At the height of the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, prospectors from all over the continent made their way to the territory for the opportunity to literally find their fortunes in the rough terrain surrounding the American and Sacramento rivers.
These ‘Forty-Niners,’ as they would become known, traversed great distances for their crack at the gold. They came from the Eastern United States, Canada, East Asia and Central America in huge numbers; it is estimated that nearly half a million people flocked to Northern California after news reached the rest of the world of incredibly rich strikes that had been found.
In actuality, this first true American gold rush would make relatively few of those prospectors wealthy – the remote possibility of actually staking a successful claim with the high influx of miners to the region didn’t leave favourable odds. The California Gold Rush’s true legacy is that it accelerated the former republic’s acceptance as an official U.S. state in 1850, while also accelerating the rapid decline of the Indigenous population that had lived in the region for hundreds of years before the gold was even discovered. The California Genocide killed tens of thousands of Indigenous people, with white settlers capturing tens of thousands more as forced labourers, children included.
The vicious racism did not stop with the Indigenous population. The Chinese and Mexican prospectors were constantly harassed by the white Americans, who believed they had the only legitimate claims to the gold. Many were driven out by the whites in an ongoing campaign of violence, which included assault, robbery, rape and murder.
Joaquin Murrieta allegedly arrived in California from northwestern Mexico with his new wife in 1849. The term ‘allegedly’ is required because it’s difficult to separate the fact from fiction about this man, who would become one of the most notorious outlaws in the state during this period. It was not by design, but evidently stemmed from some of those afore-mentioned acts of racism by the white prospecting community. If the story holds true, those prospectors would pay dearly for crossing him.
After joining his stepbrother who had already been living in California, Murrieta apparently had early success prospecting. But the systemic racism and rampant jealousy that existed in the mining camps of the time also extended up to state government levels, and a ‘Foreign Miners Tax’ was implemented in California around the time that Murrieta’s family began to see success from their gold claim, of which they were eventually forced off.
This is where the history gets really murky. There were reports that Murrieta was attacked by a group and beaten under the false pretext that he and his brother had stolen a mule.
His wife was raped, his stepbrother lynched, and Murietta himself was horsewhipped. Facing no other alternative, he turned to the outlaw life, beginning with a campaign of vengeance against the white miners who had set everything into motion.
The gang he ultimately helped form, ‘The Five Joaquins,’ was one of the most feared in the state for the next three years. The group stole and sold horses, and robbed and killed prospectors leaving the goldfields. Relating to the title of this piece, it’s alleged that Murrieta’s band shared the stolen wealth with other Mexican immigrants in the region, but those claims have largely been unsubstantiated. Quite to the contrary, there have been historical claims that The Five Joaquins and the apparent ‘Robin Hood of El Dorado’ indiscriminately killed their share of Chinese, Mexican and Indigenous people in the area as well.
It’s nearly impossible to determine where the fact and fiction begins and ends in this story. Murrieta was allegedly killed in a gunfight on July 25, 1853 by a group of California Rangers hired to track down the gang; there are newspaper advertisements of the time announcing that his severed and preserved head would be available for viewing in San Francisco for the admission price of $1. Grisly forms of entertainment like this were commonplace in the American Old West – keep in mind that public hangings were anticipated social events during this era.
One of the most interesting aspects of this tale is that Murietta apparently inspired the legendary Mexican fictional character of Zorro, and that he in fact escaped the gunfight with the California Rangers to live a long and peaceful life under a different identity. There’s no historical proof that he ever donned a black mask, hat and cape while keeping corrupt local California law enforcement at bay with his whip and sword, but it’s always interesting to learn origin stories.
Wherever the truth actually lies, Joaquin Murrieta is one of those fascinating historical figures whose infamy arose from the difficult circumstances thrust upon them. Whether he was a ruthless bandit or a romanticized figure trying to do right by his countrymen remains a historical debate.
But it’s always important to keep in mind that history is typically written by the victors.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here in a fortnight.
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This is a bi-weekly opinion column; for question or comment contact Dan McNee at dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com.
