Volume 042-4 - October 1988 (8 pages)

Silk Culture in Nevada Sericulture, the art of producing silk, originated in China. Archeological discoveries suggest that, some twenty-five hundred years BC. silk was produced in China. In later years, silk was exported to countries, West of China; the route which was followed is called the silk route. At the times of the Roman Empire, silk had reached this country. It was inevitable that the technology of silk production would follow the product itself, finally reaching Spain, but principally France via Italy, Therefore it is not surprising that efforts to introduce sericulture into California were primarily made by Frenchmen. Basic to sericulture are the silk moth (Bombyx mori) and the mulberry tree (Morus alba and varieties). The silk moth is a domesticated animal, it no more occurs in the wild state. The leaves of the mulberry tree are needed to feed the silk worms; they eat nothing else. Briefly, the technique of producing the silk is as follows. The silk moth is made to lay her eggs on Stiff paper or thin cardboard. The eggs stick peo the board and thus the egg cartons, as they Lare called, can be stored and transported. They frequently were an object of trade. At the time the eggs are hatched, the caterpillars (or worms as they are usually called), were placed in shallow, well ventilated containers and the feeding of the worms with mulberry leaves began. They worms grow very fast; at birth they are about '/, inch long; when ready to produce cocoons, they are about 34 inches long. On account of their fast growth, they (usually) moult four times, on the 4th, 12th, 19th and 27th day of their life. After 33 days, they are ready to produce a cocoon. It is obvious that the worms needed painstaking care. The skins and the excrements had to be removed and fresh mulberry leaves had to be frequently supplied. In China, sericulture was a cottage industry; the care of the silk worms was the task of the women. The mulberry leaves were often harvested by men. When they were ready for spinning, the worms were placed on so-called silk worm hills; after about four days, the coccon was ready. Sericulture is possible because the cocoon consists of one, long thread. The chrysalis (the animal inside the cocoon) was killed by immersion in hot water, Thereafter, the beginning of the thread had to be found and the thread was reeled off on a spindle. This was, of course, a very labor intensive job which, again, was done pam women. The biggest cocoons were saved to allow the silk moths to emerge; they started the new cycle. We will only mention the subsequent treating of the thread, the spinning and the weaving. by Michel Janicot As already mentioned, the silk moth no more exists in the wild state. However, there are several kinds of wild moths whose caterprillars produce cocoons. They live on various kinds of trees. One of them, the oak spinner (Saturnia cynthia), has some economic value, although it produces an inferior silk. All others, including about five California natives, are economically worthless. They do not belong to the same Jamily as the true silk moth. Therefore I doubt that efforts to cross domestic and wild silk moths, as mentioned in Janicot’s article, were successful. We learn that the efforts to establish a silk industry in California fizzled out quite suddenly, this in spite of the fact that the cultivation of mulberry trees and silk worms was apparently quite successful. What could have been the reason? Perhaps it was the reeling of the cocoons. I cannot visualize the women of California of the seventeen sixties and seventies being very eager to assume this task. Editor. Much has been written about the gold mines and the gold industry of Nevada County—an enterprise that was the life support system of the county from the days of the Argonauts to the late 1950's. However, another local industry, sericulture (which saw its inception in San Jose) has remained virtually unresearched to this day. It wasn’t until 1854 that sericulture, the process of raising and keeping silk worms for the production of raw silk, was introduced in the Fertile Santa Clara Valley by Louis Prévost, a French emigrant, who pioneered the silk culture when he obtained silk worm eggs from France. Six years later, Henri Hentsch, a Swiss banker residing in Nevada City, imported eggs for Prévost, who displayed a box of silk worm cocoons at the annual Mechanics’ Fair in San Francisco. (We will meet Hentsch later on in this study.) The Nevada Morning Transcript of Dec. 13, 1860, stated that “A quantity of these cocoons were forwarded to Paris to the house of Hentsch et Compagnie, and by them submitted to the most celebrated raisers and manufacturers in Lyon and Paris, who have declared them to be the very first quality of cocoons.” The newspaper acclaimed the result as “another very great inducement to undertake. . . It is proof positive that our climate is peculiarly suitable for the purpose, and that the soil is exactly adapted to raising the best qualities of Morus multicaulis upon which the worm feeds.” However, it took another four years for the State Legislature to react to the potential worth of sericulture. According to David Lavender’s California, “Hoping to turn California into a County great silk-producing state, the Legislature, in 1864, offered bounties to farmers who planted mulberry trees and produced viable silk worm cocoons.” The Act, establishing a state board and ‘‘providing moneys for the expenses thereof,” was approved March 18, 1865. Furthermore, the Legislature of 1867-68 offered a bounty of $250 for every plantation of 5,000 mulberry trees two years old; and another -of $300 for every 100,000 merchantable cocoons. According to Harry Wells’ History of Nevada County, by 1867, experiments were made with the silk worm, “resulting so satisfactorily,” that the following year a large number of the white mulberry tree, Morus alba, were planted, and eggs of the French silk worm, “a much better variety than the native worm,” were imported. Sericulture soon attracted widespread interest and promised large profits: ““The pursuit turned into a speculative frenzy,” and reached the proportions of a boom. By 1870, there were 10 millions of mulberry trees in various stages of growth throughout the state. “As the millions of mulberry trees. . .came of age the demands for the bounty poured in on the Commissioners in such a volume that the State Treasury was threatened with bankruptcy and the Legislature, in alarm, repealed the act granting bounties.” The inevitable collapse came when it was discovered that while the mulberry trees did exceptionally well in the state, no market could be found for the raw silk. In Nevada County, some 129,000 mulberrry trees had been planted by 1870. Two Frenchmen, Augustin Isoard and Justin Michel, and a German, Ed Muller, were the prime innovators in the embryonic development of the local silk culture. Isoard was by then a well-known figure in Nevada County. He arrived in Nevada City in 1850 and was a miner for two years, locating the Canada Hill Ledge. He was later involved in the hotel business, opening a saloon in 1854 on Grass Valley’s Mill Street; that establishment was destroyed in the famous fire of September 13, 1855. Returning to Nevada City, he became a miner again for a few years and in 1857, opened a wholesale liquor store on Broad Street. Isoard was also the owner of the Harmony Mine and other mining claims on Bourbon Hill, and it was “through his efforts alone that capital became interested in this section of the Nevada district.” Along with other French miners, Isoard was also involved in the so-called French Claims, “one of the richest coyote claims,” on Buckeye Hill in 1851, The French miners were sued by two lawyers, Hiram Hodge and TG. Williams, who coveted possession of the mining ground. 31

Silk Culture in Nevada Sericulture, the art of producing silk, originated in China. Archeological discoveries suggest that, some twenty-five hundred years BC. silk was produced in China. In later years, silk was exported to countries, West of China; the route which was followed is called the silk route. At the times of the Roman Empire, silk had reached this country. It was inevitable that the technology of silk production would follow the product itself, finally reaching Spain, but principally France via Italy, Therefore it is not surprising that efforts to introduce sericulture into California were primarily made by Frenchmen. Basic to sericulture are the silk moth (Bombyx mori) and the mulberry tree (Morus alba and varieties). The silk moth is a domesticated animal, it no more occurs in the wild state. The leaves of the mulberry tree are needed to feed the silk worms; they eat nothing else. Briefly, the technique of producing the silk is as follows. The silk moth is made to lay her eggs on Stiff paper or thin cardboard. The eggs stick peo the board and thus the egg cartons, as they Lare called, can be stored and transported. They frequently were an object of trade. At the time the eggs are hatched, the caterpillars (or worms as they are usually called), were placed in shallow, well ventilated containers and the feeding of the worms with mulberry leaves began. They worms grow very fast; at birth they are about '/, inch long; when ready to produce cocoons, they are about 34 inches long. On account of their fast growth, they (usually) moult four times, on the 4th, 12th, 19th and 27th day of their life. After 33 days, they are ready to produce a cocoon. It is obvious that the worms needed painstaking care. The skins and the excrements had to be removed and fresh mulberry leaves had to be frequently supplied. In China, sericulture was a cottage industry; the care of the silk worms was the task of the women. The mulberry leaves were often harvested by men. When they were ready for spinning, the worms were placed on so-called silk worm hills; after about four days, the coccon was ready. Sericulture is possible because the cocoon consists of one, long thread. The chrysalis (the animal inside the cocoon) was killed by immersion in hot water, Thereafter, the beginning of the thread had to be found and the thread was reeled off on a spindle. This was, of course, a very labor intensive job which, again, was done pam women. The biggest cocoons were saved to allow the silk moths to emerge; they started the new cycle. We will only mention the subsequent treating of the thread, the spinning and the weaving. by Michel Janicot As already mentioned, the silk moth no more exists in the wild state. However, there are several kinds of wild moths whose caterprillars produce cocoons. They live on various kinds of trees. One of them, the oak spinner (Saturnia cynthia), has some economic value, although it produces an inferior silk. All others, including about five California natives, are economically worthless. They do not belong to the same Jamily as the true silk moth. Therefore I doubt that efforts to cross domestic and wild silk moths, as mentioned in Janicot’s article, were successful. We learn that the efforts to establish a silk industry in California fizzled out quite suddenly, this in spite of the fact that the cultivation of mulberry trees and silk worms was apparently quite successful. What could have been the reason? Perhaps it was the reeling of the cocoons. I cannot visualize the women of California of the seventeen sixties and seventies being very eager to assume this task. Editor. Much has been written about the gold mines and the gold industry of Nevada County—an enterprise that was the life support system of the county from the days of the Argonauts to the late 1950's. However, another local industry,

sericulture (which saw its inception in San Jose) has remained virtually unresearched to this day. It wasn’t until 1854 that sericulture, the process of raising and keeping silk worms for the production of raw silk, was introduced in the Fertile Santa Clara Valley by Louis Prévost, a French emigrant, who pioneered the silk culture when he obtained silk worm eggs from France. Six years later, Henri Hentsch, a Swiss banker residing in Nevada City, imported eggs for Prévost, who displayed a box of silk worm cocoons at the annual Mechanics’ Fair in San Francisco. (We will meet Hentsch later on in this study.) The Nevada Morning Transcript of Dec. 13, 1860, stated that “A quantity of these cocoons were forwarded to Paris to the house of Hentsch et Compagnie, and by them submitted to the most celebrated raisers and manufacturers in Lyon and Paris, who have declared them to be the very first quality of cocoons.” The newspaper acclaimed the result as “another very great inducement to undertake. . . It is proof positive that our climate is peculiarly suitable for the purpose, and that the soil is exactly adapted to raising the best qualities of Morus multicaulis upon which the worm feeds.” However, it took another four years for the State Legislature to react to the potential worth of sericulture. According to David Lavender’s California, “Hoping to turn California into a County great silk-producing state, the Legislature, in 1864, offered bounties to farmers who planted mulberry trees and produced viable silk worm cocoons.” The Act, establishing a state board and ‘‘providing moneys for the expenses thereof,” was approved March 18, 1865. Furthermore, the Legislature of 1867-68 offered a bounty of $250 for every plantation of 5,000 mulberry trees two years old; and another -of $300 for every 100,000 merchantable cocoons. According to Harry Wells’ History of Nevada County, by 1867, experiments were made with the silk worm, “resulting so satisfactorily,” that the following year a large number of the white mulberry tree, Morus alba, were planted, and eggs of the French silk worm, “a much better variety than the native worm,” were imported. Sericulture soon attracted widespread interest and promised large profits: ““The pursuit turned into a speculative frenzy,” and reached the proportions of a boom. By 1870, there were 10 millions of mulberry trees in various stages of growth throughout the state. “As the millions of mulberry trees. . .came of age the demands for the bounty poured in on the Commissioners in such a volume that the State Treasury was threatened with bankruptcy and the Legislature, in alarm, repealed the act granting bounties.” The inevitable collapse came when it was discovered that while the mulberry trees did exceptionally well in the state, no market could be found for the raw silk. In Nevada County, some 129,000 mulberrry trees had been planted by 1870. Two Frenchmen, Augustin Isoard and Justin Michel, and a German, Ed Muller, were the prime innovators in the embryonic development of the local silk culture. Isoard was by then a well-known figure in Nevada County. He arrived in Nevada City in 1850 and was a miner for two years, locating the Canada Hill Ledge. He was later involved in the hotel business, opening a saloon in 1854 on Grass Valley’s Mill Street; that establishment was destroyed in the famous fire of September 13, 1855. Returning to Nevada City, he became a miner again for a few years and in 1857, opened a wholesale liquor store on Broad Street. Isoard was also the owner of the Harmony Mine and other mining claims on Bourbon Hill, and it was “through his efforts alone that capital became interested in this section of the Nevada district.” Along with other French miners, Isoard was also involved in the so-called French Claims, “one of the richest coyote claims,” on Buckeye Hill in 1851, The French miners were sued by two lawyers, Hiram Hodge and TG. Williams, who coveted possession of the mining ground. 31