The Clothing of a Miner
During the gold rush, clothing mattered very much because the clothing of a miner was based on his or her ethnicity. The miner's ethnicity was very important to them. For European miners, they would wear loose fitting trousers or Levis jeans with a loose fitting shirt and strong mining boots. The clothing for Chinese miners would be a traditional working robe.
In 1848, Levi Strauss created pants made of denim material. He called these “blue jeans”. They were called blue jeans because denim is actually white but natural dyes from plants and flowers made them blue. Strauss thought of the idea when he saw miners working with pants with holes and loose threads. He thought that he needed to create something tougher and sturdier. The jeans he created had large patches at the knees. These patches were there because when miners wore loose trousers, they would get the most tears at the knees. Strauss created jeans that would stand up to a miner’s job and not tear as easily.
Often a misconception is that all miners wore suspenders. While it is true that a lot of miners wore suspenders, not all did. In fact, more miners wore belts! Wealthier miners wore belts. If you wore suspenders some people would think you were poor. Back then, lots of people were judged by what they wore. When men got dressed for mining, they would wear long sleeves to protect their arms from bees or mosquitoes. But, when the heat from the sun became unbearable lots of miners worked with a sun hat and no shirts.
(www.Answers.com)
The Food of a Miner
When miners worked during the day and sold gold for money, what miners ate really depended on how much money they earned. Miners that earned a “fair” amount would eat bread (which they called damper), mutton (which was sheep’s meat), tea, and homemade churned butter. Miners that earned more than a fair amount of money would eat all of the above and in addition they would have potatoes, cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts and beans.
For poorer miners, getting food was very difficult. If they didn’t have the money to buy it at the general store, they would either have to search for food themselves, or sell some items of theirs to buy food from other people. Wealthier people didn’t have problem buying food. They would buy from the general store and that was it. For others, getting food would break the bank! Let's not forget that wealthier people also had more of a variety of food in addition to “regular” food. They had:
· Corn
· Bread
· Eggs
· Milk
· Rice
· Wheat
(www.Answers.com)
A Day in the Life of a Miner
The life of a miner involved difficult work and great responsibility. We can see this in the way that miners got hurt, had to follow the miner's commandments, and in the tools they used. To avoid getting hurt, for example, the miner had to be careful that no one was behind the wall he was blowing up and had to watch out that the boulders he put to one side didn't come crashing down.
As for tools, well there were a lot of them, but they had the responsibility to know which tools to use that were more appropriate and efficient. For example, the Sluice box. Miners would shovel gravel into a narrow box called a sluice. Water running through the sluice washed away lighter particles and left the gold. Sluice boxes greatly increased productivity because you could process more material at once. Fishing pans were also used for doing a much finer filtering. A horse drawn arrester. Horses were hooked to large spokes with masses of rock on the inside. When the horse moved, the spokes around an axle crushed the rocks over a rocky surface.
(www.Answers.com)
You might find it hard to believe, but miners had 10 commandments! Here are all 10:
1. Thou shalt not have no other claim than one.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any false claim.
3. Thou shalt not go prospecting before thy claim gives out.
4. Thou shalt not remember what thy friends do at home on the Sabbath day.
5. Thou shalt not think more of all thy gold.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not grow discouraged.
8. Thou shalt not steal a pick or shovel, nor return them broken.
9. Thou shalt not tell any false tales about “good diggings in the mountains”.
10. Thou shalt not commit unsuitable matrimony, nor covet single blessedness, nor forget about absent maidens, nor neglect thy “first love”.
James M. Hutchings wrote these commandments in 1853.
(1818-1902)
(www.sfmuseum.org)
How Miners Worked
Miners worked 9 hours a day, if not more. When miners would breathe in sulfur and other harsh chemicals, they would develop an ailment called “black lung.” Miners worked so much it was not uncommon that a miner would dig up $2,000 worth of gold every two days!
(www.Kidport.com)
Sometimes, when miners worked for days straight, they would get homesick but couldn’t go home because they were too poor. “There are thousands of men in California that would gladly go home if they had the money.” Wrote a miner in 1851.
These were the tough times miners faced and lives they lived. Miners had a really tough time mining and getting enough gold to live.
They also faced challenges. The first challenge was getting to California. The toughest route was from China and Australia. The reason why miners are called forty-niners was because almost all of them came in 1849.
( History Alive! Pg. 228)
Another challenge was finding women. Women were very hard to find during the gold rush. “I’ve been here 10 years and I’ve only seen 2 women.” Wrote a miners wife in 1849. When there were women around, some of them would help out and mine.
(History Alive! Pg. 229)
Important people
Some of these important people had an impact on miners.
Sam Brennan:
Sam Brennan was considered the gold rush’s first millionaire, but Sam Brennan never found gold! He bought a bottle of fake gold dust just to create excitement and sell his mining tools.
(1819-1889)
(www.Answers.com)
James M. Hutching: Hutching was a miner himself. Hutching thought it was important for miners to have rules; so he created the miners ten commandments. Every miner that ever lived followed these commandments.
(1818-1902)
(History Alive! Pg. 228)
James Marshall: In 1848, Marshall was building a sawmill in the American River in California when he saw something shinning in the water. He fished it out with his fishing pan and knew it was gold! When people found out about the discovery, “All were off to the mines!”, wrote a minister. Miners spent a long time searching through the mud and stones of freezing lakes and streams to find gold.
(History Alive! Pg. 228)
People like these really helped the miners by making rules or finding gold.
During the gold rush, clothing mattered very much because the clothing of a miner was based on his or her ethnicity. The miner's ethnicity was very important to them. For European miners, they would wear loose fitting trousers or Levis jeans with a loose fitting shirt and strong mining boots. The clothing for Chinese miners would be a traditional working robe.
In 1848, Levi Strauss created pants made of denim material. He called these “blue jeans”. They were called blue jeans because denim is actually white but natural dyes from plants and flowers made them blue. Strauss thought of the idea when he saw miners working with pants with holes and loose threads. He thought that he needed to create something tougher and sturdier. The jeans he created had large patches at the knees. These patches were there because when miners wore loose trousers, they would get the most tears at the knees. Strauss created jeans that would stand up to a miner’s job and not tear as easily.
Often a misconception is that all miners wore suspenders. While it is true that a lot of miners wore suspenders, not all did. In fact, more miners wore belts! Wealthier miners wore belts. If you wore suspenders some people would think you were poor. Back then, lots of people were judged by what they wore. When men got dressed for mining, they would wear long sleeves to protect their arms from bees or mosquitoes. But, when the heat from the sun became unbearable lots of miners worked with a sun hat and no shirts.
(www.Answers.com)
The Food of a Miner
When miners worked during the day and sold gold for money, what miners ate really depended on how much money they earned. Miners that earned a “fair” amount would eat bread (which they called damper), mutton (which was sheep’s meat), tea, and homemade churned butter. Miners that earned more than a fair amount of money would eat all of the above and in addition they would have potatoes, cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts and beans.
For poorer miners, getting food was very difficult. If they didn’t have the money to buy it at the general store, they would either have to search for food themselves, or sell some items of theirs to buy food from other people. Wealthier people didn’t have problem buying food. They would buy from the general store and that was it. For others, getting food would break the bank! Let's not forget that wealthier people also had more of a variety of food in addition to “regular” food. They had:
· Corn
· Bread
· Eggs
· Milk
· Rice
· Wheat
(www.Answers.com)
A Day in the Life of a Miner
The life of a miner involved difficult work and great responsibility. We can see this in the way that miners got hurt, had to follow the miner's commandments, and in the tools they used. To avoid getting hurt, for example, the miner had to be careful that no one was behind the wall he was blowing up and had to watch out that the boulders he put to one side didn't come crashing down.
As for tools, well there were a lot of them, but they had the responsibility to know which tools to use that were more appropriate and efficient. For example, the Sluice box. Miners would shovel gravel into a narrow box called a sluice. Water running through the sluice washed away lighter particles and left the gold. Sluice boxes greatly increased productivity because you could process more material at once. Fishing pans were also used for doing a much finer filtering. A horse drawn arrester. Horses were hooked to large spokes with masses of rock on the inside. When the horse moved, the spokes around an axle crushed the rocks over a rocky surface.
(www.Answers.com)
You might find it hard to believe, but miners had 10 commandments! Here are all 10:
1. Thou shalt not have no other claim than one.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thyself any false claim.
3. Thou shalt not go prospecting before thy claim gives out.
4. Thou shalt not remember what thy friends do at home on the Sabbath day.
5. Thou shalt not think more of all thy gold.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not grow discouraged.
8. Thou shalt not steal a pick or shovel, nor return them broken.
9. Thou shalt not tell any false tales about “good diggings in the mountains”.
10. Thou shalt not commit unsuitable matrimony, nor covet single blessedness, nor forget about absent maidens, nor neglect thy “first love”.
James M. Hutchings wrote these commandments in 1853.
(1818-1902)
(www.sfmuseum.org)
How Miners Worked
Miners worked 9 hours a day, if not more. When miners would breathe in sulfur and other harsh chemicals, they would develop an ailment called “black lung.” Miners worked so much it was not uncommon that a miner would dig up $2,000 worth of gold every two days!
(www.Kidport.com)
Sometimes, when miners worked for days straight, they would get homesick but couldn’t go home because they were too poor. “There are thousands of men in California that would gladly go home if they had the money.” Wrote a miner in 1851.
These were the tough times miners faced and lives they lived. Miners had a really tough time mining and getting enough gold to live.
They also faced challenges. The first challenge was getting to California. The toughest route was from China and Australia. The reason why miners are called forty-niners was because almost all of them came in 1849.
( History Alive! Pg. 228)
Another challenge was finding women. Women were very hard to find during the gold rush. “I’ve been here 10 years and I’ve only seen 2 women.” Wrote a miners wife in 1849. When there were women around, some of them would help out and mine.
(History Alive! Pg. 229)
Important people
Some of these important people had an impact on miners.
Sam Brennan:
Sam Brennan was considered the gold rush’s first millionaire, but Sam Brennan never found gold! He bought a bottle of fake gold dust just to create excitement and sell his mining tools.
(1819-1889)
(www.Answers.com)
James M. Hutching: Hutching was a miner himself. Hutching thought it was important for miners to have rules; so he created the miners ten commandments. Every miner that ever lived followed these commandments.
(1818-1902)
(History Alive! Pg. 228)
James Marshall: In 1848, Marshall was building a sawmill in the American River in California when he saw something shinning in the water. He fished it out with his fishing pan and knew it was gold! When people found out about the discovery, “All were off to the mines!”, wrote a minister. Miners spent a long time searching through the mud and stones of freezing lakes and streams to find gold.
(History Alive! Pg. 228)
People like these really helped the miners by making rules or finding gold.
Percent of people that mined in The Gold Rush of 1849
Women 20%
Men 80%
Women 20%
Men 80%