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Women of the Gold Rush Era Not Told To Stay Home
Okay, you males out there - listen up, because it's way time for
you folks to get a clue.
I don't know where the mid to late 1900's male idea that women
are helpless came from, but it is quarter past high time for you
all to get over it. Women do not have the raw body strength
ounce per ounce that a man has, we aren't going to argue that.
If I had an acre of land to plow I would undeniably hire a man
over a woman any day. Where the idea that I am helpless follows
from that, is such a quantum leap of logic that it can't
realistically be given any credence.
I'm going to cut you just a bit of slack, and blame it on the
fact that life in America has become so cush that men just don't
really much get the chance to see what a Woman can accomplish
when put to the test. Did I forget to mention in the last
paragraph, that if there was no one I could hire, I would get it
done on my own?
I am a woman. I am a rockhound. As a rockhound, I travel to
places out in the wilds to collect my treasures. I do this with
no company other than my dog most of the time. It is relaxing
and keeps me mentally sharp, physically fit, and well
entertained. Unfortunately, I continually get slammed by men who
feel this is wrong for me to do. It is dangerous. I am too old.
The car might break down. I might get lost. Anything could
happen. And the one that really gets under my skin - I belong at
home unless I am working or running errands. These are seriously
attitudes that I am faced with frequently.
One February I was stranded in the Ochoco Mountains.
Temperatures were in the single digits at night. It took me 4
days to get out. When I hit the main road, I flagged a car to
get a ride to town. My dog and I were a bit dirty, but didn't
feel any too bad. The same day that I walked out onto the main
road, a man was being dragged off of Mt Hood in a stretcher. He
had been out the same amount of time I had been. He didn't fare
so well. Guess no one ever taught him to climb a tree to get dry
wood to get a fire going. He wasn't a smoker, so he probably
"just forgot" his lighter, too. The press did it up real well. I
was never contacted to talk to the media - guess it might have
made the guy look bad, or just wasn't exciting without a major
rescue involved.
When I got to town I called my boss. He fired me without even
asking if I was alright. He simply pointed out that I had no
business going off by myself. Not even on a day off. To this day
I firmly believe that had I been a male, my prowess at getting
out of the situation in one piece would have been highly
applauded. Would a man have been told that they had no business
leaving the house on a day off?
Another man asked me if I had "learned my lesson" meaning did I
know now my place was in the home. I quickly pointed out that
yes I had. I learned that for a 44 year old woman I was still
pretty buff. I also learned that I can still build a campfire
that would make an Indian cry from jealousy. Oh, and that
crayfish and fish are really easy to catch when the water gets
cold enough.
The truth is that throughout the history of this nation, women
have proved to be able to handle any conditions a man can,
handle any crisis a man can, and even excel financially in even
the roughest of environments. Some of them can do this better
than the very man who might have told them that their place is
in the home.
Mining towns and camps were not the easiest places to live. Just
getting to some of those towns in those days was often a life
threatening journey. Women were just as likely to survive the
trip as the men were. The towns themselves were often built to
be temporary and were nothing more than tents or cabins with
dirt floors at best. Winters were bitter, food often scarce when
weather would not permit supply wagons through. But there were
women in these camps. Surprisingly, many were making more money
than the miners.
Once in the camps, women proved to be very enterprising, very
necessary, and very well able to handle the conditions. They set
up businesses washing miner's clothing, cleaning, innkeeping,
and much money was made by good cooks.
One miner's wife, Mrs. C.J. Everson of Empire, Colorado made her
fortune when she discovered and patented a new means of
concentrating metals by pouring pulverized ore in a solution of
water and an oily substance and agitating it. The barren rock
dust would sink to the bottom and the metal sand would adhere to
the oily substance which would float to the top. In the early
1880's the new method of concentrating allowed many local mines
to double and triple their production of gold and silver. Bet
none of the miners ever told her that she should not be there.
Of course there were women, also, that went into the field of
mining themselves. I can't imagine a man being so pig-headed or
insipid to have ever told Nellie Cashman that she had no
business out there in the rough, that she was too frail, or not
smart enough to handle the rough environment.
Nellie was born in Ireland in 1845 and her family came to
America during the potato famine. In 1872 she and her mother
moved to the Pioche, Nevada mining camp area and opened a
boarding house there. Pretty rough country for a couple of women
on their own, one an aged woman at that.
Nellie moved on a few years later on her own to the Cassiar
district of British Columbia, close to where Juno now stands,
where she operated a boarding house and started to actually to
do some placer mining of her own.
It was here she claimed the title "Angel of Mercy". Nellie was
in the Victoria area when she heard that her fellow miners at
Cassiar were hit by an extremely violent blizzard. No one could
get through. Supplies were running out. People were sick. There
wasn't much time to lose in saving her friends. How could she
get through? Not one man who had tried had succeeded.
No one remembered to tell Nellie that her place was in the home.
She gathered supplies, dogs and sleds, hired a few hands, and
was off to the rescue. No one could make it through. But Nellie
did. Her ability to get through the snow that no one else could
get through, bringing life saving medicines and supplies to the
camp made her famous. No one told Nellie that she had no
business out there - that she wasn't capable or that something
might happen to her, or that she didn't belong out there. The
miners were damned grateful that she had the grit to go - they
thought of her as a hero. She had saved them from miserable
deaths. She had accomplished what no man had been able to do.
Nellie continued to work boarding homes and hotels in mining
districts. She also became quite knowledgeable about mining
geology and worked and owned several claims. She made much money
and gave much of it to hospitals and churches. In 1905, at the
age of 60, Nellie moved to Nolan Creek in Koyukuk country, the
northern most mining area at the time, and a more than harsh
environment. Nellie spent the last twenty years of her life
there, working and purchasing claims which she worked with her
own hands and the help of a few paid assistants.
In 1904, Nellie realized that her health was failing. So at the
age of 79 she finally gave up tending her mines and claims and
worked her way south to receive care at Sister's of St. Ann in
Victoria - a hospital that she had contributed much funding for
forty years earlier. She died there in January of 1925, at the
age of 80.
Okay, sure, that is one woman, but there were others. Need more
convincing?
Caroline Moorehouse Mallin, born in Ohio in 1829, was widowed
with 2 children. She became an extremely successful miner in the
Buena Vista area of Colorado. She worked extremely dangerous
avalanche areas at high altitudes, and had 15 mines recorded in
her name. Caroline worked these claims by herself.
The work was not easy. Caroline did her own mining work - shored
up her mines with timbers, drilled and blasted, and even hauled
the ores all by her little self. Of course that was her work -
at home life was no easier. She had to haul water almost a mile,
and had to go down the mountain and haul supplies back. After
all she had two children to care for on her own. When the end of
the miner's day had come and the men started their journey's
home to sit and rest after a hard day, Caroline got to go to her
second job - her home and family. Someone forgot to tell her
that this kind of life was too hard for a woman, or that she
might become lost if she ventured from home on her own for
supplies.
Olga Schaaf is another woman who just missed the fact that the
wilderness is no place for a woman. Olga started breaking horses
for pay at the age of 14. At 26 she married a mine owner and
worked for him taking pack trains of Burros up the mountains to
deliver supplies to miners who had no means to get supplies in
winter. Olga became famous when stranded at a mine during a
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snowstorm, she was able to save the lives of the miners (and
incidently her own), leading them out and down the mountain to
safety and supplies. None of the miners receiving Olga's
delivered supplies, nor those that she rescued from the mine
told her that a woman needed to stay home because something
might happen to her if she left the house on her own.
Mollie Kathleen Gortner had a different reason for going to
mining country - Cripple Creek, Colorado. She went to visit her
son. While there she was looking for a herd of elk her son had
told her about when she accidently found gold and started her
own mining career. Her son staked her first claim for her, but
the Manager at the claims office told her women couldn't file
claims. By the time she left the office, however, she was the
proud owner of the soon to be famous Mollie Kathleen mine. Guess
someone forgot to tell her that it was too rough for a woman out
there.
Doctor Susan Anderson (Doc Susie) of Fort Wayne Indiana moved to
the mountains for her health after finding out she had
tuberculosis. She went from Cripple Creek to Denver and on to
Greeley finding little acceptance in these towns for women
doctors. She moved back up to the Mountains of Fraser, Colorado
when her illness worsened. She did not tell the people there
that she was a doctor, but word eventually leaked out despite.
Doc Suzie ended up with many patients and was known to travel to
very remote places in very difficult weather to treat them. The
sick and injured miner's she treated seem to have forgotten to
mention that being a woman she was likely to become lost if she
ventured out into the mountains on her own.
Now if these stories aren't convincing, all you need to do is
troll through the history's of the myriad of mining areas during
the gold rush era. Women played a major part of these histories.
They not only supplied the services that miner's needed, but
many were miners themselves, working all day just to return home
to care for their families and friends. The men in these camps
and towns did not tell the women to stay home. They did not
admonish them for going into environments that were hostile or
outright dangerous, or where life was hard. Sure bad things
could happen - but they could, and did, happen to men, too. (
Hmmn. No one ever told a man he should have stayed home if
something happened to him while he was out). Men knew they
needed these women, and were grateful that the gals could handle
it out there so well. Life would have been much rougher without
them.
All in all, where men came up with the idea that women are
helpless is really unclear. Do they tell us not to go places
because they are afraid that THEY couldn't handle it and would
have their egos severely bruised if a woman could handle
something the man could not? Or are they just so selfish that
they think that a woman who is to have a man in her life is to
completely give up their lives to be available 24/7 to serve
their needs because a man can't take care of himself without a
servant for a day or two, or just don't want to have to do
anything for themselves? Perhaps they are worried about the poor
little fragile thing like a woman (funny they don't worry about
protecting her from children's vomit and diarrhea or blood,
terrible working conditions, or just plain over work).
Now in light of what you just learned, you can see that women
just see your protests as silly, juvenile attempts to control
another person's life for your own selfish wants. For those of
you who kiss your women goodbye even though there is danger
where she chooses to go, you are to be commended for your
rationality. The rest of you need to get a clue, grow up, and
learn to take care of yourself a little bit without the
continual need of a "mommy" to do it for you. We really don't
need your guidance to decide how we want to live our lives or
what is best for us.
Now that I have unloaded and have spoken my mind, I need to get
out of here. There is a mountain that I want to go check out. If
you have a problem with that, don't bother emailing me. I am not
receptive to your childish and tyrannical whims. You may feel
free to call 1-800-waahh with your complaints anytime though.
Maybe the man that answers the phone will be more understanding.
About the author:
©2005 Sally Taylor: Sal is an avid gem and treasure hunter,
explorer, writer, and owner of http://www.rockhoundstation1.com
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