Landscape, Art, and Ecology

Overview of the four topics in this unit.

Part one of this unit examines the dominant narrative of the period, transmitted through traditional textbooks and popular cultural forms such as movies and Levi’s advertisements which use the images of blonde masculine miners interchangeably with cowboys and farmers.³ This is the story of white Americans' dominion over and “modernization” of the state. People were attracted to California by the dream of striking it rich through individual hard work. Then those miners found gold in the hills, and the smart ones invested in their future. Former miners became farmers, and the more commercially minded invested in the development of the transcontinental railroad. In this tale of economic development, the wilderness is a backdrop to the story of the hard work of individual miners. This portion will be taught using standard textbook accounts as well as selected caricatures from the 1850s. Students will look at the way the California Dream was publicized and marketed by examining clipper ship advertisements which all advertised a quick journey to the gold fields.

Part two compares dominant and counter narratives; the story of the individual English speaking miner who is simultaneously on his own in the lonely wilderness, and somehow also in competition with Chinese immigrants. This section foregrounds the story of the exploitation and marginalization of Chinese immigrants to California. They were equal participants in early placer mining but were abused and accused of competing for gold claims with, and undercutting wages of, whites⁴. In the towns and cities Chinese miners occupied a social and economic position in California like African Americans elsewhere in the US at the time. Simultaneously invisible and threatening, they faced racism, violence, and marginalization while being exploited by and attacked by powerful white US Americans. Yet they maintained a great deal of agency and contributed a lot to the economic development of the state.

Part three considers the parallel industry of Mercury Mining otherwise known as Quicksilver. Mercury mining began in the Mexican period but expanded rapidly once the Gold Rush began. Students will compare the labor conditions, and economics of mercury mining along with its long-term impact on the environment. Mercury runoff continues to threaten our local ecosystem as well as other locations across California. They will examine the watersheds of the Guadalupe River, Alamitos Creek, and Coyote Creek which all flow into or through the neighborhood of our school.

Part four considers the impact of industrial scale gold mining on the natural landscape of California. Hard Rock Mining, Ground Sluicing, Hydraulicking, and tunnels through the granite of the Sierras all irreparably altered, polluted, and in some cases destroyed the ecology of California. Photos of hydraulic mining are analyzed in this section of the unit. Students will consider how such photos celebrated the ideas of “civilized” economic success, which was synonymous with extraction of resources using complex technology deployed by large corporations.  This section asks students to consider the impact of historical industrial practices on their life in California today by comparing the celebratory photos of hydraulic mining with the evidence of long-term environmental damage that is still visible 150 years later.