Gold rush stories : 49 tales of seekers, scoundrels, loss, and luck

Noy, Gary 1951- (author.). Kurutz, Gary F., (writer of foreword.).

Summary: "This volume explores the deeply human stories of the California Gold Rush generation, drawing out all the brutality, tragedy, humor, and prosperity as lived by those who experienced it. In less than ten years, more than 300,000 people made the journey to California, some from as far away as Chile and China. Many of them were dreamers seeking a better life, like Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, who eventually became the first African American judge, and Eliza Farnham, an early feminist who founded California's first association to advocate for women's civil rights. Still others were eccentrics--perhaps none more so than San Francisco's self-styled king, Norton I, Emperor of the United States. As Gold Rush Stories relates the social tumult of the world rushing in, so too does it unearth the environmental consequences of the influx, including the destructive flood of yellow ooze (known as "slickens") produced by the widespread and relentless practice of hydraulic mining. In the hands of a native son of the Sierra, these stories and dozens more reveal the surprising and untold complexities of the Gold Rush."--Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781597143844 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN: 9781597143868 (Amazon Kindle)
Physical Description: print
xxii, 373 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Publisher: Berkeley, California : Heyday ; [2017]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-370).

Formatted Contents Note:

The wings of the future: beginnings -- Undisciplined squads of emotion: motivations -- The consequence of fearful blindness: twilight of the Californios -- "I know it to be nothing else": the sad tale of James Marshall -- The tale of Teleguac: José Jesús, native resistance, and survival -- "A vast deal of knavery": the warnings of Daniel Walton -- "The El Dorado of their most sanguine wants": John Linville Hall, the first journal -- "A perfect used up man": in the diggings -- "With a taint of fraud and a spice of comedy": claim salting -- Castles in the air: quartz fever -- "Death stared them full in the face": Silas Weston and Kelly's Bar -- "That blighting curse": dissipation -- "Plenty of jabbering and quarreling and several fights": Alfred Doten -- "Gambling on one card the fruit of his labor for the year": games of chance -- "There is no persuasion more esteemed for moral conduct": Jews in the gold rush -- "Everything looks forlorn and wretched": storms and floods -- "A wind turned dark with burning": the plague of fire -- "The blue vault of heaven": Alonzo Delano and the Great Grass Valley fire of 1855 -- A crumbling kingdom: the collapse of Sutter's Fort -- The devil's chaos: hydraulic mining -- "As huge, to me, as an elephant": grizzly bears -- "A very normal childhood": children and families -- "The years have been full of hardships": Luzena Stanley Wilson -- Shadow and light: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs and defiance of discrimination --