EXPLORE FURTHER

Handling a California dream

Cathy Mendenhall’s fifth graders had a Whopper Friday, and it didn’t come from Burger King.

Original 16-to-1 Mine owner Michael Miller brought the 18 pound Whopper valued at nearly $45,000 to Mendenhall’s Deer Creek Elementary School class as part of the student’s year-long sesquicentennial Gold Rush project. Students had visited the mine last week.

“We were searching for a specimen to show why people came here, that they were drawn here by a dream of finding a truly big nugget. I think that that specimen represents that Gold Rush dream,” Mendenhall said.

Not only were students able to handle the Whopper, but, thanks to a grant from Canon and the help of Herff Jones of Grass Valley, the gold nugget in all its three-dimensional glory is now a part of the class’ developing Website.

Mendenhall and her fifth graders are competing with other schools in various competitions. Mendenhall’s students have chosen to depict the impact of the Gold Rush on the western expansion of the country and, in particular, upon the Nevada City region. Students are taking lessons learned from field trips, research and local historians and incorporating it into a multi-media Internet site that will be judged against the rest of the world.

As part of the project, local historian David Beesely went live on the Internet from the classroom to discuss Nevada County history.

Other activities included:

• working with Nevada City Council to commemorate the Chinese Quarter,
• recording historical landmarks depicting the Gold Rush era’s contribution to the community,
• publishing a “Community Treasure” book with the help from a grant from Thomas Brothers Maps Educational Foundation and The Union. The book will be displayed as part of the sesquicentennial celebration at the state Capitol. “The students are acting as global ambassadors to promote the positive uses of the Internet as a technological and educational tool,” Mendenhall said.

-- The Union staff

The Day They Pulled "The Whopper" out of the 16 to 1 Mine.

The Original 16 to 1 Mine Website

The Empire Mine