Rush for Riches: Gold Fever

Rush for Riches: Gold Fever, cover
Adoption Amount: $250
Category: Build and Access the Collection
Location: National Postal Museum Library

Rush for riches : gold fever and the making of California

By J. S. Holliday. Oakland; Berkeley: Oakland Museum of California; University of California Press, c1999.

This is a thick tabletop book with large print and 100 breathtaking color illustrations and photos of gold miners throughout. The lure of achieving instant wealth with the relatively low equipment cost of prospecting was called "gold fever." The author covers almost four decades, from 1849—just after the first discovery of gold in California—to 1884, when the hydraulic mining companies ceased operations. It also discusses a horrific side effect of the gold rush—the massacre and extermination of Native Americans in California.

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