner. Plus he always had a shovel and/or a pickax. Probably a gold pan too.

Why is he perplexed? I’ll get to that in a moment. For now, let’s look at a few more images:

Courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California

The “Lone Prospector” by Alburtus Del Orient Browere (what a name!), painted in 1853. Shovel? Check. Pickax? Check. Gold pan, pistol, mule? Check, check, check.

An advertisement for Coats thread, excellent for mending those blue jeans.

The cover sheet of a special supplement to the San Francisco Call, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill. A forty-niner for sure, with his red flannel shirt.

And why is that first miner perplexed? It’s a matter of hydraulic mining versus farming. The Wasp was fully in support of hydraulic mining, which brought money into San Francisco, while the farmers in the valley strongly opposed it, on account of the massive amounts of “slickens” (silt and debris) that washed down onto the valley farms.

A little bit more about hydraulic mining next time. For now, just enjoy the sight of a handsome young miner in his red flannel shirt.

Courtesy of the California State Library

More cartoons!

The Wasp, 20 July 1889

1889 was the year that North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Montana all were admitted to the Union. And here we have those four fair ladies, sitting down to write their state constitutions. Columbia, on the right, is saying, “My daughters, let your charters be as free from jobs and crank notions as mine is.”

And what were those crank notions that beset the political mind in 1889? Behind the ladies, left to right, are a demagogue, a corporation lawyer, a proponent of women’s suffrage, a “boodling” politician, a prohibitionist, and a civil service reformer (in a red shirt). Is the civil service reformer meant to look innocent or devious? I’m not sure.

“Boodle,” in the political jargon of the day, was money gotten from bribes and graft.

A closer look:

Not a fan of “Votes for Women,” were they?

Columbia is wearing a Phrygian cap, or liberty cap, which dates back to ancient times and during the French Revolution became a symbol of liberty. Here’s a World War I poster showing Columbia with her American flag drapery and liberty cap.

Uncle Sam is still a common symbol of the USA, but we don’t see Columbia much anymore. Maybe it is time to bring back Columbia.

Here’s a bonus Phrygian cap for you, from the December 28th, 1889 issue of the Wasp. “The Advance of Republicanism Startles the World.” Our goddess here is not Columbia (no stars and stripes), but Liberty or the ideal of a Republic. The startled nations are Austria, England (with Spain clutching her robe), bearded Russia, and on the battlement, Prussia.

And there was none juicer in 1880s San Francisco than the case of Sharon v. Sharon, which pitted elderly millionaire William Sharon against his mistress/wife (take your pick) Sarah Althea Hill. I wrote about this Scandalous Saga last year and you can follow the whole story by clicking through to that post and subsequent posts. It is a story replete with civil suits ranging from divorce to libel to slander; criminal prosecutions from adultery to larceny to murder; allegations of forgery, blackmail, and voodoo, and pistols and knives drawn in the courtroom. It has it all!

At the time I found a couple of cartoons from the Wasp about the scandal and courtroom drama, but now I have a few more to show you.

After the court dismissed the suit against William Sharon for adultery on a technicality, Sarah Althea Hill promptly sued for divorce, claiming that they had a secret marriage. Hence we have this cartoon titled “Re-Opening the Ball.” Althea, decked out in extravagant fashion, is on the arm of wizened old ex-Senator Sharon (or he is on her arm).

Judge Sullivan starts up the music, while the crowd of attorneys promenades in. The fat man with the spade beard and spectacles is David S. Terry, who will later marry Althea and come to a Very Bad End.

The bearded gentleman dressed up as a lady in yellow with a bright red fan is Althea’s attorney, George W. Tyler. He is also the central figure in the scene of courtroom mayhem below. As he questioned Mrs. Shawhan, and implied that she was less than respectable, she fingered a pistol in her pocket, and Tyler reached to draw his own pistol. Pandemonium ensued — you can read about it in the Pistols in the Courtroom post.

The Sacramento History Museum has some fun and short video tours you can enjoy during this time of confinement. The museum is closed, and they probably don’t encourage you wandering around the streets of Old Sacramento, but there are still some fun things to do virtually.

Take a few minutes to take an Anytime Tour. They have Anytime Tours in Old Sacramento and Anytime Tours at the Old City Cemetery, presented by costumed guides. The stories about bold businesswomen of early Sacramento are a particular treat.

Take a ride on the Union and Central Pacific Railroads!

This series of guidebooks told you everything you needed to know as you rode the train across the continent, bound for California. Once you got to the Golden State, the book guided you on all the routes throughout the state, describing each station and town, and all the beauties and wonders to be seen along the way. It was lavishly illustrated with etchings of the scenic marvels of America.

Here is the page telling you what to expect as you journey northward on the Central Pacific Railroad through Chico and Red Bluff to its terminus at Redding. Gridley and Biggs are “both new and flourishing towns,” and Chico is “one of the best and most prosperous towns in California,” where you can see the beautiful home of General Bidwell, one of California’s “most enterprising citizens.”

If your destination is anywhere else in Northern California not on the rail line, such as  Big Meadows, Cherokee Flat, or Orland, the guidebook tells you all about the connecting stagecoach lines. What a valuable book! Well worth the price of $1.50 for the railroad (paperback) edition, or $2.00 for the hardback edition.

Don’t leave home without it!

(My thanks to the California State Library, which pointed out that these books are available on the Internet Archive.)