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"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, 1850-1915
List 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
About the author
Malcolm J. Rohrbough is Professor of History at the University of Iowa and author of Aspen: The History of a Silver-Mining Town, 1879-1893 (1986) and The Trans-Appalachian Frontier: People, Societies and Institutions, 1775-1850 (1990).
Summary
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. This title demonstrates that in its far-reaching repercussions, it was the most significant event in the first half of the nineteenth century.
