On the morning of January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold in California. The news spread across the continent, launching hundreds of ships and hitching a thousand prairie schooners filled with adventurers in search of heretofore unimagined wealth. Those who joined the procession—soon called 49ers—included the wealthy and the poor from every state and territory, including slaves brought by their owners. In numbers, they represented the greatest mass migration in the history of the Republic.
In this first comprehensive history of the Gold Rush, Malcolm J. Rohrbough demonstrates that in its far-reaching repercussions, it was the most significant event in the first half of the nineteenth century. No other series of events between the Louisiana Purchase and the Civil War produced such a vast movement of people; called into question basic values of marriage, family, work, wealth, and leisure; led to so many varied consequences; and left such vivid memories among its participants.
Through extensive research in diaries, letters, and other archival sources, Rohrbough uncovers the personal dilemmas and confusion that the Gold Rush brought. His engaging narrative depicts the complexity of human motivation behind the event and reveals the effects of the Gold Rush as it spread outward in ever-widening circles to touch the lives of families and communities everywhere in the United States. For those who joined the 49ers, the decision to go raised questions about marital obligations and family responsibilities. For those men—and women, whose experiences of being left behind have been largely ignored until now—who remained on the farm or in the shop, the absences of tens of thousands of men over a period of years had a profound impact, reshaping a thousand communities across the breadth of the American nation.
Days of Gold The California Gold Rush and the American Nation
About the Book
Reviews
"With this exhaustively researched, elegantly written study, so successful as narrative and as scholarship, Malcolm J. Rohrbough joins Rodman Paul and J. S. Holliday as a master historian of this defining American epic."—Kevin Starr, author of Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
ONE
CALIFORNIA'S GOLDEN REVOLUTION:
Enormous Wealth and Great Confusion
TWO
GOLD FEVER:
The Beginning
THREE
"THIS IS A HARD THING,
THIS BREAKING UP OF FAMILIES"
Gold and Its Personal Costs
FOUR
JOURNEY AND ARRIVAL:
Coming to California, Coming to Terms
FIVE
OLD BONDS AND NEW ALLEGIANCES:
"Me and john Stick Together Like Wood Ticks"
SIX
THE SCARCITY OF WOMEN:
'1 Have Not Spoken to a Lady for Five Months"
SEVEN
"I COULD SELL SOME OF THE FURNITURE"
Adjustments in the East
EIGHT
OCCUPATIONS:
The 49ers Begin Work
NINE
''THE REAL ARGONAUTS OF 49"
Life and Leisure in the Gold Fields
TEN
THE URBAN 49ERS:
'.It Very Good Chance to Make Money in This City"
ELEVEN
WOMEN IN THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH:
Duty, Adventure, and Opportunity
TWELVE
HARSH REALITIES:
Hard Luck and Hard Labor in the Gold Fields
THIRTEEN
'' CAPITALISTS WILL TAKE HOLD '' :
High-Stakes Investments and Deferred Returns
FOURTEEN
THREATS FROM WITHIN, THREATS FROM WITHOUT:
Fear, Hostility, and Violence in the Gold Rush
FIFTEEN
WAITING:
A Permanent Condition
SIXTEEN
LOST LOVE, LOST FAMILIES
SEVENTEEN
THE PERMANENT LURE OF SUCCESS,
THE ENDURING SHAME OF FAILURE:
"When a Person Gits to California It Is Hard to Say
or Tell When He Gets Away"
EIGHTEEN
THE RIPPLES SUBSIDE:
The End of the Gold Rush
NINETEEN
"THE DAYS OF OLD, THE DAYS OF GOLD,
THE DAYS OF FORTY-NINE"
The Gold Rush and Memory
HISTORIANS AND SOURCES
NOTES
Awards
- Co-winner of the 1999 Ray A. Billington Prize, Organization of American Historians
- 1998 Caughey Western History Association Prize for the most distinguished book on the history of the American West, Western History Association