The Coolidge examiner., 1937-01-28

1nOuSH lTOIl lueSc SOpIISIeu Hills
some gold seekers took their dizzy
millions, the real contribution of the
Gold Rush to California'S destiny is
often overlooked. Think of the black
smiths, carpenters, cowboys. farm
ers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers
who came with the gold hunting
horde. They cleared land, built
towns and roads. sent East for
wives, raised husky 'Sons of the
Golden West" and spread the raw
canvas for this 1886 picture of north
ern California at work
Few, comparatively, got rich in
the mines; that wasn't economic
production, anyway. They simply
found the gold, at first, and took it.
In time, mining settled down to a
business of deep shafts, stamp
mills, smelters, timbered tunnels,
roads, and towns. All this meant
more food, achinery, lumber,
transportation, clothing, amuse-
ments. To supply these, farms to
grow meat and grain developed;
towns with factories, schools, and
music halls grew up to take care of
mines, of farms. of each other.
Law grew, too, from this pioneer
experience-the doctrines of appro-
priation and use, the laws of mining,
water rights, and grazing. Students
of Jurisprudence say it is seldom
that the customs of people have
had their origin, development, and
final adoption by legislature all
within one lifetime, as came to pass
here.
Sutter Founded Sacramento.
John A. Suffer, Swiss adventurer,
built trading post on land given
him by the Mexicans. That was
the beginning of Sacramento, in
1889. 1t was a strategic location;
soil was rich, the river afforded
easy transport to San Francisco,
and the new town was right in the
path of settlers coming from the
East through Emigrant Gap. Sure,
swift steps in the rise of that town
epitomize the American conquest of
this region. First Suffer fought the
Indians, then hired them to farm
his lands, run his cattle, and work
about his fort
Kit Carson and John c. Fremont
came here for fresh horses.
Into Suffers Fort (now Sacramen-
to-, in 1841, drove the first immi-
grant wagon train to cross the
Plains. From here men went, in
1847, to rescue the Donner party,
showed in and fighting starvation.
Suffers hired man, digging to
build a sawmill, found gold at Co.
Iona in 1848, and started the great
stampede. This lawleSs horde
robbed and ruined Sutter; he died
poor. Others held the fort, and
traded furiously. They charged $64
to shoe a horse; $4,000 a ton to
haul freight to the mines. 1t cost
a pinch of gold dust to buy drink
of whiskey. and only men with big
hands were hired to tend bar!
Dance halls never closed; even to-
day one advertises itself as Bon
Ton Dance Hall. Beautiful Girls
Galore" Miners. coming to cele-
brate, brought their gold in an old
sock, or in yeast cans! Modern
youths buy strip of tickets. each
good for a dance with taxi girl"
California became a state in 1880
That year more than $4,000 miners
swarmed through Suffers Fort.
from the East. About it a wild
lawless town was growing, town of
tents and rough boards, of saloons,
eating places, stores, and black
smith shops. Most goods came first
to San Francisco by sea, and then
up the Sacramento river.
State Almost Divided Once.
Jumping from Monterey to San
Jose, Vallejo, and Benicia, the state
capital got to Sacramento in 1854.