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| The Gold Rush Town of Springfield Early 1850's Image Collection of Matthew R. Isenburg |
Soon after they arrived, I had the opportunity to view them and I was immediately swept up in the chance to read a first-hand record of the raw consumerism, birthed by the Gold Rush. One immediate challenge was trying to read all of the different hands. There were obviously several clerks keeping accounts. More importantly though, I began to wonder how to turn this information into something useful. I was starting to feel overwhelmed as I pondered the commitment it would take to transcribe the books, but what the heck, who else would do this ? I asked Ranger Sherrin Grout if there was any chance I could secure copies of the books. I was blown away by her generous offer to do it for me. So, with copies of the ledgers in hand my work began.
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| A Page From My Copy of the Original Ledger Book Photo Lindy Miller 2012 |
This post is a little different for my blog. It's mostly data with little to no illustrations as I didn't feel compelled to jazz it up with pictures. I hope the curious reader will still find it interesting and let their imagination provide the visuals. I decided to explore the earliest ledger of 1853 and felt that by organizing the purchases into catagories, complete with tallies as to their frequency, it might give us insight into the miner's buying patterns. Most established Gold Rush communities had many general merchandise stores, so at best this is a sampling and not conclusive. The lists start with a category title, followed by the top ten items in that category. Behind each item is a number that represents the number of sales of that item for the year. Next, you will occasionally see in brackets additional descriptions of the item from the ledgers. These additons were random and infrequent but still important clues to the products. I have carefully listed the items as they were written with no interpretation on my part. So, let's begin with.....
CATEGORY
Item # of Sales Description
FOOD
Sugar 130 ( crushed, mat )
Butter 120 (with keg)
Flour 92 (sack, barrel, can, buckwheat, rye)
Potatoes 88
Pork 60
Beans 59 (sack)
Ham 56
Apples 42 (can)
Meal 33 (corn)
Molasses 33
SPICES, CONDIMENTS & FOOD ADDITIVES
Vinegar 43 (bottle)
Saleratus 37
Syrup 24
Pepper 26 (box, can, paper)
Cream of Tartar 9 (box)
Cinnamon 8 (box)
Peppersauce 7
Nutmeg 7
Cloves 6 (ground)
Mustard 5 (bottle )
DRINK & TOBACCO
Tea 79 (paper of)
Tobacco 78 (plug, paper of, box of)
Brandy 63
Coffee 55 (ground)
Whiskey 30 (bottle)
Gin 27
Cigars 9
Wine 4 (port)
Claret 4
Liquor 2
CLOTHING
Shirt 82 (hickory, twilled over-, red, grey woolen, white, wool, red wool, grey wool, blue wool )
Pants 56 (kersey, cotton, superior, S.G., grey, grey wollen, fancy, linen)
Boots 44
Socks 60 (cotton hose, cotton, wool)
Shoes 36
Hat 20 (panama)
Handkerchief 15 (pocket, cotton)
Drawers 9
Suspenders 6
Undershirt 5
TEXTILES & NOTIONS
Muslin 25 (brown, bleached)
Duck 23
Calico 12
Drill 12
Thread 10 (spool, hank, linen)
Flannel 6 (red)
Oilcloth 4
Ticking 4
Satinett 3
Neddles 3 (and palm)
HARDWARE, TOOLS, MINING TOOLS ETC.
Shovel 30
Hoe 20 (flat tom, improved tom)
Pail 19 (bucket, tin, water)
Pick 11
Hammer 8 (sledge)
Axe Helve 7
Butts 6
Saw 6 (crosscut, wood)
Pick Handle 7 (helve)
Gold Blower 5
BUILDING MATERIALS
Nails 104 (wrought)
Tacks 29 (paper of)
Lumber 29 (flooring, boards, joice, ribs)
Rope 14 (barrel of, manilla)
Twine 11 (ball of)
Shingles 5
Paint 3 (black)
Blind Fastenings 1
Pickets 1
Posts 1
HOUSEWARES
Candles 104 (box of)
Plates 35 (soup, dining, large, pie, tea)
Matches 23 (box of)
Broom 16
Blankets 15 (pair of, grey)
Knife 13 (chopping, pocket)
Spoon 11 (table, tea)
Knives and Forks 10
Cups 5
Quilts 4 (Maryland, bed)
MEDICINES ETC.
Oil 12 (can of, Carter)
Camphor 6
Sulphur 5
Sarsaparilla 4
Turpentine & Whiskey 3
Cassia 3
Turpentine 2 (spirits of)
Seidlitz Powder 2 (box of)
Camphor & Turpentine 1
Pain Killer 1 (bottle)
NOTE: Apparently, some of the customers were making up their own "home remedies". Turpentine combined with Whiskey is a purgative and Camphor mixed with Turpentine is a pesticide or inhalent for lung congestion. Further down the list was Whiskey and Camphor, which apparently made a passable liniment or could be injested for pneumonia. Scarey eh ?
PERSONAL
Soap 52 (shaving, bar, box of, cake of)
Paper 21 (letter, writing, wrapping)
Ink 7 (bottle of)
Cards 5 (playing, pack of)
Brush 5 (shaving, tooth)
Pens 4 (box of)
Book 4 (pocket, blank, memo)
Purse 2
Shoe Blacking 1
Razor 1
This is where I decided to stop for this post. The list of items in each category goes on and on. The categories I left out were Gunpowder and related items and Animals and Feed. I hope the sampling gives the reader at least a sense of what was available in these mining towns. It created more questions than answers for me but that's the beauty of it. I'm still researching the data and thinking of other ways to oganize it, like how many pounds of something sold in a year.
There were groupings of items that don't show up in the above lists that tell the story of the entrepreneurs who started a ranch or boarding house or bought the tools to ply a trade like carpentry. There it is in black and white, the story of men trying to make it in this crazy place called California, not that long ago.
