John Bidwell: Soldier, Farmer, and Lovelorn Beau

 by Martha Hutchens

image by mikeledray, deposit photos

John Bidwell traveled to California in 1841 at the age of 22. He soon became John Sutter’s business manager and was among the first to learn of the gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill. Shortly after, he found gold himself at the Feather River.

At that time, California was under Mexican control. Bidwell became a Mexican citizen to purchase land legally and received a land grant for Rancho del Arroyo Chico in 1844. But in 1846, the Mexican-American War broke out in Texas and quickly spread across the Southwest. Bidwell joined the California militia and served under John C. Frémont. When the war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Bidwell was honored with the title General.

After the war, Bidwell focused on agriculture, developing vineyards and orchards on his land. He created his own almond variety and was one of the first to harvest a commercial raisin crop in California. By the 1850s, he owned 30,000 acres and grew everything from wheat to melons.

In 1865, Bidwell was elected to the United States House of Representatives—an achievement that would change the course of his life.

Annie Kennedy was 26, considered past the usual age of marriage. Small and delicate in build, she devoted herself to good works, especially women's suffrage, temperance, public education, and other reform causes. Her father, the superintendent of the U.S. census, held many social responsibilities that Annie and her mother helped manage. Marriage, she believed, would require her to give up her mission.

General Bidwell became a frequent guest at the Kennedy home during his time in Washington, but Annie was shocked to receive a letter from him in January 1867.

image by ronstik, deposit photos

“I never could marry unless I loved,” he wrote, “and I never loved till I came here, and then with an intensity that seemed to me to equal if not surpass any tale of fiction.”

Startled, Annie dashed off a quick and rather stern refusal. But later that day, her conscience pricked her. She sent another note, softer in tone:

“Do not think me ungrateful if obliged to write that which may grieve you. Be assured I am deeply grieved myself. Grieved that I should be the cause of pain to you.”

Though heartbroken, the General thought he sensed not rejection, but fear. Not fear of him, but of change.

“I will try to see you often while I stay in Washington,” he replied. “But Annie, unless you tell me your heart and hand are betrothed to another, I shall live in hope as long as life shall last.”

Bidwell was on a deadline—he would return to California in March. Annie forbade him to approach her parents with a formal courtship. He sent more letters, but she remained firm. He returned to California heartbroken, yet undeterred.

Over the following year, they continued their correspondence across the miles. Though letters took weeks to arrive, their unusual courtship endured. At last, Annie gave the General permission to speak to her father. They were married on April 16, 1868.

Annie need not have feared sacrificing her life's work. Instead, she gained a partner who shared her values. Bidwell ran for president in 1892 as the candidate for the Prohibition Party. While the land he farmed originally belonged to the Mechoopda people, Bidwell—unlike many of his contemporaries—hired many of them and sought to protect them when the state of California later forced Native communities onto reservations. He also spoke publicly for the rights of Chinese immigrants, advocating for their fair treatment.

image by phb.cz, deposit photos

While General Bidwell took up many of Annie’s causes, she shared in his as well—becoming an amateur botanist.

General Bidwell died in 1900 at the age of 81. Annie lived until 1918. She never remarried.

The Bidwells had no children, so Annie left the land near Chico to the town her husband had founded. That land is now known as Bidwell Park. Her mansion served for a time as dormitories for a normal school, continuing her belief in public education. The home was acquired by the State of California in 1964. Sadly, on December 11, 2024, an arson fire destroyed the mansion.

Best-selling author Martha Hutchens is a history nerd who loves discovering new places and times to explore. She won the 2019 Golden Heart® for Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements. A former analytical chemist and retired homeschool mom, Martha occasionally finds time for knitting—when writing projects allow. Her debut novel, A Steadfast Heart, is now available.

When his family legacy is on the line, rancher Drew McGraw becomes desperate for someone to tame and tutor his three children. Desperate enough to seek a mail-order bride. But when the wrong woman arrives on his doorstep, Drew balks.

Heiress Kaitlyn Montgomery runs straight from the scandal chasing her toward a fresh start on a secluded ranch. She strikes a bargain with Drew—a marriage convenient for both of them.

But the more Kaitlyn adapts to ranch life and forms a bond with Drew’s children and their enigmatic father, she realizes that this ranch is where she is meant to be. And then her past catches up with her…

How the 1872 National Mining Apex Law Divided Friend and Foe

By Donna Wichelman

In a recent interview for a guest blog, a friend asked which historical parameters were imposed on the writing of my historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, and where I had to fill in the gaps with my imagination. Sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction, which, in the case of the Apex Law or what is also referred to as the "extralateral rights" law, one wonders how the national government could have passed such egregious legislation. To understand why the 1872 legislation was passed, we have to go back to the history of mining in nineteenth-century America.

The California Gold Rush did more to create western expansion across America than any other development. Once men heard about the discovery of gold, they literally "rushed" to the western territories, bringing on tens of thousands in mass migration and the demands for quicker and better transportation. People became crazed, lured by the possibility of making their fortunes. They came on steamships through Panama or around Cape Horn. Many joined wagon trains on the Overland Trail, while others built the Transcontinental Railway from New York to California.

Image by Denise Henze from Pixabay, AI Rendering of a Steam Engine on a Railroad

Image by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay

Some found their fortunes panning for gold along river banks. But soon, those resources dwindled, and hard rock mining, digging deep into the belly of the earth, began to take over the industry, giving rise to demands for technological advances such as the Burley Drill to better access the minerals underground, steam boilers to operate hoisting equipment down the shafts, and smelting furnaces to extract valuable metals from the ore and remove impurities. The Gilded Age was on in the West, as mine owners needed more laborers willing to work in difficult conditions.

Image by Erich Westendarp from Pixabay, AI Rendering of a Steam Boiler

Image by Vilius Kukanauskas from Pixabay Mine

As men migrated west, they soon discovered quantities of gold, silver, copper, and other metals could be found in Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Black Hills. The atmosphere was ripe for mining towns to spring up everywhere across the West as the demand for services increased--banks, food, clothes, and various other supplies necessary to survive. 

By 1872, the United States government recognized the need for regulation. Until that time, practices for open mining and prospecting on public land tended to be universal and supported by state and territorial regulation, but illegal under federal law. After the Civil War, eastern congressmen, looking for a way to pay the war debt, viewed western miners as squatters on public land and proposed the seizure of western mines to be put up for public auction. One congressman, Fernando Wood, advocated for the government to take ownership to benefit the treasury.

Image of Gold Nugget by Csaba Nagy from Pixabay

Western representatives argued that miners and prospectors promoted commerce and the settlement of new territories. A series of legislation was passed, including the "Chaffee laws" of July 26, 1866, named after Colorado Territorial representative Jerome B. Chaffee, that legalized hard rock mining on public land. Similar law was passed July 9,1870 for placer mining.

Then, on May 10, 1872, the General Mining Act of 1872 (much of which is still intact) codified the informal system of acquiring and protecting claims on federal public lands. All citizens eighteen and older have the right to locate a lode (hard rock) or placer (gravel) mining on federal lands where such land is open, which consists of 350 million acres of federal public land still today.

Mine Tailings  from the Terrible Mine Seen From I70 near Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery, June 2019

One piece of that legislation, however, became and still is a general headache for mine owners. In A Song of Deliverance, I based the feud between my hero, Stefan Maier, and the villain, Georg Töpfer, on a real feud in 1873 that took place between the Pelican Mine--owners Eli Streeter and Thomas and John McCunniff--and the Dives claim owned by John McMurdy, having purchased part interest from Thomas Burr and a deed from William Hamill. Unfortunately, the Pelican and Dives claims overlapped, and litigation ensued.

 353335889 | Silver Nugget © Niel Ibragimov | Dreamstime.com

At the forefront of the Pelican-Dives case was the apex law or “extralateral rights” one part of the 1872 National Mining Law. According to Christine Bradley in The Rise of the Silver Queen, “The right allowed the owners of a claim the exclusive right to mine a vein if the apex, or highest point, occurred within their property. The owner could follow the vein’s downward course beyond the property’s sidelines but not beyond the end lines unless [they] purchased the neighboring claims … In reality, such veins seldom existed in the mining world. Veins and ore pockets went everywhere and often surfaced in other claims.” 

Fierce feuding between the Pelican-Dives owners continued into the 1880s, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation fees and one murder. Ultimately, Pelican and Dives merged into one company under William Hamill’s direction.

The extralateral rights law still exists today and continues to be a source of disputes among mine owners. Regulations under this law are complicated, and the courts have to sift through the various parts of the legislation to determine whose rights are being violated. Many miners contend the law is outdated and needs to be revisited. But will the federal government move on this question? Well, it is the federal government. So, anything can happen ... or not.

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic--an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, released on December 3, 2024.

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.