goldfields

Hidden away in a back gallery at the Haggin Museum in Stockton are three genre paintings of everyday life in early California. The prominent galleries at the front of the Haggin Museum hold an impressive collection of European (mostly French) and American art collected by the wealthy Haggin and McKee families. Some familiar names among the artists are Rosa Bonheur, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Albert Bierstadt. But it is the California paintings by lesser known names that I want to highlight here.

The label for the painting of Stockton reads:

Completed in 1858 by Albertus Del Orient Browere for a sketch he made of the town in 1854, this painting depicts Stockton as viewed from the south bank of the Channel looking east. Charles Weber’s home, the St. Charles Hotel, and the City Brewery are all identifiable in this view of Gold Rush Stockton.

Three fishermen in a rowboat and two egrets are in the foreground, while small buildings line the channel behind them. Stockton was the jumping-off point for the southern mines of the Mother Lode. I am guessing that the large white building is the hotel. And isn’t Albertus Del Orient Browere an impressive name!

This painting (1875-1876) depicts a scene on the ranch of Dr. Hugh J. Glenn, for whom Glenn County is named. Dr. Glenn’s holding were huge, 55,000 acres. He had 6000 acres dedicated to growing wheat, earning him the nickname of the “Wheat King of California.” He was also prominent in politics. In the painting you can see the Sacramento River and two steamboats on the right, and faintly in the distance, Mt. Shasta. What looks like a locomotive is a steam engine for driving the thresher. I like the little tent, giving just three men a bit of shade in the hot sunshine. The man in the carriage may be Dr. Glenn himself.

The third painting, by Eugene Camerer, is my favorite because so much is going on in it.

The three men relaxing in the foreground are watching two other men trying to lift a wheel caught in a stream, while the driver and his assistant urge the six mules forward. The over-loaded wagon is burdened with shovels, a keg of something undoubtedly alcoholic, and a variety of heavy boxes. It reminds me of the adventures of Ed McIlhaney, who had a mule-packing outfit (but no wagon) taking good to the mines. On one trip his first mule was loaded with “twenty gallons of whisky in two ten-gallon kegs each.” The other five mules were loaded with “250 pounds each of sugar, coffee, bacon, rice, and potatoes” and a few other items. His most memorable trip involved packing a billiard table to Rich Bar.

So there you have it, from the Haggin Museum, a little look into life in 19th century California.

I have several talks and presentations to give in the coming months. A couple of them don’t have dates yet, but I’ve got plans.

First up is a talk at Kelly-Griggs House in Red Bluff on Saturday, January 18, at 2 p.m. It’s always a pleasure to visit Kelly-Griggs and I am looking forward to it. I’ll be talking about John and Annie Bidwell, and I will include a brief update on the Mansion fire. The lives of the Bidwells was so much more than gracious living in a Victorian mansion. Come and find out how they influenced progressive causes of their day, like diversified agriculture, environmental protection, women’s rights, and Indian welfare.

In February I will be speaking at the DAR dedication of a plaque in honor of Annie Bidwell, a proud daughter of the American Revolution. The plaque will eventually be placed on the grounds of Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park, but since that is not possible at this time, the dedication will take place at the local DAR chapter meeting on Saturday, February 15, at 10 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Chico.

Also in February, I will be giving a talk about Alvin Coffey at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum for Black History Month. I have never been there, so I am curious to visit a new museum. The date is Saturday, February 22, and the event starts at noon. My talk is part of an exhibit and fund-raiser for the James & Ursula Williams Family Fund, which supports education in Vallejo.

Then in March it’s back to Kelly-Griggs for a presentation on Nancy Kelsey. Date to be announced. And sometime in the spring I will be doing another Bidwell presentation at the Chico History Museum.

Whew!

Today Jim and I took a little drive down 99 to Yuba City to visit the Sutter County Museum. I’ve been meaning to get there for a long time now, because I like small hometown history museums, and because I wanted to see if they were interested in my books. I had a nice chat with the docent on duty and with the museum director, Molly Bloom.

Since the county is named after John Sutter, there was a corner dedicated to him. His reputation is sliding downwards nowadays, but he was a significant historical figure and should be acknowledged. The mural on the wall shows a nice view of what Sutter’s Hock Farm would have looked like from the Feather River, with the Sutter Buttes in the background. (The house burned down in 1865.) There is also a painting of the Hock Farm in 1851, before the big house was built, by William Smith Jewett.

The first area that you come to focuses on the indigenous Nisenan people. Agriculture dominates another part of the exhibit, with a beautifully restored Yuba Ball Tread tractor, manufactured in Marysville, and in its day considered ideal for orchard work. There is also a blacksmith’s shop, chock-full of blacksmithing tools and old-time agricultural implements.

Sutter and Yuba counties have a diverse population and the museum reflects that. There are exhibits dedicated to African American, Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, and Punjabi populations. Immigration from Punjab began around 1900, and Punjabi-Americans, mostly Sikhs, now form a significant portion of the Sutter County population. Their display in the museum is extensive and highly informative.

I particularly liked the area devoted to black and African American history, which included a shout-out to the Sweet Vengeance Mine. Some of the people highlighted here, like Jennie Carter and Edward Duplex, I have written about on this blog. But I have never written anything on Jim Beckwourth, and I really should. The painting on this display case, by local artist Louis Lethridge, is really striking.

The museum also contains a carriage and a Model T Ford, but my favorite vehicle is the Studebaker Junior wagon, in the children’s corner.

The museum has a tempting gift shop, with lots of books, and items by local artisans such as jewelry, ceramics, and soap. I bought three books, ones that will give me topics for many blog posts to come.

The Sutter County Museum, located at 1333 Butte House Road, is open Wednesday through Friday, 9-5, and Saturday 12-4. In addition to local history, it hosts temporary exhibits, so there is always something new and different. The museum is well worth a visit!

In March 1868 John Bidwell was in Washington D.C., awaiting his wedding day. Back home in California, the brother of his bride-to-be, John R. Kennedy, had been left in charge of Rancho Chico. Concerned about business on the ranch, Bidwell wrote frequently to Annie’s brother.

In Washington, the news was all about the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, the first impeachment of a U.S. president to ever take place. John Bidwell had served as a congressman in the previous term of 1865-67, but he had not run for re-election and was happy to be out of politics. He had his opinions though. He wrote:

If Andrew Johnson had as much ability and patriotism as he has of stubbornness, he would be the greatest man living. As it is he is blindly rushing along the giddy verge of ruin, and will sacrifice anybody or anything in order to crush the party who elected him to office. He cannot succeed. But I cannot add more in the way of politics, except to say, that men of all classes are glad that the President cannot carry Gen. Grant from the path of duty; and consequently there is no danger of war should the President in his stubborn blindness to carry his points, attempt to use the military power. Grant now in this important crisis stands between the President and people.

The ambition of men has ever been the bane of popular liberty – ambition triumphant results in monarchy – oppression. Is not human nature the same in all ages? How fortunate it is that under our form of government there are so many checks to the Executive power. How favored are we as a people that the President cannot offer Grant any higher position. Grant is as high as he can be under any President – the only higher step he can take is to be President himself. If Andy Johnson could make Grant obey him and not the law, he would carry his points at all hazards – who knows what he might do? But I must close. I never know when to stop when I get on politics.

Johnson had fired Edwin Stanton from his cabinet position as Secretary of War, contrary to Congress’s Tenure of Office Act, which made it unlawful for a president to dismiss a cabinet secretary without the consent of the Senate that had confirmed him. Johnson made General Ulysses S. Grant, who was serving as commanding general of the Army, his interim Secretary of War, but when the Senate reinstated Stanton, Grant resigned. Johnson was furious with Grant, but could do nothing to shake him. The Senate was outraged at Johnson’s high-handed moves, and sought his impeachment.

There were eleven articles of impeachment, but most of them revolved around Johnson’s violation of the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson was acquitted by one vote and he remained in office, although his influence was diminished. The Tenure of Office Act was repealed 20 years later.

Bidwell was a firm believer in the Constitution of the United States of America. “How fortunate it is that under our form of government there are so many checks to the Executive power,” he wrote, and who would disagree? But it makes you wonder if anything has changed for the better in 156 years.