Popular Culture Review Vol. 1, December 1989 | Page 68

sensed its glory and excitement. It also was a rewarding one from
a variety of viewpoints. From “1851 to 1855 [the U.S] contributed
nearly 45 per cent of the world’s output o f gold.”(6) The most
productive year was 1852 when some 81 million dollars in gold was
produced. By 1860, this output was reduced to forty-four million.
During this general period, the highest wage averaged some $20 a
day.(7) “At least a quarter of a million men came to California
during the five years that constituted the gold rush proper, a n d . . .
these men dug more than $200 million in gold. Nothing in any way
so rich had even before been encountered in any part o f the world.”
(8) Finally, one can say that truly “The California Gold Rush was
a national experience rarely matched in American history— in the
nineteenth century only the Civil War surpassed its import.” (9)
But miners were like quicksilver itself, which was used to
amalgamate with the gold, separating it from its carrier materials.
They now moved elsewhere seeking a new mother lode, whether
nearby, across the continent, or around the world. Thus spread a
new kind of “Yellow Fever.”
Those in California who saw the gold largess running out, now
drifted eastward to the Washoe Mountains in what was to become
western Nevada Territory. They were looking for gold, but so often
as in other situations, one does not find what one is seeking, but
perhaps something else equally or more valuable. Around 1859
miners headed toward the Carson River and Mt. Davidson area in
present-day Nevada. They discovered the outcroppings o f what
they thought were two quartz veins containing both gold and silver.
Unbeknown to the discoverers, these were not two separate veins,
but both part of one and the same. The first discovered was in the
area called Gold Canyon; the other, Six Mile Canyon. Subsequent
digging found they were part of another big Motherlode, five miles
long and nearly a mile in width. Eventually this lode produced
some 300 million dollars worth of precious gold and silver. Its

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