SeeCalifornia.com

Christmas wish lists today range from luxury $1,000+ i-Phones to a place to call home.  Here are some glimpses into Christmas in the 1800s, written by author Craig MacDonald. The California native who’s great-great-great-grandmother came in a covered wagon to California, has spent most his life documenting true stories about the California Gold Rush, taken from newspaper articles and journals.

Old West Christmas

• An Outlaw’s Christmas Eve Greeting: Once upon a time, All through the camp, Wasn’t a miner a-stirring, They was out like a lamp. Their six guns were hung, By the beds with care, In case Big Red, Soon would be there.
• Santa Claus Papa: Widow Mary Stewart was having a very hard time making a go of it after her husband was killed in a mine explosion. Life was especially tough and discouraging with the approach of the first Christmas without her husband.
• Finders Keepers: On Christmas Eve, 1880, a sleigh was caught in a major snowstorm on the eastern slope of the Sierra. In spite of the incredibly heavy snowfall and high winds, two passengers were about to witness a Christmas miracle.
• A Golden Child is Born: There was much optimism in California’s Mother Lode during the holiday season of 1849. Gold had been discovered a year earlier.
• Worth More than Gold: Woods Creek was one of the richest gold streams in the Sierra. But gold wasn’t the richest discovery made by three miners during the Christmas Season of 1849.
• California Gold Rush Christmas Difficult Time to Cope: The Holiday Season during the early days of the Gold Rush was for many a very harsh, lonely and difficult time to cope.