In this vivid account of the birth of modern California, J.S.
Holliday frames the gold rush years within the larger story of the
state's transformation from the quietude of a Mexican hinterland in
the 1840s to the forefront of entrepreneurial capitalism by the
1890s. No other state, no nation experienced such an adolescence of
freedom and success. By 1883 California was hailed as "America,
only more so."
Holliday's boldly interpretive narrative has the authority and
immediacy of an eyewitness account. This eminent historian
recreates the masculine world of mining camps and rough cities,
where both business and pleasure were conducted far from hometown
eyes and conventional inhibitions. He follows gold mining's swift
evolution from treasure hunt to vast industry; traces the prodigal
plunder of California's virgin rivers and abundant forests; and
describes improvised feats of engineering, breathtaking in their
scope and execution.
Holliday also conjures the ambitious, often ruthless Californians
whose rush for riches rapidly changed the state: the Silver Kings
of the Comstock Lode, the timber barons of the Sierra forests, the
Big Four who built the first transcontinental railroad, and the
lesser profit-seekers who owned steamboats, pack mules, gambling
dens and bordellos--and, most important for California's future,
the farmers who prospered by feeding the rapidly growing
population. This wildly laissez-faire economy created California's
image as a risk-taking society, unconstrained by fear of failure.
The central theme of "Rush for Riches" is how, after decades of
careless freedom, the miners were finally reined in by the farmers,
and how their once mutually dependent relationship soured into
hostility. This potential violence led to a dramatic courtroom
decision in 1884 that shut down the mighty hydraulic mining
operations--the end of California's free-for-all youthful
exuberance.
Unique in its format, this beautiful book offers not only a
compelling narrative but also almost two hundred fifty
illustrations, one hundred in full color, that richly illuminate
the themes and details of the text: daguerreotypes, photographs,
paintings, lithographs, sketches, and specially drawn maps.
"Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 2000"
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