I posted about the Japanese-American Museum in Los Angeles several weeks ago. When Chinese and Japanese came to America it was for work more than any other purpose. Agriculture. For the Chinese immigrants there was working on the railroad, the rail road that would tie the United States together - coast to coast. Both communities sent for brides from their country of origin.
Imagine the world of Gold Rush California! There was one woman for every ten men, and according the THE GOLD RUSH, a PBS video that is part of AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series, in
a few short years after Gold was found north of San Francisco, the city had grown so that it had twice daily newspapers, nine insurance companies, and consulates of twenty-seven foreign governments.
The gold rush MADE San Francisco.
1849 is when people rushed to find their fortunes moving west to the gold fields and streams. The few people who found their fortune early and announced that there was gold had fortunes and walked away. Gentlemanly behavior and fairness were the norm. But when thousands came to work hard all day for about $8 worth of gold (use that calculator I have embedded on the side bar), it became lawless, the wild west.
Soon people found the fortune to be made was not in finding gold but opening businesses that served miners, and so today we still wear BLUE JEANS!
Yes this is a DVD recommendation for those of you who want to know more about West Coast American History, or who have Gold Rush heritage!
