L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, Mc- Cloud California in Siskiyou County, at the foot of Mount Shasta is often fea- tured on television or in print as an ideal spot for Bay Area weekend get away. McCloud, with its charming bed and breakfast type inns, like the Mc Cloud Guest House ( w w w . m c c l o u d g u e s t - jhouse.com). Built in 1907 as a private estate, it sits on six scenic acres. The five cozy bed- rooms, all with private baths, surround a central parlor and antique billiards table from the Hearst collection. I was unaware of any Ital- ian connections in McCloud California, until my good friend, Lorraine Capurro, married a handsome young man and became Mrs Lor- raine Capurro McCloud, so that I paused to read about McCoud, California. *** McCloud is a tiny, forested 1890s company town built by the McCloud River Lum- ber Company, known by its employees as "Mother Mc- Cloud." Once identical bun- galows (now renovated and privately owned) lined the back streets of the Nationally Registered Historic District. The block long Mercantile Building, with its log cabin construction and rough- hewn broad walk, conjures up bygone lumber days with an Italian connection. Days when "Mother McCloud" be- haved more like a wicked stepmother towards her em- ployees, most of whom were newly arrived Italian immi- grants. When they went on strike in 1909, it caused national headlines. What makes this strike unique, apart from the fact that all 1,200 strikers were Italian, is the fact that it was mediated, and finally settled by San Francisco Italian Consul Salvatore Rocca. In 1909, the McCloud River Lumber Company was the largest in California. Its unskilled workers were al- most exclusively Italian; by 1909 they numbered 1,200 and formed two-third of the company's total labor force. McCloud was a company town. Most Italians lived in tent cabins in outlying areas and worked cutting and hauling wood. Work in these camps was seasonal, begin- ning at the end of April and lasting until the first snows in late November. Men in these camps were, for the most part, single. For room and board (which in- cluded food they described as "disgusting"), workers were charged $1.00 a day out of a total daily wage that ranged from $1.75 to $2.00. In the company town of Mc- Cloud, most Italian workers lived in an area known as Tucci Camp. While in the outlying camps most men were single, in the town, most lived with their families. Grown sons also worked in the mills and camps, and wives and daughters took in boarders, did wash-ing, or sometimes worked for the company in its shop. Apart from a hospital, no benefits were provided, and upon the death of an employee, his family had to leave town within thirty days. The cost of living in Mc- Cloud was said to be higher than in San Francisco; goods and services were only avail- able at inflated prices at com- pany stores. While living conditions were difficult, backbreaking working conditions were no better. "Lavoravamo come asini," Gianni Ricci, the son of a striker, and himself a lumber worker, said. On May 29, 1909, stating that they had never been given the 25 cent a day raise they had been promised, and that the new management was discrimina-ting against them because they were Ital- ian, the lumber workers who lived in the town of McCloud went on strike. Their demands were for the promised raise (for those who were making the mini- mum $1.75 per day), as well as for the freedom to shop wherever they wanted, rather than at the company store. Italians had worked for the McCloud River Lumber Company for twelve years and management must have been aware of apparent dif- ferences between southern and northern Italians. It tried to exploit these differences by attempting to break the solidarity of the strikers, try- ing to divide them along re- gional lines. The company claimed it was the southerners who had started the strike, but among strike leaders were both northerners and southern- ers. The company used its po- Advancing our Legacy: Italian Community Services CASA FUGAZI If you know of any senior of Italian descent in San Francisco needing assistance, please contact: ItalianCS.org | (415) 362-6423 | info@italiancs.com Italian Community Services continues to assist Bay Area Italian-American seniors and their families navigate and manage the resources needed to live healthy, independent and productive lives. Since Shelter-in-Place began in San Francisco, Italian Community Services has delivered over 240 meals, over 900 care packages and made over 2000 phone wellness checks for our seniors. litical connections to stop the strike, and spread exagger- ated and unsubstantiated claims of violence which con- vinced the Governor to send in the National Guard. Southern Italians had originally begun the strike. Mr. Ricci, whose father had been a striker, said that the workers from Sicily and Cal- abria had convinced other Italians, most of them from Carrara and other regions of Tuscany, to join them. Some of these workers earned more than the $1.75 daily wage and went on strike because of loy- alty to their fellow Italians. However, there was no di- vision in their ranks. All newspapers stated that "not a single Italian went to work this morning." The leaders of the strike Frank Livotti, Joe Marchi, Antonio Cuneo and Pietro Ceaglio, together with Ettore Patrizi, editor and owner of L'Italia, convinced Consul General Rocca to intervene and ensure that the strike re- mained peaceful. Consul Rocca met with strike leaders and, realizing there was no compromise possible, managed to per- suade the company to release the strikers' money from the bank, pay workers their back wages, as well as compensa- tion for the houses they had built, and which they would have to vacate. In a sort of early anti- defamation suit, Consul Gen- eral Rocca filed a complaint with Governor about official statements which implied Italians belonged ethno- graphically to a darker col- ored race. He also wrote to the Com- missioner General of Emigra- tion in Italy that, in McCloud, Italian lumbermen were "sot- toposti a sistematici insulti e appellativi spregievoli" ("subject to systematic and demeaning appellations"). Sounds like "Mother Mc- Cloud" was no lady. *** Selling Homes Throughout The Bay Area Adele Della Santina "The Right Realtor makes all the di昀erence." 650.400.4747 Adele.DellaSantina@compass.com www.AdeleDS.com DRE# 00911740 Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation!

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