Old  Cornwall Christmas Traditions

Cornish Carols - A Tradition For The World

   Grass Valley California  

THE CURIOUS "COUSIN JACKS"

There is an old saying that "wherever there is a hole in the earth, you will find a Cornishman at the bottom of it." For centuries, the curious, competent Cornish have ranked among the world's greatest hard-rock miners, and they have made a monumental contribution to mining in South Aftrica, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

Hailing from the ancient tin and copper mines of Cornwall, which tradition says were mined long before the time of Christ and may even have supplied the metals used in the temple of Jeruslem, the hardy Cornishmen pioneered mining in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and California. "The Cornishmen" says Thomas A Rickard in A History of Mining in America, "knew better than anyone else how to break rock, how to timber bad ground, and how to make the other fellow shovel it, tram it and hoist it."

Experienced in hard-rock mining and gifted with an uncanny "nose for ore," the Cornish were experts at sinking shafts and striking illusive pay dirt. They introduced contract mining, working for 10 or 15 percent of the proceeds instead of low daily wages, and their incentive system greatly stepped up mineral production. It was Cornish mechanical genius and engineering that invented the Cornish pump to remove water from the mines, and a Cornishman, Richard Pearce, introducted a smelting process that revolutionized Colorado's complex quartz mining, recovering over 75 percent of the gold. Hiking one day through Russell Gulch near Idaho Springs, Colorado, Pearce reportedly made the first discovery of pitchblende (uranium ore) in North America.

Tourists today can readily find abundant evidence of the Cornish impact on the West. Those picturesque dry-stone walls terracing the colorful little cottages that cling to the gutted hillsides around Central City, Colorado, were built up by Cornishmen over a century ago. And those same music-loving miners helped to build the now historic Central City Opera House. Cornish miners also discovered or help develop some of the great California gold mines--the Empire, North Star, and Gold Hill--lying around pineclad Grass Valley, while neighboring Nevada City, with its stately Victorian homes, lovely gardens, and gas-lighted streets was and still is dominantly Cornish.
 

With the discovery of gold by the Custer military expedition in 1874, the Cornish flocked to the Black Hills of Dakota, where they prospected in Deadwood Gulch and then settled down to work the incredibly rich Homestake in Lead, South Dakota, was the largest gold mine in the United States until it closed in 2002. Even today Lead has a great many Cornish.

Probably one of the best loved carols in the pubs of West Cornwall  "The Prince of Life" is  also sung in the old mining towns of the United States. It is featured every year at Grass Valley, California, where a Cornish Carol service is held.

In 1945 the Grass Valley Cornish choir made a radio broadcast which was heard right across America. People gathered at the Sugar Pine Lodge on Christmas morning to listen with their families and friends.

Each  year the local Grass Valley radio station broadcasts the recording at 9-0pm P.S.T. and it is available on the internet. Last year members of the "Cornish list" an internet genealogy group of Cornish descendents from around the world came together on line to listen. So why not join us this year to hear the full programme.

Even today the Cornish descendents still gather together. This year the California Cornish Association held their get together at Grass Valley and amongst lots of other celebrations the younger members performed the Christmas play. [see video of their performance].

Federation of Old Cornwall Societies

www.oldcornwall.org