On June 13th the local MATUCA chapter of the E. Clampus Vitus will install an historical placque on the oldest building in Old El Dorado now known as Mountain Ranch.
The placque will read:
Domenghini Adobe
The Domenghini Adobe was built in 1856 by Mr. Pagani using adobe, field stones, and hand hewn beams. It is the oldest building in Mountain Ranch. In 1872 it was purchased by the Domenghini Family. This building was used as a saloon, pool hall and dance hall until 1901 when it was converted into a general store by brothers Attilio and Cash Domenghini and known as Domenghini Brothers General Merchandise. In 1925 it became known as the A. Domenghini and Son Store. In July 1965 the Domenghini property was purchased by the current owners, Phil D. Alberts and family,
Dedicated by:
E Clampus Vitus Matuca Chapter 1849
June 13th, 2015 (6020)
Credo Quia Absurdum
Clampology, an appendix,
Many Americans, especially those who left the ways of formal living, the frontiersmen and the 49'ers, abhorred false pretensions, or what might now be called "stuffed shirts". During the middle nineteenth century there was a steady development of organizations of fraternal orders under such names as the Sublime Knights, or the Grand Exalted Templars, etc. While these orders were organized to aid their members and often the unfortunates of their communities, still they affected elaborate uniforms, fancy dress swords and plumes and other such trappings. Their officers' titles, would by modern opinion, seem quite preposterous.
As a natural refutation of these, "spoofing" groups sprang up, usually, at least at first, informally organized. Probably the best known of these is the E. Clampus Vitus. When the first groups met is unknown. There are reports of Chapters in Bedford, Penn., in 1847, and in West Union, W. VA in 1850. Rumors of even earlier Chapters float around, but due to the tendency of all the Clamper writs to mix fact and fantasy, one never knows.
Such an order was a natural for those amusement-starved miners of the Mother Lode, and members from the States early formed ad hoc Chapters. The most current story is as follows:
A drummer would come to town and was asked, "Are you a Clamper?" As the salesman had never heard of E C.V., he was informed that all the merchants were Clampers and only bought from Clampers. After a reasonable time for the victim to check out this fact, they would relent and hold a special meeting to initiate the prospect. After initiation, some food and much liquor, the new member would be presented with the tab.
Just how many Clampers were organized is not known. There is a copy of the Initiation Manual of the Downieville Chapter in the Huntington Library, and Chapters were known to have been in existence until after 1880.
Many fables have come down of their activities. One that especially well tells of their feeling toward pretentiousness is that in the many parades in the mining towns after the elaborately uniformed Masonic orders, the various Knights and sundry Templars, a gang of red-shirted miners, giving the sign of the "well-Jackass", would march, led by their Noble Grand Humbug. Their standard-bearer would carry a tall pole supporting an ornate hoop skirt and slogan, "The Banner We Fought Under".
In our current time, a number of dedicated (if not always serious) historians decided to re-organize this Ancient and Noble Order. In the spring of 1930, Carl I. Wheat, George Ezra Dane and Leon Whitsell, the "Three Revivers", planned this revival. The first meeting was held at the Hotel Clift in "Yerba Buena" in 1931, with ten charter members. The first pilgrimage (later, called Clampouts) was to Downieville in May 1932, and there the first PBC, Ed Grabhorn, was initiated in front of the St. Charles Hotel Then came the first Annual Dinner, held at the Bohemian Club in Yerba Buena in January of 1933,
At first growth was slow, the second chapter being "Platrix, the Queen of Cow Counties." The first Clamper publication, "The Enigmatical Book of Vitus" came off in 1934.
The Articles of the Bylaws express the sublime indifference of the Order:
I. All Men are Officers
II. All Officers are of Equal Indignity
(It is rumored that the founding fathers became exhausted after giving birth to these immortal lines and repaired to a nearby tavern. They never recovered sufficiently to write an Article III, etc.)
Now, each Chapter meets twice a year in a Clampout, to initiate worthy though trembling PBC's and to dedicate a plaque at some little known -- though most worthy -- historical site. The Grand Council meets annually, the last weekend in May, at Murphy's Camp.
Satisfactory!!
And so recorded.
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