4. The music of the miners.

These epochs have no bearing upon the music of today. Even the
beginnings in 1850 and 1851 were of the most primitive sort. As early
as 1849 in the then village of San Francisco, music was given by
traveling companies from all parts of the globe, lured here by the
song of gold. As the priests built the missions and gathered the
people into the churches, they sang the songs of the Church, such as
the Gregorian chants. Their scores were written on sheets of
parchment, some of them exist today and can be seen in the Bancroft
collection of California music.

Most of the miners were men who sang songs which were not of the
highest order, and they showed no great proficiency as singers, but if
they were not singers they were good listeners, and occasionally a
strolling violin player would arrive in the camp and he was given the
closest attention and rewarded always with an ounce of gold, which had
the value of $16. He was extended full hospitality and shared their
grub (as the miners called their food in the camp in early days.)

Many of these quaint songs were composed by the miners in their camps,
and later we had men like the well known singer, Sam Booth. The titles
were unique as well as the sentiment, and fitted the time and place in
the early years. With the advent of women the guitars and banjos were
employed in the dance halls and fandangoes of the Mexican men and
women, who were the only women in the state when we arrived. There is
much romance coupled with as much stern reality in building up the
music of our state. The golden city was little better than trails
over the wind-swept sand hills, our beautiful bay was covered with
craft of all nations, lured here by the story of gold and deserted by
crews who joined the masses of humanity of all nations and creeds
ashore, infected with the delirium of the gold fever. They thought
little of music that was stable. There were a few practical business
men among them who looked farther than the mere hunting of gold.

Having been so closely identified with the earliest music and
musicians I have undertaken to give you an exact recital of facts in
my long association and in the performance of this pleasant art, which
is a beautiful memory in my long years of experience. In this work I
have been assisted by diaries, programmes and notes from the musicians
of my time. It will give me gratification and reward for my work if I
can present an h