Rough And Ready: The Town That Became A Nation

The Namesake

West of the Mississippi River, thousands of boomtowns sprung up in the 19^th century. A majority of these towns lived just a short time before being abandoned and slowly fading back into the landscape. Others survived into the 20^th century, emerging as thriving metropolises, or tapering off into sleepy towns. A few of them would become County Seats or State Capitols. But, only one of these towns stands out as having seceded from the union and becoming its own republic.

Technically speaking, this story begins before the place ever existed, back during the Mexican War. A Captain A.A. Townsend was serving under General Zachary Tyler, when, after several brutal battles, the general earned the nickname of, “Old Rough and Ready.” Well, the war ended, as wars sometimes eventually do, and Townsend went back home to Wisconsin.

Old Rough and Ready himself.

Flash forward to 1849. Townsend leads a group of prospectors west to chase gold veins in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Townsend names his motley expedition, “The Rough and Ready Mining Company.” When they struck gold and a settlement began to form, Townsend wrote Zachary Tyler, who was now President of the United States, that a new town, called “Rough and Ready” was named in his honor.

In the following months, the town swelled to a population of 3,000 people; mostly rowdy miners. The Main street was adorned with saloons, dance halls, store fronts, blacksmith shops and miner’s cabins. It was a hell of a start, and all was well in the new town of Rough and Ready. Well, almost.

The Republic

There are some interesting ironies that accompany the developments in Rough & Ready during 1850.  I will illustrate these as we go forth. The first one is California started levying mining taxes against miners and their claims early in the year; the irony being that California was not even a state yet and would not be until September.

The hardscrabble folks of the new town did not take kindly to this intrusion, or what the town leaders would declare “Taxation without representation.” The strong and independent nature of the miners and their flourishing community had been insulted and something had to be done about it!

Residents began to meet and debate. On April 7^th, the whole town gathered and voted to secede from the United States, becoming the independent “Great Republic of Rough & Ready.” A president was elected; Colonel E.F. Brundage.  (Townsend had already skipped town.) The next irony is Rough & Ready succeeded, while its namesake, Old Rough & Ready (Zachary Tyler) was President of the United States.

President Brundage formed a cabinet and issued a manifesto for the new republic: “We…deem it necessary and prudent to withdraw from the territory (of California) and from the United States of America to form, peacefully if we can, forcibly if we must, the Great Republic of Rough and Ready.”

A Constitution followed. In many respects it was similar to the U.S. constitution with few omissions; one of them detailing the boundaries of the 200 square mile nation. The Great Republic of Rough and Ready also came up with its own flag!

The creativity may leave a bit to be desired, but this flag took the place of Old Glory on the liberty pole.

Becoming its own country did not curb the drinking, gambling, prostitution, and debauchery in general. If anything, it exacerbated it. It was tax free mining and party time! No attempt was made by the U.S. Military or California Territory authorities to “correct” the Great Republic of Rough and Ready, and the new nation enjoyed a peaceful existence—for a few months.

The Alcohol

Situations arose. The people of the new nation were no longer Americans; they were Rough and Readyans. Thus, they were foreigners to the country around them, and soon they were treated as such. Mercantile shops, saloons, and other businesses in nearby towns, like Grass Valley, would sometimes not allow the “Foreigners” to patron their establishments.

It was necessary, in those pioneering times, for smaller towns to get supplies from the larger towns, but Rough and Ready was no longer a part of America, and people in the surrounding areas would not let them forget it. Supplies in the new nation were not up to par, especially vital things, like alcohol.

This coupled with another pending issue; the 4^th of July was coming! These two matters melded into a conundrum not foreseen by the leaders of the new nation. Independence Day was the biggest celebration in the United States; deeply entrenched in all Americans, and yes, even former Americans. The population of Rough and Ready wasn’t sure how to NOT celebrate the 4^th. Maybe, just maybe, those little mining taxes had not been so terrible after all.

The crisis of people wanting to celebrate the 4^th of July, and to do so with alcohol, drove the new nation to a cataclysmic decision! On July 4^th, 1850, three months after its succession, a new vote was cast, and Rough and Ready rejoined the union, to the welcoming applause of the California territory. On that day, the townsfolks got Old Glory, their citizenship, and their booze back.

There remains one more irony I would like to share. Only a few days after Rough and Ready rejoined the union, President Zachary Tyler (Old Rough and Ready) died of food poisoning.

The Remains

Its claim to fame in the past, Rough and Ready, like hundreds of other gold producing towns in the state, would prosper well into the 20^th century. Some of the other gold towns of the era can be found in my blog post; Gold Rush Express at https://outerrealmz.com/gold-rush-express/.

Today the population of Rough and Ready is 950-give or take. With that many folks still hanging around, it is not even within shouting distance of being called a partial ghost, and the highway through town sees plenty of traffic.

150 years of wildfires has whittled away at the infrastructure of the old republic, leaving only a few of the original buildings. Some of these are the W.H. Fippin Blacksmith Shop, the Rough and Ready Grange Hall, and a couple of cabins. Also, at the center of town is the Historic Toll House. In front is a tall stump with a large rusted chain still wrapped around where horses and wagons were stopped to pay the toll.

Grange Hall

In several places around this sparse township, one can find signs reading; “The Great Republic of Rough and Ready.” It appears the current population is as proud as the earliest residents were of the secession. Every year in June a celebration is held commemorating the event. It cannot be said of everyplace, but in Rough and Ready, history is not forgotten. Not even close.

Visit  http://www.roughandreadychamber.com/ more information on this proud, and different, place.