And the best Gold Rush actress is…
In 1847 the western territory of the United States was s sleepy wilderness populated mostly by Indians and Mexicans. But when word reached the eastern states that there were rich deposits of gold in the mountains of the frontier, the region changed virtually overnight. Two hundred thousand restless souls, mostly men, but including some women and children, traveled to the untamed western lands, primarily to California, during the first three years of the Gold Rush. They came from all over the world, leaving homes and families for the dream of finding riches.
Soon the West was dotted with mining boomtowns and bustling new cities. Fortunes were made and lost daily. Lawlessness was commonplace. At first gold seekers were content with the crude entertainment provided by ragtag bands and their own amateur fiddle-playing neighbors. They flocked to bear-wrestling and prizefighting exhibitions. In this impetuous atmosphere gambling dens, saloons, brothels, and dance halls thrived, but after a while, the miners and the merchants began to long for more polished amusements. Theatres, backstreet halls, tents, palladiums, auditoriums, and jewel-box-sized playhouses went up quickly and stayed busy, their thin walls resounding with operas, arias, verses from Shakespeare, and minstrel tunes.
The western pioneers’ passion for diversion lured brave actors, dancers, singers, and daredevils west. Entertainers endured the same primitive conditions as other newcomers. They lived in tents and deserted ships and canvas houses or paid enormous rents for the few available wooded cabins. But nineteenth-century thespians were often prepared for such a lifestyle. Acting was largely an itinerant profession at the time, and most players earned their living traveling from town to town and even from country to country, performing different plays or musical numbers from a large repertoire every night of the week. Bored miners were willing to pay high sums to see these entertainers, especially to the females.
Many of the most popular women entertainers of the mid-and-late-1800s performed in the boomtowns that dotted the West, drawn by the same desire for riches and bringing a variety of talents and programs. They were mostly well received and sometimes literally showered with gold, but their personal lives were often marked by tragedy and unhappiness. Throughout this month I’ll be presenting the stories of a few of these gifted thespians who brought glitz, glamour, and genius to western America. The footlights have been illuminated, and the curtain is about to go up, revealing the tales of women entertainers who captured the hearts of the western pioneers.
Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada.
