For what is believed to be the first time in Calaveras history, an original article in an English language newspaper will be published in Spanish. The Wednesday, April 1st edition of "Something From Nothing: The Early History Of West Calaveras County" in The Valley Springs News, "Las Juntas Patrioticas," a subject never before written about in Calaveras, will appear in Spanish. The English translation, available simultaneously online at westcalaverashistory.org as well as in the Friday, April 3rd edition of The Valley Springs News, is below. Many thanks to Prof. David Hayes-Bautista of UCLA, whose research was the basis for the article and who also did the Spanish translation.

 #110: Las Juntas Patrioticas

 By Sal Manna

     Reading local newspapers of the Gold Rush era, one might conclude that every immigrant to Calaveras County whose native tongue was Spanish was a thief or murderer (see “Something From Nothing #109: What’s In A Name: Greasertown Becomes Petersburg”).  Recently arrived Mexicans and Chileans were rarely portrayed in a positive light and nowhere in those dusty newspaper pages will be found a mention of las juntas patrioticas.  In fact, this article marks the first mention of that benevolent Latino community organization in county history circles.   

     Originating in Mexico City in 1825 to annually celebrate the country’s independence from Spain, Mexican 49ers brought the tradition of the juntas patrioticas (patriotic assemblies) to mining camps in the Mother Lode.  In 1862, the battle against French intervention which resulted in triumph at Puebla prompted a nationalistic fervor that spread throughout California, including Calaveras.  More than 100 juntas patrioticas were formed, nearly two dozen in Calaveras, to collect donations to be sent to Mexico to assist soldiers and civilians in need and to honor the victorious with commemorative swords and medals.  Monies would also fund celebrations and benefit causes such as aid for the indigent and legal defense.  In essence, las juntas patrioticas were the nonprofit community foundation for the Latino community.  Their activities and the names of subscribers to their efforts were regularly published in Spanish-language newspapers such as San Francisco’s La Voz de Mejico.  In the Calaveras English-language press, however, the juntas were wholly ignored.  

     Juntas sprang up in West Calaveras in Jenny Lind (one of the largest in the state with 108 members), Calaveras Camp (a more acceptable term than Greasertown, by which it was also known), and Campo Seco (with many of its members being Chilean rather than Mexican).  In 1862, La Voz de Mejico listed 17 donors from Calaveras Camp, including two Germans and an American, who contributed to assist the “ejercito de Oriente,” the Mexican military’s campaign in that country’s east.  Among them were Javier Salcido, whose $5 was the highest contribution, and Valentine Granados, who offered a more typical $1 donation.  Others noted included those with the surnames Altamirano, Cazares, Coronado, Lopez, Martinez, Preciado, and Valdez.  To help put on Mexican Independence Day in San Andreas in 1865, Salcido again contributed to the junta the largest sum, $10.

      But as the population of Calaveras shrank after the surge of the Gold Rush and with Latinos being incessantly marginalized in California, particularly in inland areas, las juntas patrioticas disappeared here within just a decade or so.  Nevertheless, pioneer Latinos in West Calaveras such as Salcido and Granados remained, leading families who would become stalwarts of local society for more than a century. 

(With thanks to UCLA professor David E. Hayes-Bautista and the California History article “Empowerment, Expansion, and Engagement: Las Juntas Patrioticas in California, 1848-1869” by Hayes-Bautista, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, Branden Jones, Juan Carlos Cornejo, Cecilia Canadas, Carlos Martinez, and Gloria Meza.)

Copyright 2015 Salvatore John Manna