User:Sierraapayton/sandbox

My name is Sierra Payton and I am a freshman at the University of San Francisco. The links tell you everything you need to know about me.

Mining Camp

The Mining Camp provided food, games, and an interpretation of what life was like for California miners in 1849. Complete with a painted backdrop of Mount Shasta, the camp and many attractions such as a stagecoach which was held up daily by bandits, gambling tables, a dance hall, saloon, and gold-panning sluices.[34] A man with a banjo sat on top of  the stagecoach top, and when the coach would stop, he would start to play “The Days of ’49” and workers in the Mining Camp would join in during the chorus of “the days of old, the days of gold, the days of ‘49.” The Mining Camp also housed replica cabins of famous California figures, such as American industrialist John W. Mackay, California senator George C. Perkins, and writer Mark Twain. The exhibit cost visitors an extra 25 cents to see, almost half of the 55-cent entry fee to the fair. The ‘49 Dance Hall and the ‘49 Theatre were extensions of the exhibit. Each cost an additional 25 cents to enter.[35]

Controversy with the Camp

The Mining Camp was designed to let visitors experience what life was like in San Francisco before industrialization and immigrants started moving into the city. It was meant for people to reminisce on the “good old days” and let go of the anxieties of increasing job competition. Barbara Berglund “The Days of Old, the Days of Gold, the Days of '49”: Identity, History, and Memory at the California Midwinter International Exposition, 1894” (30)

“The days of old, the days of gold, the days of ’49” was a slogan for the Mining Camp. It came from the song popular song “The Days of ’49,” written by Tom Moore which reminisced on the time of the Gold Rush. The ending of the song goes as follows:“Since that time how things have changed. In this land of liberty. Darkies didn’t vote nor plead in court. Nor rule this country; But the Chinese question, the worst of all, In those days did not shine, For the country was right and the boys all white. In the days of ’49” (Examiner, 28 January 1894)

Full text of the lyrics to The Days of ’49 can be found in Richard E. Lingenfelter (comp.), Songs of the American West (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 558–59.

The Dance Hall

The Mining Camp was a very popular exhibit, especially the dance hall. One reason for the popularity and appeal of the dance hall is the charming Spanish dancers (All About the Midwinter Fair (2nd ed.), 155–61). Exhibits like the dance hall allowed men to indulge in their fantasies. (Annie Laurie, “The Mid- winter Fair Sex,”Examiner, 28 January 1894.)