by Gary Noy

Cornish Christmas is one of my favorite celebrations of the year.  I suppose it is because I am of Cornish descent.  My father’s family is from Cornwall.  My grandmother was born in Cornwall.  My last name is a Cornish name. I was born in Grass Valley and my father and grandfather worked in area gold mines. These are my people.  And their history fascinates me.

They seldom saw the sun.  They often worked underground ten hours a day, six days a week, on their stomachs swinging a heavy hammer.  Their life was lit by the flickering flame of a candle -- a life that was frequently dirty, heartless, and brief.  They were a collection of immigrants without any unique literature or language, a people from a land apart even in their homeland, a community who considered their remarkable activities to be nothing special, but who labored in dangerous conditions every day of their lives.  These people possessed skills and techniques that literally transformed the face of American mining and made them the elite employees in the search for mineral wealth.  They were the Cousin Jacks -- the Cornish underground miner of the American West and masters of the Grass Valley hardrock.

Cornwall is the southwestern-most county in England, although the Cornish would be quick to inform you that they are decidedly not English.  A rocky peninsula of picturesque harbors, the Cornish peninsula is, as the writer Arthur Todd put it, “a paradise of colour where a brilliant light is reflected from sea and cliff to sky.”  Its bayonet-like western boundary points toward the New World and to the landscape of opportunity it promised to the struggling Cornish immigrant of the 19th-century.  For centuries, Cornwall has been tied to ocean and land -- its bountiful seas the realm of the fisherman and sailor; its land a treasure house of tin and copper unlocked by the skill and tenacity of its miners.  It is the mythological home of King Arthur and the actual home of a sturdy band of underground hunters -- hunting for the elusive quarry of mineral glory.

Cornwall is one of the oldest mining regions in the world.  Miners often began work at  the age of seven.  The mine encompassed their being.  It was their world and their calling.  An old Cornish Christmas carol proclaims “Sound, sound, your instruments of Joy!”  For the Cornish, the mine was their world and their calling -- they were, they invented, and they used the instruments of mining joy.  There was a tangible sense of linkage to the underground.  And from this connection, the Cornish miner became celebrated as the leading exponent of mineral extraction.   It was the Cornish who solved most of the practical difficulties of blasting, timbering, and ventilating the mines.  It was the Cornish who provided much of the vocabulary of mining that is still used worldwide.  The terms shaft, winze, levels, stopes, cross-cut, adits and many others are Cornish inventions or modifications.  In many mining communities of the American West, the Cornish were the most desirable immigrants. At one point in Grass Valley history, the Cornish comprised 85% of the town’s population.

Why were the Cornish so sought after?  Simple.  Technically the Cornish were the world’s most accomplished and skillful hardrock miners.  From the simple design of their narrow wheelbarrows ideally suited for underground labor to their mining terminology to their invention of  state-of-the art technology, the Cornish were proclaimed as the perfect match for the mountain’s bounty.

The Cornish were not universally loved, however.  It was during this hardrock pilgrimage that immigrants from other countries began referring to the Cornish as “Cousin Jacks.”  At first, the nickname was far from a term of endearment.  Other nationalities were envious of the Cornish miners’ skills and often resentful of their clannishness and semi-privileged industrial situation.  It is frequently recorded that the Cornish would persuade mine management to reserve a job for “my Cousin Jack” who was on his way, thereby denying another worker a slot.  Other nationalities were jealous, but the reality was that “Cousin Jack” was often the more desirable and skilled employee and well worth the wait.  Since “Cousin Jack” was often the hated rival for these other hopefuls, the name was in the beginning spat out with venom and bitterness.  Only after years of toil and the growing recognition of the contributions of the Cornish miners did the term come to be used with affection.  The Cornish women received a name as well -- they were called “Cousin Jinnies.”

The Cornish also provided their special cultural characteristics to the mining regions.  In religion, the Cornish were overwhelmingly Methodists.  In fact, upon settlement, the first permanent Cornish-constructed building was usually a church.  It was common for the Cornish mine superintendent to also serve as Sunday School superintendent.   The Cornish formed choirs that sang their unique carols with a rough but heartfelt harmony.  A Cornish Carol Choir, comprised of Cornish miners, sang underground in the Idaho-Maryland Mine for a nationwide radio audience during the World War II era.  The Cornish organized brass bands that performed enthusiastically and even provided the first trombone section for the newly-formed San Francisco Symphony in the mid-19th century.  But ... the Cornish were not saints. They also drank hard and played hard.  They  fiercely competed in contests tied to their jobs, such as drilling.  Occasionally, a Cousin Jack was even known to engage in “high-grading” -- or snitching a piece of unusually valuable ore.  The Cornish were particularly fond of boxing and wrestling matches.  The histories of many western mining communities are replete with accounts of fisticuffs staged by the Cornish and often against Irish opponents.  Thousand dollar side bets were not uncommon.  Wrestling, usually referred to as “Cornish wrestling” in the history books, was a favorite.  The combatants wore loose fitting canvas jackets, much like today’s martial arts uniforms, as they had back in Cornwall.  The matches were heavily attended, often outdrawing celebrity lectures and theatrical performances.  An international Cornish Wrestling Council stills exists today.   

Perhaps best known are the Cornish foodstuffs the immigrants brought to America -- saffron buns and pasties.  Saffron cake is a heavy baked good -- part cake, part bread --  and orange from a heaping helping of saffron, the powder of the crocus flower.  But it was the pasty (pronounced pass - tee) that came to symbolize the Cornish culinary contribution.  The pasty is a baked meat pie comprised of beef (sometimes fish), onions, potatoes, parsley, and parsnips, all wrapped in a flaky pastry covering.  These pasties were carried deep underground in the miner’s lunch box and occasionally reheated over an open fire on shovel blades. Some miners, my Dad among them, referred to the pasty as “a letter from home” (or “ha letter from ‘ome,” to use the proper Cornish pronunciation).   Grass Valley has several establishments that sell this Cornish staple.  I grew up eating pasties.  I love ‘em. 

The Cousin Jacks were tough people, quick to express their opinion -- generous with praise but blunt with criticism. Some historians have argued that the Cornish were excessively intolerant, even racist; but my sense is that the Cornish were not any more or less intolerant than other groups of the time period.  Characteristically, though, the Cousin Jacks had little, if any, patience for someone who did not complete their job to the high level of Cornish expectation.  And they would let you know it, in no uncertain terms. This caused tensions that are reflected in the historic accounts.

The Cousin Jacks did not always succeed -- mining is an often frustrating and unprofitable adventure -- but, without question, the Cornish revolutionized mining in the West.  Their widely acknowledged ability to sever mineral wealth from the rich lodes of the American West played a crucial role in the growth of the United States into an industrial giant.  They also provided a colorful and unique addition to the social mosaic of Grass Valley and Nevada County.

In return, the Cousin Jacks downplayed their contributions.  It was only a job, they would argue.   Give me an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work and a hot pasty at the end of the shift, the Cornish miner would say, and that’ll be reward enough. 

These are my people. 
             

 

Files and captions

Cornish coastline -- Cornwall is located in the southwesternmost portion of the United Kingdom.  It is the closest section of England to the United States.  Its coastline is considered the most picturesque in England.

Cornish Miners -- Cornish miners arrived in the United States early in the Industrial Age in the mid-19th century

Cornish pastie, Cornish-pastie and Cornish pasty picture – The pastie was a staple food of the Cornish.   This meat pie was often enjoyed by the miners as they toiled underground.  Sometimes the pasties were filled simply with vegetables, but most Cornish preferred pasties filled with beef or fish.

Cornish pasty – Cornish County Council -- A little Cornish boy with a giant Cornish pastie, c. 1890

Cornish saffron cake – The Cornish also enjoyed a cake made with saffron, a spice from the crocus flower

Cornish wrestlers and Cornish wrestling…. – Cornish wrestling was very popular in the mining camps that had significant Cornish population.  For example, at one point in early 20th century Grass Valley history, the town was 85% Cornish.

Mouseholes Christmas lights – Mousehole is most of the most beautiful spots on the Cornish coast

Underground – Most Cornish miners worked underground in gold and copper mines in the American West.

Credits:  Images from the Tourism Council of Cornwall; the Cornish Wrestling Association; the Cornish County Council of Redruth, Cornwall; the Collections of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; and the Noy Family Collection.