Lola Montez in Grass Valley (PH 17-1)(Undated) (40 pages)

traveled over a decidedly undulating road not gravelly but rocky and the many unexpected concussions we received led us to deplore the negligence and want of enterprise . in nothaving the plank road finished . that has been so long talked of but still remains in ‘status quo.’ Notwithstanding all difficulties, our coach at last reached Nevada and put us down at the . United States Hotel.” (Located at Eddie’s, corner of Broad and Pine Streets.) Though it was not raining when Montez and Co. made the trip in July of 1853, and coach curtains were unnecessary, the scenery was nevertheless obliterated by a screen of dust. The road wandered across Long Bar, through mining camps, the fields of ripening wheat, oats and Barley in Penn Valley and into the little town of Rough and Ready, just recovering from the devastating fire of June 27. The stage station stop, “The Downey House,” was in the process of reconstruction. Grass Valley Telegraph, Nov. 10, 1853: “The Downey House when completed for taste, capacity and convenience will be unsurpassed in the mountains.” Crossing over what old timers called “that awful break-neck hill” at Rough and Ready, the coachenter-. ed the valley of Wolf Creek. And so, Lola at age 35, with but seven short years of life before her, had come into a new field of opportunity, the northern mines, the last outpost of California’s society. In 1853, Grass Valley was the sixth largest town in California, being surpassed by San Francisco, . Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton and Nevada City. Even so it was an unpretentious village of wooden buildings and tents. Brick structures were not in evidence and did not appear until the summer of 1854, » when a brick kiln was constructed near the town. Grass Valley experienced phenomenal growth and development in a period of six years and remains today the largest community in Nevada County. A roaming correspondent for the “San Francisco Golden Era,” described the valley in August, 1853, ‘as follows: “Grass Valley is indeed a lovely as well as picturesque and very healthy town. Business is lively here and the village can boast of good water and as handsome groves as any location in the State. The miners too are averaging well throughout this section. Quartz mining is the most important business here as it embraces more capital than all the other enterprises put together. The mills appear to be doing a fair business at present and several new ones are being built, the latter ‘mostly by English capitalists. The new steam Sawing and planing mill is now in operation and several succeed admirably. The editor of the Grass Valley Telegraph, the town’s first newspaper, deplored the loss of the valley’s natural beauty to industry in this observation of September 22, 1853: “The valley of Wolf Creek, from which our quiet village takes its name a beautiful ‘valley, once green and meadowlike with the forest of tall pines on either side . What is it now, but a vast field of ditches and shafts, and piles of dirt, with sluices and toms, and windlasses and engines puffing and pumping covering its surface. There is another branch of business extensively carried on among us — the lumber trade. From 2000 to 3000 feet is turned out daily by the mills in the valley.” Editorials advocated city incorporation and listed health and safety measures, the effective use of , police and fire protection as well as needed public works to be paid for by taxation and necessary to a . rapidly growing community. In one item the editor stated, “There is no other . town in the state ofthe size of Grass Valley where no proper receptacle for the dead is provided. We need a cemetery, although it must be acknowledged that the town is very healthy.” Instances were.cited of needed controls such as limiting over-enthusiastic miners from digging holes. in the streets and undermining the foundations of houses in their quest for gold. Ruffians had once been caught’in an attempt to burn the town in order to loot it. Z-~@eeoeoueseeeseseeeeoeeaeseeOeoqgeoeeqgeeeoeageeoeeeegceeeqgee gee € EG ES EC Streets were a problem. Jonas Winchester, businessman, wrote his brother in the East. “Grass Valley grows in extent beyond anticipation. but it is the worst place in the world for getting dirty. the roads are nothing but fine dust.” The editor recommended plank streets, a covering of gravel orat least a water wagon to sprinkle down the dust. He suggested water being piped from Cold Spring Valley to the houses and business places and the building of a brick kiln to furnish bricks for fire-proof constructions. Citizens were encouraged to build plank,sidewalks in the principal streets. There were a few,. spaced intermittently, so that those passing by were either stepping up on a boarded walk or down to a. beaten path of dirt. People were advised to take the middle of the street at night to avoid the swine in front of the stores. (quadruped) ‘ Still, progress was being made toward a mor orderly society. The town’s heterogeneous groupings of nationalities, the Europeans, Latin Americans, Indians, Chinese and Americans, had arrived at a ° definite system of control after the disgraceful bloodstained riots of 1852. Balloting had put the American in charge of whatever government was tobe had.The Grass Valley of 1853 was just beginning to recoup itself from the slump of 1852 when quartz mining had come into such disfavor due to the crudeness of early machinery and the inexperience of miners in extracting gold from rock. Daily Alta, Sept. 16, 1853: “The working of quartz . Cannot yet be considered successful. No machinery has been constructed adequate to the grinding of the rock, and separation of the gold, anc until vast improvements are affected in this respect, quartz mining will continue to be an extremely hazardous business, whatever the richness of the veins.” Eastern and English capital had kept the mines in operation during this low ebb. Improved methods were developed and mills with five to eight stamps had been set up, capable of crushing 100 tons of ore daily. The year of 1853 was notable for prying open for the first time, though ever so slightly, the rock covering of California’s great golden heart, This then was the Grass Valley into which Lola came that July day in 1853, primitive yet beautiful, wild yet exciting, perhaps matching the dark hidden turbulence in her own restless heart. (Bean’s Directory, 1867, and Thompson-West, 1880, give the date of Lola’s arrival as 1854. A cross-section of the early-day newspapers place it about July 18, 1853.) Alonzo Delano, Grass Valley author, in his book, “Pen Sketches, 1853,” describes a stage coach entry into the town as follows: “As you rise Ohio Hill, you see a depression in the landscape, but your eye seeks in vain for the town. A little further you begin tc look down on ‘things below’ — still on, a broad roof is exposed to view, a few paces further and that excellent hotel, the Beatty House (corner of Main and Mill Streets) presents itself guarded by a monster pine partially shorn of its limbs from the trunk of which a sign informs you that this is the ‘Stage Office’ . Haworth & Smith, ir whose stage you are now descending the gentle hill full tilt through the Main Street of Grass Valley. A multitude of neal homes and stores meet your eye, all new as if they had just risen from the sawmill and been beautified by the painter’s brush.” The arrival of the stage in any mining camp Caused considerable commotion and crowding at the Stage depot. On this day the throng were amazed on recognizing the attractive woman stepping down from the coach as the world-famous Lola Montez, she with the scandalous European past, brocaded with romantic legends; the lush enchantress who charmed or displeased almost simultaneously. How did they receive her? One correspondent waxed poetical in writing to the Nevada Journal: “. the advent of the divine Lola has stirred the inmost soul of Grass Valley, waking from lethargy those in whom Gabriel’s horn would fail to evolve a sign of life.”.

traveled over a decidedly undulating road not gravelly but rocky and the many unexpected concussions we received led us to deplore the negligence and want of enterprise .. in nothaving the plank road finished . that has been so long talked of but still remains in ‘status quo.’ Notwithstanding all difficulties, our coach at last reached Nevada and put us down at the . United States Hotel.” (Located at Eddie’s, corner of Broad and Pine Streets.) Though it was not raining when Montez and Co. made the trip in July of 1853, and coach curtains were unnecessary, the scenery was nevertheless obliterated by a screen of dust. The road wandered across Long Bar, through mining camps, the fields of ripening wheat, oats and Barley in Penn Valley and into the little town of Rough and Ready, just recovering from the devastating fire of June 27. The stage station stop, “The Downey House,” was in the process of reconstruction. Grass Valley Telegraph, Nov. 10, 1853: “The Downey House when completed for taste, capacity and convenience will be unsurpassed in the mountains.” Crossing over what old timers called “that awful break-neck hill” at Rough and Ready, the coachenter-. ed the valley of Wolf Creek. And so, Lola at age 35, with but seven short years of life before her, had come into a new field of opportunity, the northern mines, the last outpost of California’s society. In 1853, Grass Valley was the sixth largest town in California, being surpassed by San Francisco, . Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton and Nevada City. Even so it was an unpretentious village of wooden buildings and tents. Brick structures were not in evidence and did not appear until the summer of 1854, » when a brick kiln was constructed near the town. Grass Valley experienced phenomenal growth and development in a period of six years and remains today the largest community in Nevada County. A roaming correspondent for the “San Francisco Golden Era,” described the valley in August, 1853, ‘as follows: “Grass Valley is indeed a lovely as well as picturesque and very healthy town. Business is lively here and the village can boast of good water and as handsome groves as any location in the State. The miners too are averaging well throughout this section. Quartz mining is the most important business here as it embraces more capital than all the other enterprises put together. The mills appear to be doing a fair business at present and several new ones are being built, the latter ‘mostly by English capitalists. The new steam Sawing and planing mill is now in operation and several succeed admirably. The editor of the Grass Valley Telegraph, the town’s first newspaper, deplored the loss of the valley’s natural beauty to industry in this observation of September 22, 1853: “The valley of Wolf Creek, from which our quiet village takes its name a beautiful ‘valley, once green and meadowlike with the forest of tall pines on either side .. What is it now, but a vast field of ditches and shafts, and piles of dirt, with sluices and toms, and windlasses and engines puffing and pumping covering its surface. There is another branch of business extensively carried on among us — the lumber trade. From 2000 to 3000 feet is turned out daily by the mills in the valley.” Editorials advocated city incorporation and listed health and safety measures, the effective use of , police and fire protection as well as needed public works to be paid for by taxation and necessary to a . rapidly growing community. In one item the editor stated, “There is no other . town in the state ofthe size of Grass Valley where no proper receptacle for the dead is provided. We need a cemetery, although it must be acknowledged that the town is very healthy.” Instances were.cited of needed controls such as limiting over-enthusiastic miners from digging holes. in the streets and undermining the foundations of houses in their quest for gold.

Ruffians had once been caught’in an attempt to burn the town in order to loot it. Z-~@eeoeoueseeeseseeeeoeeaeseeOeoqgeoeeqgeeeoeageeoeeeegceeeqgee gee € EG ES EC Streets were a problem. Jonas Winchester, businessman, wrote his brother in the East. “Grass Valley grows in extent beyond anticipation.. but it is the worst place in the world for getting dirty.. the roads are nothing but fine dust.” The editor recommended plank streets, a covering of gravel orat least a water wagon to sprinkle down the dust. He suggested water being piped from Cold Spring Valley to the houses and business places and the building of a brick kiln to furnish bricks for fire-proof constructions. Citizens were encouraged to build plank,sidewalks in the principal streets. There were a few,. spaced intermittently, so that those passing by were either stepping up on a boarded walk or down to a. beaten path of dirt. People were advised to take the middle of the street at night to avoid the swine in front of the stores. (quadruped) ‘ Still, progress was being made toward a mor orderly society. The town’s heterogeneous groupings of nationalities, the Europeans, Latin Americans, Indians, Chinese and Americans, had arrived at a ° definite system of control after the disgraceful bloodstained riots of 1852. Balloting had put the American in charge of whatever government was tobe had.The Grass Valley of 1853 was just beginning to recoup itself from the slump of 1852 when quartz mining had come into such disfavor due to the crudeness of early machinery and the inexperience of miners in extracting gold from rock. Daily Alta, Sept. 16, 1853: “The working of quartz .. Cannot yet be considered successful.. No machinery has been constructed adequate to the grinding of the rock, and separation of the gold, anc until vast improvements are affected in this respect, quartz mining will continue to be an extremely hazardous business, whatever the richness of the veins..” Eastern and English capital had kept the mines in operation during this low ebb. Improved methods were developed and mills with five to eight stamps had been set up, capable of crushing 100 tons of ore daily. The year of 1853 was notable for prying open for the first time, though ever so slightly, the rock covering of California’s great golden heart, This then was the Grass Valley into which Lola came that July day in 1853, primitive yet beautiful, wild yet exciting, perhaps matching the dark hidden turbulence in her own restless heart. (Bean’s Directory, 1867, and Thompson-West, 1880, give the date of Lola’s arrival as 1854. A cross-section of the early-day newspapers place it about July 18, 1853.) Alonzo Delano, Grass Valley author, in his book, “Pen Sketches, 1853,” describes a stage coach entry into the town as follows: “As you rise Ohio Hill, you see a depression in the landscape, but your eye seeks in vain for the town.. A little further you begin tc look down on ‘things below’ — still on, a broad roof is exposed to view, a few paces further and that excellent hotel, the Beatty House (corner of Main and Mill Streets) presents itself guarded by a monster pine partially shorn of its limbs from the trunk of which a sign informs you that this is the ‘Stage Office’ .. Haworth & Smith, ir whose stage you are now descending the gentle hill full tilt through the Main Street of Grass Valley. A multitude of neal homes and stores meet your eye, all new as if they had just risen from the sawmill and been beautified by the painter’s brush.” The arrival of the stage in any mining camp Caused considerable commotion and crowding at the Stage depot. On this day the throng were amazed on recognizing the attractive woman stepping down from the coach as the world-famous Lola Montez, she with the scandalous European past, brocaded with romantic legends; the lush enchantress who charmed or displeased almost simultaneously. How did they receive her? One correspondent waxed poetical in writing to the Nevada Journal: “.. the advent of the divine Lola has stirred the inmost soul of Grass Valley, waking from lethargy those in whom Gabriel’s horn would fail to evolve a sign of life.”.