Gold Gulch
Encyclopedia
Gold Gulch was the largest funfair
concession
built for visitors at the California Pacific International Exposition, a World's Fair
that was open from 1935 to 1936, in San Diego, Southern California
, United States
. Gold Gulch was a section celebrating the California Gold Rush
and the American Old West
.
, was a 21 acre (0.08498406 km²) Old West
mining town
-ghost town
re-creation for fairgoers to experience the atmosphere of a mining boomtown. Gold Gulch was described in the Exposition Guide Book as "a moviefied" version of riproaring '49 days.
Gold Gulch occupied the canyon between the 'Casa de Balboa
' and 'Pepper Grove,' southeast of the Spreckles Organ Pavilion. It was composed of a dance hall
and a music hall
, rustic unpainted shacks, a brick bank with iron-barred windows, a "Chinese restaurant and laundry," and a Hanging tree with 'dummy' hanging. Barkers
lured visitors to a "shooting gallery
" where a visiting "sharpshooter" hitting the bull's eye put all the lights out in the Gulch. An "Indian Village" was nearby, with trading posts and events.
Gold Gulch charged no admission, but its shops and attractions did. "One could have coffee in a tin cup, beer 'by the scupper,' badges and rings made from horseshoe
nails by the blacksmith
, and have a photograph taken with fake beard, six shooter gun prop, a ten gallon cowboy hat
on a mine-pack burro
."
, a renowned and Oscar-nominated Hollywood Movie set designer, humorist, and Western writer.
theme parks and their "frontier village" attractions. Examples include the Calico Ghost Town restoration and the "Ghost Town
" section of Knott's Berry Farm
by Walter Knott
, and Frontierland
by Walt Disney
.
Funfair
A funfair or simply "fair" is a small to medium sized travelling show primarily composed of stalls and other amusements. Larger fairs such as the permanent fairs of cities and seaside resorts might be called a fairground, although technically this should refer to the land where a fair is...
concession
Concession (contract)
A concession is a business operated under a contract or license associated with a degree of exclusivity in business within a certain geographical area. For example, sports arenas or public parks may have concession stands. Many department stores contain numerous concessions operated by other...
built for visitors at the California Pacific International Exposition, a World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
that was open from 1935 to 1936, in San Diego, Southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Gold Gulch was a section celebrating the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
and the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
.
Description
Gold Gulch, located within the World's Fairgrounds in Balboa ParkBalboa Park
Balboa Park is the name of several municipal parks or neighborhoods, including the following:* Balboa Park, San Diego, California, United States* Balboa Park, San Francisco, California, United States...
, was a 21 acre (0.08498406 km²) Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
mining town
Mining town
A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry for the extraction or smeltering of ore.-United States:...
-ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
re-creation for fairgoers to experience the atmosphere of a mining boomtown. Gold Gulch was described in the Exposition Guide Book as "a moviefied" version of riproaring '49 days.
Gold Gulch occupied the canyon between the 'Casa de Balboa
House of Charm
The House of Charm is a historic museum building in Balboa Park, San Diego. It was built for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, and like most buildings from that Exposition it features Mission Revival Style architecture. It acquired its current name, "House of Charm", during the park's...
' and 'Pepper Grove,' southeast of the Spreckles Organ Pavilion. It was composed of a dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
and a music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, rustic unpainted shacks, a brick bank with iron-barred windows, a "Chinese restaurant and laundry," and a Hanging tree with 'dummy' hanging. Barkers
Barker (occupation)
A barker is a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events, such as a circus or funfair, by exhorting passing public, describing attractions of show and emphasizing variety, novelty, beauty, or some other feature believed to incite listeners to attend entertainment...
lured visitors to a "shooting gallery
Carnival game
A carnival game is a game of chance or skill that can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway....
" where a visiting "sharpshooter" hitting the bull's eye put all the lights out in the Gulch. An "Indian Village" was nearby, with trading posts and events.
Gold Gulch charged no admission, but its shops and attractions did. "One could have coffee in a tin cup, beer 'by the scupper,' badges and rings made from horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
nails by the blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, and have a photograph taken with fake beard, six shooter gun prop, a ten gallon cowboy hat
Cowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with...
on a mine-pack burro
Burro
The burro is a small donkey used primarily as a pack animal. In addition, significant numbers of feral burros live in the Southwestern United States, where they are protected by law, and in Mexico...
."
Designer
Gold Gulch was designed, directed and produced by Harry OliverHarry Oliver
Harold "Pee-Wee" Oliver was a Canadian ice hockey forward who played for the Calgary Tigers of the Western Canada Hockey League and the Boston Bruins and New York Americans of the National Hockey League . He was a member of the Tigers' 1924 WCHL championship and won the Stanley Cup with the...
, a renowned and Oscar-nominated Hollywood Movie set designer, humorist, and Western writer.
Legacy
The popularity and aesthetic accomplishments of Gold Gulch inspired and influenced subsequent WesternWestern (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
theme parks and their "frontier village" attractions. Examples include the Calico Ghost Town restoration and the "Ghost Town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
" section of Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm
Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park in Buena Park, California, now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and a line of jams, jellies, preserves, and other specialty food, now part of The J. M. Smucker Company based in Placentia, California....
by Walter Knott
Walter Knott
Walter Marvin Knott was an American farmer who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in California....
, and Frontierland
Frontierland
Tokyo Disneyland's instance is known as Westernland, as "frontier" does not adequately translate into the Japanese language. The Mark Twain sails this park's Rivers of America...
by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
.
See also
- Ghost townGhost townA ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
- Gold prospectingGold prospectingGold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector...
- Gold RushGold rushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
- Black Hills Gold RushBlack Hills Gold RushThe Black Hills Gold Rush took place in Dakota Territory in the United States. It began in 1874 following the Custer Expedition and reached a peak in 1876-77.Rumors and poorly documented reports of gold in the Black Hills go back to the early 19th century...
- California Gold RushCalifornia Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
- Women in the California Gold RushWomen in the California Gold RushWomen in California Gold Rush were scarce but played an important role. Some of the first people in the mining fields were wives and families who were already in California. A few women and children worked right alongside the men but most men left their wives and families home...
- List of people associated with the California Gold Rush
- Women in the California Gold Rush
- Comstock LodeComstock LodeThe Comstock Lode was the first major U.S. discovery of silver ore, located under what is now Virginia City, Nevada, on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range. After the discovery was made public in 1859, prospectors rushed to the area and scrambled to stake their claims...
- Fairbanks Gold RushFairbanks Gold RushThe Fairbanks Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Fairbanks, Alaska in the early 1900s. Fairbanks was a city largely built on Gold Rush fervor at the beginning of the 20th century. Discovery and exploration continue to thrive in and around modern-day Fairbanks.- History :Felix Pedro spent...
- Georgia Gold RushGeorgia Gold RushThe Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States. It started in 1828 in the present day Lumpkin County near county seat Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became harder to find...
- Holcomb Valley gold rush
- Pike's Peak Gold Rush
- Black Hills Gold Rush
Book list
- "History of San Diego County" - Carl H. Heilbron, ed. - San Diego, 1936.
- "History of San Diego" - by William E. Smythe - online book 're-issue'
External links
- Journal of San Diego History: "San Diego Invites the World to Balboa Park a Second Time"
- California Pacific International Exposition: vintage photographs
- San Diego Union newspaperThe San Diego Union-Tribune-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
- San Diego Union: archives website