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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Bert Pfister checks out a pair of spiked boots worn by a lumberman during the Gold Rush era. Artifacts of that time are on display in the History Museum of Los Gatos exhibit, 'Feeding the Gold Rush: Its Impact on the Santa Clara Valley: 1849-1899.'
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Local History Museum strikes gold with exhibit
By Shari Kaplan
When most people think of the Gold Rush, they think of California. If they're particularly savvy, they might recall that the first nugget was discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill.
What many people might not know is how the Santa Clara Valley was affected by the thousands of people from around the country and the world rushing to stake their claims.
The History Museum of Los Gatos -- formerly the Forbes Mill Regional History Museum--is exploring this topic through September with a multimedia exhibit titled "Feeding the Gold Rush: Its Impact on the Santa Clara Valley: 1849-1899."
"Los Gatos isn't the center of the world, but it's definitely been affected by world events," says Laura Bajuk, executive director of the Los Gatos Museum Association (LGMA), who co-curated the exhibit with LGMA member Jade Bradbury.
Many individuals and organizations assisted them with loans of artifacts, including Los Gatans Leon and Joann Milburn, the Nino family, Chuck Bergtold of Patterson's Antiques, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine Museum and the Saratoga Historical Museum.
"Before the Gold Rush, this area was La Rinconada de Los Gatos--the Little Corner of the Cats. The Peralta and Hernandez families lived here on a huge ranch. With the Gold Rush came a total change in the social and political scene," Bajuk says.
"People got to San Francisco, jumped off boats and rushed to the mines. They often came back without much, so they either had to go home or stay here [in the Bay Area] and work," she says. "A lot of people realized, 'Well, I can't make a lot of money mining myself, so I'm going to make money off the miners!' "
One of the places they made money was Los Gatos. The wooded Santa Cruz Mountains were extensively logged for timber, which was transported to the Sierras to reinforce mines and build houses in gold rush towns. Although the mountains here did contain some gold, it was not enough to cause a "rush," Bajuk says. The mountains were also home to the California Powder Works, which manufactured blasting powder for use in mines.
Scottish immigrant James Alexander Forbes, who built his mill along Los Gatos Creek, thought he could profit from the Gold Rush too. With so many additional people in Northern California, flour was an important commodity, so Forbes hoped to make a fortune in grain instead of gold. Although his grist mill didn't make him a millionaire, it was indicative of the enterprising spirit so many people possessed in those days.
The area of San Jose known as New Almaden is closer to Los Gatos than it sounds, and in the 1800s it was bustling as well, thanks to the presence of mercury (also called quicksilver) and cinnabar (a mercuric ore) in the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines. Since up to three pounds of quicksilver was needed to dissolve and extract just one pound of gold from gold ore, it was a busy mine.
Proving that history is more than just a collection of facts and figures, the museum is full of local relics. These include buckskin pouches worn by miners; a rusty ore cart from New Almaden; trade goods carried by people emigrating to California; an old California mining map; daguerreotypes and bundled letters carried by miners who left their loved ones behind; a large collection of tools; and even a life-size replica of a gold rush town's saloon.
A reception and curators' presentation takes place April 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. The History Museum of Los Gatos is at 75 Church St. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free; a $1 donation is suggested. For more information, call 408.395.7375.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
