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PIONEERS
H I S T O R Y
Supplying MinerS – real gold ruSh
By Don Baumgart
S
UPPLYING THE GOLD RUSH was a
logistical problem that rivaled that
of keeping an army on the march in
a foreign land.
Ships were loaded with provisions on the
east coast and sent around Cape Horn:
needles, flour, canvas, boots, blankets, and
an abundance of shovels, axes and picks.
For the successful, they carried chandeliers
and champagne.
It was becoming apparent that a
fortune could be made supplying the gold
hunters. Ship owners made a profit of
$60,000 a month charging more to move
supplies upriver to the ports of Stockton
and Sacramento than it cost to have
merchandise shipped from New York to
San Francisco.
AN INNER
SANCTUM
Suppliers started showing up in the gold
fields selling out of mule packs, the Gold
Rush general store. “A can of peas? Six
dollars, please.” It was a seller’s market,
and merchants were here to supply the
miners’ basic needs for a stiff price.
One was George Dornin, who came to
Nevada City from San Francisco in 1852
with a load of jewelry and other items to
be raffled off. The scheme was to be a
quick one followed by Dornin’s return to
San Francisco.
“The journey to Nevada City,” he wrote,
“was made by boat to Sacramento, thence
by stage.” The winter of 52 was severe,
snow blocked roads, halting the arrival of
supplies from the valley. “Flour, at one time
reached one dollar per pound,” wrote Dornin.
He tells of a team pulling a load of supplies bound for a merchant in Nevada City
that was stopped in Grass Valley by a band
of hungry citizens. The teamster was forced
to sell the flour and potatoes on the spot.
Dornin did hold a successful raffle,
returned to San Francisco, restocked and
returned to Nevada City. His second
attempt was thwarted by new laws against
lotteries, so he abandoned his plans, settled in the gold country, married and raised
a family.
He went on to be twice elected as