[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 142 (Saturday, October 10, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2040]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ART OF THE GOLD RUSH--A FASCINATING AND IMAGINATIVE EXHIBITION AT THE 
                    NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call the attention of my 
distinguished colleagues in the House to an outstanding exhibition 
entitled ``Art of the Gold Rush,'' which will be on display at the 
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art from October 
30, 1998 until March 7, 1999. I am pleased that the Smithsonian has 
chosen to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this defining moment in 
the history of Northern California and in the development of the 
American West in such an appropriate manner.
  On January 24, 1848--nine days before California was formally ceded 
to the United States by Mexico--an obscure laborer and European 
immigrant named James W. Marshall discovered a few nuggets of gold in 
the South Fork of the American River at Sutter's Mill. He presented his 
find to his employer, Captain John A. Sutter, who joined Marshall in a 
fruitless attempt to keep news of the treasure secret.
  Slowly, but with unabashed excitement inspired by the hope of a quick 
fortune, reports of the discovery leaked throughout the Bay Area. 
Proclaimed the Californian newspaper on May 29: ``The whole country 
from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea shore to the base 
of the Sierra Nevadas, resounds with the sordid cry of GOLD, GOLD, 
GOLD!''
  Before long, the gold euphoria spread across the entire country and 
around the world. Declared President James K. Polk in a message to 
Congress on December 5: ``The accounts of abundance of gold are of such 
an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they 
not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public 
service.'' The following year, tens of thousands of adventurers and 
dreamers descended upon San Francisco, hoping for a ``lucky strike'' 
and a lifetime of wealth. In the process, the City by the Bay swelled 
from a sleepy outpost of 800 non-Native American individuals in 1848 to 
a major city of over 100,000 by the end of the following year. The 
first public schools, representative governmental bodies, and cultural 
institutions in the State of California evolved from this unplanned 
invasion of explorers, immigrants, and deserting seamen.
  ``Art of the Gold Rush'' highlights the social and cultural 
transformation wrought by these extraordinary changes. Taking place 
just a few years after the invention of the daguerreotype (photograph), 
the Gold Rush was the first major event in history to be photographed. 
The ``Art of The Gold Rush'' captures this historical coincidence 
skillfully, as emotions such as ambition, disappointment, hope, and 
confusion can be observed in the 150 rare images featured in the 
exhibition. Each of the subjects of these pictures presents a unique 
and evocative perspective of this turbulent time, from the mourning 
mother and child wearing blank expressions of loneliness and fear to 
the macho miner whose tough exterior hides his pain as both a failed 
miner and a sufferer of cholera, ``500 miles away from my wife and not 
a person about me who would do any thing without pay.''
  Mr. Speaker, these photographs, along with the sixty-five significant 
paintings, watercolors, and drawings that also make up this beautiful 
exhibition, represent the true, lasting gold of the 49ers. The 
outstanding and talented curators of ``Art of the Gold Rush,'' Drew 
Heath Johnson and Marcia Eymann, deserve the gratitude of all who love 
the history of our great land and all who appreciate and cherish the 
city of San Francisco.
  I urge my colleagues to see Art of the Gold Rush at the National 
Museum of American Art where it will be on display from October 30, 
1998, to March 7, 1999, and in celebrating the 150th anniversary of 
Northern California's Gold Rush.

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