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Lotta Crabtree
By Claudia East
Around
1950, along Miner Street
in Yreka, a sign was placed approximately near the curb where one today finds
the plaque dedicating our National Historic District. The sign partially read: “Arcade Billiard Saloon, here in the fifties
Lotta Crabtree sang for the miners…” the
sign disappeared sometime more than 20 years ago but is fondly remembered by
many Yreka residents.
During the early Gold Rush in California there was a
talented and beautiful little girl with curly red hair that used to sing,
dance, and play the banjo for the miners. The miners would cheerfully throw
gold at her feet! Lotta traveled with
her mother to various mining areas throughout California
and Nevada to
entertain. She became the equivalent of
today’s “rock star” at an early age, and by 20 years old she was touring the
nation with her own theatrical company.
During the
1870s and 1880s she was the highest paid actress in America earning sums of up to
$5,000 per week. Her mother managed her
affairs and invested Lotta’s earnings in real estate, race horses and
bonds. She also used some of the
earnings to support local charities and build fountains. The most famous of these fountains, “Lotta’s
Fountain” still stands at the intersection of Kearny
and Market Streets in San Francisco . The fountain was an important meeting place
following the 1906 earthquake for folks to find family and friends who survived
the ordeal. In fact, today, the fountain
is the site of meetings on April 18 of each year that mark the anniversary of
the earthquake.
In 1945,
local historian Bernice Meamber met and carefully noted a conversation she had
with Charles Herzog, a long time Yrekan, about Lotta Crabtree and her time in
Yreka. It has been speculated through
various accounts that Lotta arrived in Yreka sometime between 1853 and 1857, so
she would have been between six and ten years old at the time. The length of her stay here has also been
disputed from three months to three years, but no matter how long she was here,
she won the hearts and gold from the miners.
In the
conversation with Charles Herzog he recalled to Bernice Meamber that it was in
November of 1854 that Lotta and her mother came to Yreka. When they arrived they were “destitute” and
they stayed with his family. Lotta sang
and danced at the W. S. R. Taylor Saloon [aka Arcade Billiard Saloon] and
entertained the miners. He recounted
that one night at Taylor ’s
Saloon she took in $10,000 in gold dust alone!
When all of this happened Charles Herzog was just a mere toddler, being
born in Yreka in 1856. However, Charles
goes on to verify his story by recounting a chance meeting with Lotta years
later in 1876. Charles had just finished
driving a band of cattle to San
Francisco and was actually at Lotta’s Fountain getting
a drink of water when a woman stopped and spoke to him. In the conversation she asked him where he
was from, and when he mentioned Yreka, the conversation blossomed from there. She told him she remembered when she stayed with
his family and that she used to carry him around as a little one. She recounted the night she took in $10,000
and that when she left Yreka she gave her piano to the Catholic Church (when it
was still up on the hill by the cemetery).
Lotta
reigned as a top earning star in America for 25 years and traveled
the entire nation. At the age of 43 she
retired following a fall; she “went out on top”. She lived until 1924, at age 76 and after her
retirement did not perform much according to research except for a special
event, her last performance, during the 1915 Panama Exposition in San Francisco during “Lotta
Crabtree Day”. Lotta felt her wealth had
come from the people and thought it should be returned to them. After her death in her estate was valued at
about Four Million dollars in a charitable trust, and it was left to funds for
hospitals, education, needy actors, homeless animals, and spreading cheer at
Christmas. The largest sums went to
disabled veterans of World War I, and to ex-convicts in starting life anew
after release from prison. These funds
are still in operation.
Copyright: Claudia East, 2013
