Evening star., 1939-07-09
Sacramento Pops Up
West With Wild
Gold Rush Days
Roorin' Comp Rep!ete
With Realism and
Tourist Thrills
By HERBERT F. CORN.

One hundred years ago-August
IL, 1839-Capt John A. Sutter,
Swiss adventurer, sailed up the Sac
ramento River in California to claim
"99 square miles of any land he
might select not already occupied, I"
favor won from Gov. Alvarado
then Mexican governor of Califor-
mia.
How the discovery of gold nine
years later on his empire" brought
him the loss of all his riches to die
IN poverty is now known to every
school boy Hardly pioneer family
in the United States but recalls some
forebear who trekked West in the
40 gold rush.
This year Sacramento and the Is
counties of the Gold Empire are
celebrating the centennial. and a
day in the State capital should be on
the must list of all visitors to the
more glamorous Golden Gate Ex-
position at San Francisco Cor Oak
land, which describes itself as the
mainland of Treasure IslandD.
Nearly every mothers son in Sac
ramento is taking some part in the
celebration. Roarin' Camp, frontier
mining town, has been reproduced.
and every night some 1000 citizens
of the State capital, in pioneer cos
tune, mingle with the gay throngs
to give the local color of the gold
rush days. Many of the costumes
actually were worn by their fore
bears during the days of 40.
Fun. With Thrills.
Returning from San Francisco our
party, as guests of the Western Pa
ciflc and the Chamber of Commerce
of Sacramento. dropped down into
Roarin' Camp for a cocktail at Ell
Dorado and dinner at the Eagle
theater, dance hall and saloon
When the festivities were we'll un-
der way the big saloon, with the
block-long bar, was suddenly startled
by the appearance of four bad men"
who shot up the place quite COM
pletely. No forty-niner was more
surprised than the guests from the
East that night and when two men
slumped to the saWGust floor as the
fuslhlade died away more than one
OF We diners choked on his steak.
Hardly had equilibrium been re-
stored than there was a shout out
side and We rushed out Just as the
pony express rider galloped in. hang
ing across the saddle, an Indians
arrow protruding out of his back.
It's all lot of clean fun and a
thriller for the children and grown
ups alike.
There's never a dull moment from
the time the camp opens at 6 pm.
until midnight More than so build
1ngs, reproductions of the famous
buildings of the Mother Lode coun-
try, are situated along the winding
streets OF the village erected on the
banks of Southside Park Lake. Here
for few hours each day mining
town of bonanza days, such as
Bret Harte and Mark Twain i'm
mortallzed, unfolds its life lust as
the frenzied prospectors and immi-
grants sWarmed into the gold fields
IN the roaring 40s.
Concocted Realism.
There's the arrival of the stage
coach and Indian dances on the
island in the nearby lake. Sud-
denly a hotel fire brings the entire
throng to its feet as the volunteers
dash into action with an ancient
hand-pumper. Occasionally the
well-armed sheriffs dash off at the
ENllnH nf ortj11ory- 10 ie+o
of the camp, saloon" door opens,
sourdough is tossed out on his
face, Earlier in the season, so the
story goes, the fun was little
more realistic El Dorado then was
being operated as an actual gam
bling house Nearby Stockton. al
ways critical Of her neighbor city.
considered the color a little too
local" particularly since she had
restricted her games of chance after
repeated warnings. Stockton COM
planned, SO goes the tale. Then Ell
Dorado paid off in script. redeem
able only at the fair. Finally this,
too. was banned.
For the Empire Centennial the
fort established by Sutter and his
little band has been restored. Char
acters presenting Sutter, James
Marshall, who found the gold; Kit
Carson, Peter Lassen, people the
fort just as when Sutter lived there.
At the fort is being printed daily
on an old Washington hand press
reissues of the first edition of Placer
Times, which appeared on April %,
1849. its first name plate cut off a
piece of wood. The printing is un-
der the supervision of BENJAMIN