Between the Covers

Original conté crayon, colored pencil, and watercolor drawing on Bristol pasteboard paper. Image size 20.5” x 14”; matted to 22.5" x 19". A few tiny partial tears at the bottom corners, modest spots near the top edges, overall near fine. An early landscape view, by an unknown artist, of the Gold Rush town at Mokelumne Hill, as seen by a group of miners in the foreground who are shown relaxing and drinking in an outdoor beer garden. One of the men is shown looking out upon the town and surrounding hills through a telescope. It is likely that the men are taking in the view from J.C. Gebhardt’s newly established brewery in 1855. The painting was part of William Burger’s important collection of Western Americana (sold at auction in 2014), who noted that it had hung “in the Mokelumne Hotel until 2000, and for as long as anyone can remember.”

Founded in 1848 by a group of Oregonians, Mokelumne Hill (located in Calaveras County) became one of the richest gold mining towns in California. By 1850 the town was one of the largest in the area, with a diverse population of Americans, Frenchmen, Germans, Spaniards, Chileans, Mexicans, and Chinese, ranging between 10,000 to 16,000 people during its heyday. The easy gold attracted criminal elements, and the town gained a reputation as one of the bawdiest in the area, with a bustling bar scene. By 1852, with the help of a “vigiliance committee” the worst of the crime was eliminated. During its heyday in the 1850s, it was at Mokelumne Hill that the *Calaveras Chronicle*, the first county newspaper, was founded, and here that the Code of Law for Miners was written, and also where the first local hospital was founded. By 1862, Gebhardt’s establishment had expanded and completed its physical plant with stone quarried on site, and was known throughout the 19th Century as the Hemminghofen & Seusdorf or Mokelumne Hill brewery.

A rare and early visual representation of this historically important town, by a reasonably accomplished artist, most likely a German or French miner.

Item #412691