Two Very Different Women of the California Gold Rush

There are certainly many stories that came out of the California Gold Rush and for that matter out of the gold rushes that popped up in other areas of the west. The biggest reason for the large volume of stories are the type of characters attracted to money. Gold was and is money. It's like the old reply of a captured bank robber who when asked why he robbed banks said...because that's where the money was. To be sure, many people who flocked to the gold fields were honest and hard working individuals who only wanted a chance for a better life. Others of course were there to take advantage of the situation in other ways. Robbing was one way and swindling was another. The gold fields in effect drew a cross section of America. The stories only seemed fascinating because of the backdrop of the era.

The very first prospectors to arrive in California were considered to be the most honest. These were usually either single males of males who left a family back east with intentions of sending for them at a later date. It took the dishonest element a bit longer to arrive on the scene but the point is that they surely did arrive.

Prospectors worked very hard from sunup to sunset and when they finished a days work they liked to be entertained. One popular pastime was gambling. In fact gambling and drinking establishments were generally thought to be the first gathering places in mining camps. The hotels came later. As far as other entertainment was concerned, it was primitive at first. One such event were fights stage by promoters involving bulls and bears. Actually, history shows that this type of event began as far back as the 1500's with the vaqueros or old Spanish cowboys at the time of Coronado's exploration of the southwest. With prospectors walking around with gold dust and nuggets in their pockets the early promoters used any method to part them with their money. The bull and bear contest was about as crude a way as possible. Neither the bull or bear wanted to be there. Promoters would advertise the bull being specially raised in Spain which usually was far from the truth. The bull at best was from a ranch in the California central valley. The bear would be whatever beast was captured in the nearby hills. There are stories that in many instances neither the bull or bear wished to fight with the bear often trying to run away and put as much distance as possible between him and both the bull and audience. In these cases the miners would storm the box office to get their money back and then run the promoters out of town. Not exactly refined entertainment.

Gambling of course was a staple of entertainment. This of course brought card sharks and confidence men on the scene. If there's money to be gambled then there were people present who's sole purpose was to take it. Remember, during the very early years law enforcement was essentially a personal matter. Lawmen were in the gold region but they were far and few in between. When a lawman could be summoned, by the time he actually arrived the matter was usually resolved for better or worse.

As far as serious entertainment was concerned, it had a hard time being accepted early on. The change took time. Edwin Booth, the popular tragic actor and brother of Lincoln's future assassin, found the gold country not too hospitable for his favorite tragic parts. In her work, "Troupers of the Gold Coast", Constance Rourke states that Booth was ahead of his time where the gold mines were concerned. One early problem was that tragedy occurred in the hills almost on a daily basis and suicides were not all too uncommon. Edwin Booth's tragic roles hit too close to home for many miners. As the mine fields matured and more money was being made, the miners wanted and expected better entertainment. The Concord Stagecoach was now able to bring actors, musicians and others from larger yet close by areas such as San Francisco. The performers of course were more than willing to travel to the camps and towns because there was a clientele ready and willing to pay to see them.

Lotta Crabtree, the Little Girl of the Gold Rush

There's a lot of truth in the saying that being in the right place at the right time is a good thing. That's pretty much the story of Lotta Crabtree, born Charlotte Mignon Crabtree in 1847, the daughter of a not so lucky gold prospector and a mother who wanted a better life or at least a stable one.

A year or so after John Crabtree was searching for his El Dorado in the California hills, his wife Mary Ann and daughter Lotta traveled to join him via ship through the Isthmus of Panama. That trip in itself was hazardous considering that you had to go through the Central American jungles by land. When the two arrived in San Francisco John was nowhere to be found. He was on the trail for that elusive pot of gold somewhere in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The mother and daughter eventually settled in Grass Valley just east of Sacramento operating a rooming house. Grass Valley was a pretty busy mining camp.

The problem Mary Ann had with her husband John was simply that nothing really was panning out and she alone really had to provide for Lotta and herself. The story of Lotta's future started when Grass Valley became the unlikely home for a theatrical woman named Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeldt. Although Lola's talents for acting and dancing were considered just fair she was somewhat notorious. The gossip was that she was not Spanish but rather an Irish girl. After some failed romances she popped up in London and gained a theatrical career as the former mistress of Ludwig of Bavaria. How much of this was true is a matter of speculation but as they say, some publicity is better than none at all. Now that Lola was in California, the San Francisco arts community welcomed her royally.

Mary Ann Crabtree and Lola struck up a friendly relationship in Grass Vally which could have been Lola's few since it's reported that she was shunned by many Grass Valley females. Much of this was probably due to her profession and being single in that particular era. The relationship that Mary Ann had with Lola led the latter to start giving dance lessons to Lotta and the story is that Lotta not only enjoyed this attention but was also quite a good student. At one point Lola Montez wanted to take Lotta with her to Australia while there for performances but of course her mother said no. Lotta was a bit too young to go away that far alone. Nevertheless, the gold mining towns and camps offered opportunity for an aspiring young performer and her mother. Fortune continued to elude John Crabtree although he went from scheme to scheme never seeming to tire.

Lotta and her mother were eventually inspired by a man named Mart Taylor, a musician and acting trainer, to make a tour of the various mining camps to see how Lotta was accepted. Taylor was well aware that the miners had money and they were more than willing to spend it on live entertainment. Lotta's mother Mary Ann was of course looking to build some kind of future since John Crabtree continued to come up empty handed in the gold fields. The group decided to make a go of it and Mart Taylor gave Lotta some last minute additional coaching. They set out up the Feather River Canyon and played such mining camps as Oroville, Quincy, Bidwell's Bar and others all the way to Weaverville. Taylor knew the mining camps well and they played in as many as possible. Lotta was accepted very well and had huge audiences everywhere. They were so successful they followed this up with additional tours. From there it was no place but up. In 1856 Lotta and her family moved to San Francisco and John Crabtree kind of drifted in and out. That was the way it would be from then on.

When Lotta grew a bit older she set off for the stages of the East, primarily New York. The critics never felt that Lotta was a "great" actress yet attributed her large success with her talent of just being herself. Her dance routines and genuine smile filled the halls. She earned good money and she her mother and brothers traveled abroad. It's important to note that through her career Lotta never forgot where she came from. Several times she would travel back to San Francisco and perform acknowledging the miners who helped give her career it's start. Still today there's a fountain in San Francisco named "Lotta's Fountain". Dedicated in 1875, the fountain is located at the intersection of Market St. and where Geary and Kearny Streets intersect. Lotta Crabtree's successful career ended when she retired in 1891. Being as busy as she was she never married. She first retired to the low hills of New Jersey and then later to Boston. She was known to have a fortune of some $2 million and her entire estate was said to be worth about $4 million. A good portion was donated to charity when she passed away in 1924. Lotta Crabtree's story is an amazing one and it was a career and lifetime that spanned some of this country's most historic and changing years.

Eleanor Dumont (Madame Mustache), The Professional Gambler

As we saw with Lotta Crabtree, the California Gold Rush offered more than merely the opportunity to prospect for gold ore. Where there's a lot of people and a lot of money there often follows opportunity.Miners can only work for so many hours each day. After that they want entertainment and often that entertainment was in the form of gambling. Gambling and mining kind of go together. When you look at it closely, mining itself is and was a big gamble.

Eleanor Dumont was a notorious gambler in the American West. She was also given the name "Madame Mustache" because it appeared she had a line of dark hair on her upper lip. What we know about Eleanor was that she played a good game of "twenty-one" and wasn't a shabby card dealer either.

In 1854 when the twenty-five year old Eleanor arrived in Nevada City California on the stage from Sacramento she was unknown in the area but it didn't take long for all that to change. The arrival of a woman in a mining town during those years was not too uncommon. Wives or fiances of miners, schoolteachers, even dance hall girls was not out of the ordinary. Eleanor Dumont however was none of these. From the moment she stepped off the stagecoach she stood out. After letting everyone know she was French, which in itself was a bit unique for the mining town, she essentially spent her first week in Nevada City in her hotel room or the ladies parlor.

After that first week before you knew it the miners had a new gambling establishment in town and owned and run by a woman. The miners were so taken with the female gambler they almost didn't mind losing their gold dust to this unique lady with a smile. In fact, they even were known to dress up a bit top attend her gambler parlor with it's champaign. It wasn't always easy to get a miner to clean up and look good but Eleanor's presence seemed to do the trick. One could say that Eleanor's gambling house stood out from the others by it's French propriety and class. There are a few tales however regarding Eleanor's background, one being that she resembled a dark haired woman who was run out of the famous or infamous Bella Union in San Francisco for cardsharping in the game of "twenty-one". There's no research that this was proven yet it could have been true. Another story about Eleanor was that during her lifetime she had to kill two gamblers who suspected her of cheating. This may or may not be true. That's how stories are from the old west.

Eventually the easy takings from the gamblers dried up and only two years after she arrived in Nevada City, she departed. For gamblers, sometimes it's a good idea not to wear out your welcome. After Madame Mustache left Nevada City the story is she traveled all the way up to British Columbia where mining and gambling were also quite big. She was also known to pass through Montana, South Dakota, Utah and of course Tombstone Arizona. Then she appeared at one time in Bodie California where in 1879 there was a population of some 10,000. Bodie, located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Mono County, was a boom town from about 1877-1880. In 1861 Bodie was made a National Historic Landmark and then in 1962 Bodie State Historic Park.

It was at Bodie where her career came to a halt. Her luck in Bodie wasn't too good and after losing all she had left including some borrowed money she was later seen just wandering out of town. On September 8, 1879 a sheepherder found her body. The news story of the time stated that Eleanor was drinking wine that included a large dose of morphine. Through this all Madame Mustache was well regarded and the locals chipped in to give her a decent burial. It's been reported that her attorney, George Montrose, made the statement..."She had the reputation of being honest in her dealings and always paying her debts". Eleanor Dumont is thought to be buried in the Bodie Cemetery but it's exact location in the cemetery is not known.

Two Stories From the Gold Rush

One of the things I find interesting about these two stories is that the California Gold Rush, and probably every other gold rush, offered opportunities for people of all walks of life and of all ages. Mary Ann Crabtree and her daughter Lotta were able to take advantage of the miners desire for entertainment. They also were fortunate to befriend Lola Montez who taught Lotta how to perform on the stage. If the gold rush had not been occurring it's doubtful that Lola would have settled in Grass Valley California. The successful stage career of Lotta Crabtree was a product of the opportunities presented by the gold rush days.

In the case of Eleanor Dumont, she was a professional gambler and there was no better place to ply that trade than a booming mining town. The fact that she was a female gambler in a mining environment that simply didn't have many women available certainly led to her early success. There were not too many instances where "miners" actually cleaned up and dressed up before entering a gambling parlors. Eleanor Dumont, Madame Mustache as she was often known, made that happen in Nevada City California. While Lotta and Eleanor both made a name for themselves in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, In the end Lotta Crabtree led a long and successful life as opposed to Eleanor's downfall in Bodie California and her subsequent death. Two stories that have a lot in common and many things quite different.