Four "History Alive" Chautauqua characters will give
free public performances in association with Distant Gold. These unique and
entertaining presentations feature a scholar/performer as an historical
character from California's Gold Rush era. The performances are interactive with
audience members questioning both the historical personality and the scholar
portraying the character. The four characters selected for Distant Gold
illustrate some of the era's most exciting personal stories in both northern and
southern California.
| Pio Pico - The last Mexican Governor of California was
born May 5, 1801 at San Gabriel Mission of Spanish, Italian, Indian, and African
ancestry. After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Pico held
local offices and became Governor in 1845 serving until the American take-over
in 1848. He spent the next 30 years building his business interests in ranching,
real estate, and Los Angeles' early oil industry, constructing the elegant Pico
House Hotel in 1869-70. By 1883, in need of cash, he signed what he thought was
a loan against his Rancho de Bartolo Viejo. The loan holder insisted Pico had
sold him the property. Pico lost his rancho in 1891 after a lengthy court
battle. He moved to the home of his adopted daughter where he died in September
1894. Pio Pico is portrayed by Robert Garza, a faculty member at Pasadena City
College and Jefferson Middle School in San Gabriel. |
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Dame Shirley - was the pen name of Louise Clappe, a
cultured young woman of New England who lived in the gold fields of the Sierra
in the early 1850s with her physician husband. In a series of twenty three
letters to her younger sister describing "life in the mines, as it
is," she signed herself - "Dame Shirley". Her letters were
printed in 1854 in the Pioneer, a short lived periodical. Josiah Royce, in his
1886 history of California, wrote "these 'Shirley' letters form the best
account of an early mining camp that is known to me." Louise spent the rest
of her life teaching in San Francisco and New York. She died in 1906 after
spending the last 18 years of her life at Overlook farm, a retirement home run
by the nieces of Bret Harte, another early chronicler of California. Dame
Shirley is portrayed by Kate Magruder who teaches humanities and theatre arts at
Mendocino College. |
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Biddy Mason - was born a slave in Georgia but ended her
life as a free woman of property and wealth -- a beloved philanthropist and
humanitarian. Mason came to California in 1851 with the family of her master,
Robert Smith, a Mormon migrating from Salt Lake City to found the Mormon colony
of San Bernardino. In January 1856 Mason successfully sued for her freedom based
on the new state's constitutional prohibition of slavery. At the age of
thirty-eight, Biddy Mason began a new life as a free woman. At the time, Los
Angeles was a rough and tumble cow town with fewer than 50 black residents and
many laws and customs making life difficult and dangerous for blacks. Mason
worked as a mid-wife and nurse saving diligently for ten years to purchase her
first property. Later, during boom years, she sold off some parcels at a good
profit. She was prominent in establishing Los Angeles' early African-American
community. By the time of her death, sheh was well known for her numerous
philanthropic, religious, medical, and educational activities. Biddy Mason is
performed by Dr. Sandra Kamusikiri, a professor of English at California State
University, San Bernardino. |
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Antonio Garra - was a Cupeno Indian leader in northern
San Diego County. Garra, the "Naat" or head of the Cupa and Wilakal
villages, spoke five Indian dialects as well as Latin and was a student of the
U.S. Constitution. The Cupeno Indians, a fairly prosperous tribe, were subject
to and paid taxes to San Diego County. By 1851, the Cupenos found themselves in
the middle of a dispute between county and federal authorities each insisting on
additional taxes. After continuous squabbling, the San Diego sheriff
commandeered Cupeno cattle and horses to pay the bill. Garra, offended by the
way his people were treated -- increasing taxation without representation,
military units and American immigrants crossing Cupeno territory without
permission -- attempted to unite Cupeno, Cahuilla, Yuma, and Colorado Indians in
a revolt to rid the region of Americans. A group of eager young warriors
attacked and killed a number of Americans without Garra's authorization. Garra
was tried and executed after a one-day court martial. Unrepentent to the end,
Garra proclaimed "Gentlemen, I ask your pardon for all my offenses, and
expect yours in return." Antonio Garra is portrayed by Jose Rivera, an
interpretive specialist and ranger for the California State Parks Service. |
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