By May McNeer
"We're going to see the elephant" was once an expression used by those lucky few who were able to visit P.T. Barnum's circus. The elephant act was the last act of the show, and if you saw the elephant, you saw it all. "Seeing the elephant" became the watchword of the hardy bunch who headed for California during the Gold Rush, although it eventually came to refer to making it through the worst part of a difficult journey.
May McNeer's book covers the period beginning with James Marshall's discovery of gold in Coloma in 1848, through the time about ten years later when most of the miners had either settled down as solid citizens of the new state of California or had returned home to whichever part of the world from which they had come.
Men, and a few women and children, took upon themselves many hardships to find the El Dorado, the place of great riches. Stories about easy wealth spread like wildfire around the world after gold was found at Sutter's Milll in 1848. Americans had two routes from which to choose to reach California: the Overland Trail or around the Horn by ship and across the Isthmus of Panama, then by ship to San Francisco. The Horn route was the lesser of two evils, although many succumbed to jungle fever and the bad food and water on board the rickety ships.
McNeer tells many stories of people who pinned their hopes on finding great wealth, only to be disappointed by grueling work for only a few ounces of gold dust. The greed with which these people began their difficult journies eventually reaped its own reward. Those who prospered were people who were resourceful enough to take advantage of opportunities for serving the communities of miners: storekeepers, blacksmiths, boarding house operators and restauranteurs. There were some who found the Mother Lode, but most had to face a harsh reality.
One amusing story was about a group of women who were comparing their accomplishments. One bragged about the cheeses she once made in Ohio. Another told of her pies and plum jam when she lived in Maine. Others told about their wonderful quilts. One gal was not impressed. She knew she had the talents which were necessary for survival in her new home. "'Wal, I don't care a doggone for your old cheeses and pies and quilts and sich sort of Yankee fixin's. I'm from Pike County, Missouri--and I can cut up a hog, shoot a bear, and play cards.' She swung her gun under her arm, reached for her frying pan, and strode off to head for the nearest diggings."
I enjoyed reading this book as the gold discovery happened a short distance from our home. One chapter was about Hangtown, a name for Placerville, the town near us where two of my children were born. We have many old mines nearby, and it is like stepping into another era when we visit the towns around us which have worked to preserve their Gold Rush heritage. Phillip Armour, the founder of the Armour Meat Packing Company (remember the Armour hot dog song?) and John Studebaker (the car manufacturer) both got their start in Placerville as a butcher and a blacksmith respectively.
May McNeer paints a colorful picture of an exciting time, giving details of many of the prominent personalities of California's early history. You will meet Joaquin Murrieta, the bandit; The Big Four who started the Union Pacific Railroad; the famous explorer Charles Fremont and his wife, Jessie Benton Fremont; Horace Greeley who said, "Go west, young man"; and even Mark Twain peeks in on the Gold Rush action, becoming famous with his story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Your children will have fun learning about what brought the east and the west together so that America is a land "from sea to shining sea."
