Mine

María Zacarías Bernal was born in 1791 at the presidio of San Francisco, and was married at fourteen to leatherjacket soldier José de los Reyes Berreyesa. As a mother of thirteen, she lived on Rancho San Vicente, a cattle ranch in the foothills of south San José; her parents lived next door on the vast Rancho Santa Teresa. In fact, the Bernals and Berreyesas owned most of the Bay Area in the mid-1800s. They were among the many Californios who suffered great losses after the Gold Rush,...
More Description

María Zacarías Bernal was born in 1791 at the presidio of San Francisco, and was married at fourteen to leatherjacket soldier José de los Reyes Berreyesa. As a mother of thirteen, she lived on Rancho San Vicente, a cattle ranch in the foothills of south San José; her parents lived next door on the vast Rancho Santa Teresa. In fact, the Bernals and Berreyesas owned most of the Bay Area in the mid-1800s. They were among the many Californios who suffered great losses after the Gold Rush, when those who held land grants were forced to prove their claims, though they did not speak the language of the courts, and their papers were often inaccessible to them. Like most Californios, Zacarías spent over a decade defending her claim, and ended up losing her land to pay lawyers' fees. But she lost far more than a ranch. She lost ten of eleven beloved men, seven of them violently; the first was murdered by one American "hero" on the orders of another. Because her land held the New Almaden quicksilver mine-increasingly valuable because mercury helped refine gold-her battle over boundaries went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The case made national news for a year, despite the competing news of the Civil War. President Lincoln even sent men to her land to take over the mine, though they were thwarted by sharpshooting miners. Zacarías's tragic tale of murder, betrayal, and theft is told through the author's shared experiences of place, most often on the still-wild Rancho San Vicente near her home. MINE's lyrical blend of in situ nature writing and biography is a journey across landscapes that unite two women born centuries and cultures apart. It brings untaught history to light, and it restores a voice to María Zacarías, who deserves to be heard.