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PIONEERS
H I S T O R Y
TAles of Golden RiveR Beds TuRned eyes To CAlifoRniA By Don Baumgart
AS CALIFORNIA MOVED INTO that memorable year of 1849, a four letter word attracted the attention of eastern publishers who produced a flurry of books for an eager worldwide audience.
The word was“ gold”, and the books were guides on how to reach California and the fields where men became pickand-shovel millionaires. Many of the“ guides to gold” publications tended to replace accuracy with enthusiasm. Fayette Robinson wrote there were reports stating the“ streams run over beds of gold, and the mountains are masses of precious ore.”
Glowing pictures painted by booklet writers often failed to match gold field reality. In an old copy of one guide book, the author’ s initials, D. L., were explained in pencil by a frustrated miner:“ Damn Liar!”
Eastern newspapers discovered stories about finding gold sold newspapers. They quickly set out to feed the gold fever of the 17 million people living“ back home.” Most communities had residents anxiously awaiting word from family members who had headed west. Some papers ran letters from gold seekers camped at St. Joseph and Independence, Missouri, waiting to start the big adventure, putting together wagons and supplies for the trail.
One eastern newspaper writer claimed mining gold in California took no skill at all.“ The workman takes any spot of ground or bank he fancies, sticks his pick or shovel at random, fills his basin, makes
for the water, and soon sees the glittering results of his labor.”
Franklin Street published a pamphlet in Cincinnati after he hit the gold fields in August of 1850. His description was not one of golden stream beds.“ Those mining districts, which had heretofore been very productive,” he wrote,“ were now becoming exhausted … or itinerant miners, who were continually wandering from place to place … in search of some untenanted spot, in which to try the realities of their golden dreams.”
Street warned his readers the gold fields were full of people, less and less gold had to be divided among more and more new arrivals. He was surprisingly candid.
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GRASS VALLEY NEVADA CITY
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Jenny ' s Paper & Ink Books provides preowned popular fiction paperbacks and series. Visit to find your next story.
Also included: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Children ' s, Young Adult, Science Fiction, and Fantasy.
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Rare & Out of Print Used and Antiquarian, General Stock, Fiction & Non- Fiction – Most Subjects.
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4000 Square Feet of Rare, Outof-Print & General Stock all subjects.
Also: Comics, Art, Ephemera, Records, CD’ s, DVD’ s, Audio Books
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627 E. Main Street, GV 95945( 530) 273-0603
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130 NEVADA COUNTY GOLD