Synopsis

Located on the Merced River in Mariposa County during an 1860’s “second” California Gold Rush miner operation that lasted over a decade, this is the love story of Lucy Digger-Hite, a Miwok Indian, who befriended and became the wife of John R. Hite, prospector and pauper-turned-millionaire. Though the history of John Hite is a fascinating one, this true story focuses on how Lucy came to be the wife of John, and of the sensationalistic divorce ever known at the time.

After living together for some time, Lucy left John for not marrying her. He decided that he could not live without her and gave in to her request. They were married by an Indian ceremony. Through the 12 or more years he shared household with her, it is possible that the social impact of being married to a “savage” woman began to take a toll on him.

Back in the mid-1800’s, it was not uncommon for a white man in the Mother Lode region to take an Indian woman for his wife. This in not to suggest that it was a common occurrence, especially in the middle to upper-middle social economic classes, but as companionship was a natural factor of life, it was true in Mariposa County. So it was probably inevitable that in October of 1987, Lucy Hite received word through the Mariposa Gazette that her husband had just remarried a nurse from Oakland named Cecilia who was half his age. The news was a great shock to Lucy.

            Most Mariposans knew Lucy to be the wife of John Hite. Local newspaper accounts referred to her as such, but in Contra Costa County area, where in 1899 Lucy sued for half of Hite’s worth, the newspapers were not so kind.

Making headlines throughout the state, some suggested she was a “savage gold digger.” They attacked Lucy’s appearance, both physically and by the clothes she wore, and alleged promiscuity because she had a son by another man.

It was also later alleged that Lucy was a victim of her own legal attorneys who saw this as a “golden opportunity.” The case was an unusually long one.

After an exhausting court battle, Lucy won, however before Judge Jones of Contra Costa County could sign the papers, he died.

The historical value of this story includes life in the Mother Lode during the Gold Rush years; the cultural or lack of cultural exchanges between white man and the Indians, Chinese, and Mexicans; the environmental impacts of mining operations, then and today’s women’s rights issues; as well as the economic rise and fall that came before and after we heard, “There’s Gold in Them There Hills!”

 

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