Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-18

majority OF them ####&$$8##$###$%$##$#&S#$%#
knew absolutely
nothing of mining. Mrs. NJ. f. Plassmann
They came hither
from farm and workshop; from cleri-
cal positions and the professions. with
no preliminary training in a school of
mines. Some of them had to learn
to swing a pick and use a shovel. A
few drifted in from California, Ne
vada, and other mining regions, but
these constituted a negligible minority.
Sent Samples Back Home"
Placer mines, naturally, were the first
worked. 1t did seem almost miracu-
lous when a few shovelfuls of earth
dumped into a pan or sluice box and
washed out, left behind a glittering
residue of gold. Tiny flakes to be sure,
but OF value far out of proportion to
their size. The folks back home ex-
cept for a few "forty-niners," never
saw the virgin gold or knew what it
looked like. How could they be made
to understand?
A few sent to their friends samples
Of gold dust, but most wished to pre-
sent it not as natures handiwork, but
that OF man, even if the latter held
a slight amount Of alloy.
Into Bannack and Virginia City
strayed jewelers. who were able and
willing to meet the needs of the min
ers. They made rings, brooches, chains,
and whatever else their customers de-
manded, and one motif was ever pres
ent-that Of grapes and leaves. Now
and then a plain gold ring was de-
signed, but found little favor in the
eyes of the miners, who admired the
grape as being the ultimate in artistic
conception.
Any man who had a wife or sweet
heart back east" longed to send her
these golden grapes in brooch or ring
With an accompanying letter inform
ing her, This is made from gold l
washed out" There were instances
when into a limited number of these
golden souvenirs went about all the
gold a man ever PANIED. 1t is ques-
tionable whether the recipients fully
realized the toll which made possible
these gifts.
Discovers Origin of Grape Design
OF late l often wondered how all the
jewelers. chose this particular design.
No grapes grew here, except those of
the Oregon variety, the leaf of which
resembles not the grape but the holly.
Then 1 CHANGED upon the explanation
in a book entitled odd DeadWood
Days" by Estelline Bennett, whose
childhood and early youth were passed
in that city Of the Black hills. Her
collection Of stories will appeal to
most readers Of western tales, and
through Miss Fernald, has already
found a place in the Great Falls pub
lie library. Miss Bennett answers the
question in this ann
mr.. Butler, whose father had
brought the design to Deadwood, told
me about it. .
Mr.. Butler said the little cluster Of
gold grape leaves with their occasional
tiny bunch of grapes marked the trail
of the gold miner. Wherever gold is
manufactured into jewelry in the same
camp in which it is mined the little
gold grape design appears. No place
else. The golden legend trailed it's
way from the California of '49 to Dead
wood, the last Of the old-time gold
camps where it stopped and became a
permanent and distinctive product. The
design was first made in the early days
Of the gold excitement in California
by jewelers. who had crossed the plains
in emigrant wagons. 1t was a craft
appreciation of the wonder of seeing
abundant growing grapes in the Sacra-
mento valley after their long months
on the plains. True to the traditions
Of their trade they chose their de-
sign from the most attractive model
at hand. The single grape leaf had
been used in decorations, Mr.. Butler
said, but the clustered leaves and
fruit of the golden state jewelers. was
entirely their own. They followed the
prospectors from California to Colo
RADIO, Montana, and the Black Hills and
wherever the gold came into their
hands direct from placer streams and
quartz veins, they made it up in the
little grape leaf design"
This information should greatly in
crease the value of this jewelry, when
it is generally broadcast. There must
be many specimens of this design in
our state. I have a brooch which was
my mothers, bearing this design. There
were but two others like it made here,
SO far as / can learn. One of these