diane
that gal
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This thread is about Confederate statues, of course, but I think it's appropriate to mention the Curious Case of The Miner. The town has, at its welcome to here sign at the city entrance a statue of a miner panning for gold with his mule.
The miners were the worst thing that ever happened to any people and the state of California had a nice bounty on Indian scalps. Miners would kill the men, form squaw hunting parties and grab the women - sometimes they even conned the army into helping them. The valley wherein the town lies was called 'many homes' because there were at least six to ten Shasta villages here. They were wiped out within five years because the gentleman miner let his mule graze near the creek they're in front of and...the mule struck gold. The people in the valley were very nearly exterminated. The town is also the county seat, so bounty claimants would bring heads into the courthouse to collect their money. Up the street a few blocks was a pretty miserable little Shasta remnant rancheria, so you might accidentally see pa's head being toted into the judge's chambers!
Well, this statue was put up by the town to promote tourism like in the Gold Country of California around the original gold find. The town sits on the richest gold strike ever - big history of it. Everything is named miner or gold rush. Now, who is the sculptor of this? A Shasta Indian. I'm not sure how to put context into this welcome mat, nor do I want it removed because it gives me just about the only opportunity I have to tell the other side. Now...well, I don't know!
The miners were the worst thing that ever happened to any people and the state of California had a nice bounty on Indian scalps. Miners would kill the men, form squaw hunting parties and grab the women - sometimes they even conned the army into helping them. The valley wherein the town lies was called 'many homes' because there were at least six to ten Shasta villages here. They were wiped out within five years because the gentleman miner let his mule graze near the creek they're in front of and...the mule struck gold. The people in the valley were very nearly exterminated. The town is also the county seat, so bounty claimants would bring heads into the courthouse to collect their money. Up the street a few blocks was a pretty miserable little Shasta remnant rancheria, so you might accidentally see pa's head being toted into the judge's chambers!
Well, this statue was put up by the town to promote tourism like in the Gold Country of California around the original gold find. The town sits on the richest gold strike ever - big history of it. Everything is named miner or gold rush. Now, who is the sculptor of this? A Shasta Indian. I'm not sure how to put context into this welcome mat, nor do I want it removed because it gives me just about the only opportunity I have to tell the other side. Now...well, I don't know!
