text:
California Gold Rush
|California Gold Rush
Sailing to California at the beginning of the Gold Rush
|Sierra Nevada and Northern California
|January 24, 1848, in Coloma
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.[1] All told, the news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.[2] Of the 300,000, approximately half arrived by sea, and half came overland from the east, on the California Trail and the Gila River trail.
The gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (as a reference to 1849), traveled by sailing ship and covered wagon and often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. At first, the gold nuggets could be picked up off the ground. Later, gold was recovered from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. More sophisticated methods were developed and later adopted elsewhere. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, and mining companies became important. Gold worth tens of billions of today's dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with little more than what they had started with.
The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849 a state constitution was written, and a governor and legislature were chosen. California became a state as part of the Compromise of 1850.
New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. By 1869 railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. At the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking claims" was developed. The Gold Rush also resulted in attacks on Native Americans, who were often forcibly removed from their lands. Gold mining also caused environmental harm to rivers and lakes.
- History 1
- Forty-niners 2
- Legal rights 3
- Development of gold-recovery techniques 4
Profits 5
- Path of the gold 5.1
Near-term effects 6
- Development of government and commerce 6.1
- Conflict with Native Americans 6.2
- World-wide economic stimulation 6.3
- Longer-term effects 7
- Gallery 8
- See also 9
- Notes 10
- References 11
- Further reading 12
- External links 13
The California Gold Rush began at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma.[3] On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River.[4] Marshall brought what he found to John Sutter, and the two privately tested the metal. After the tests showed that it was gold, Sutter expressed dismay: he wanted to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to his plans for an agricultural empire if there were a mass search for gold.[5]
However, rumors soon started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant Samuel Brannan. The most famous quote of the California Gold Rush was by Brannan; after he had hurriedly set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies,[6] Brannan strode through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!"[7]
At the time gold was discovered, California was part of the Mexican territory of Alta California, though it had been occupied by the U.S. in the Mexican-American War. The area was ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, less than two weeks after the discovery.
On August 19, 1848, the New York Herald was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, President James Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress.[8] Soon, waves of immigrants from around the world, later called the "forty-niners", invaded the Gold Country of California or "Mother Lode". As Sutter had feared, he was ruined; his workers left in search of gold, and squatters took over his land and stole his crops and cattle.[9]
San Francisco had been a tiny settlement before the rush began. When residents learned about the discovery, it at first became a ghost town of abandoned ships and businesses,[10] but then boomed as merchants and new people arrived. The population of San Francisco exploded from perhaps about 1,000[11] in 1848 to 25,000 full-time residents by 1850.[12] Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships.[13]
In what has been referred to as the "first world-class gold rush",[14] there was no easy way to get to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way. At first, most Argonauts, as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take five to eight months,[15] and cover some 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 kilometres). An alternative was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco.[16] There was also a route across Mexico starting at Veracruz. Many gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail.[17] Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever and cholera.[18]
To meet the demands of the arrivals, ships bearing goods from around the world came to San Francisco as well. Ships' captains found that their crews deserted to go to the goldfields. The wharves and docks of San Francisco became a forest of masts, as hundreds of ships were abandoned. Enterprising San Franciscans turned the abandoned ships into warehouses, stores, taverns, hotels, and one into a jail.[19] Many of these ships were later destroyed and used for landfill to create more buildable land in the boomtown.[19]
Within a few years, there was an important but lesser-known surge of prospectors into far Northern California, specifically into present-day Siskiyou, Shasta and Trinity Counties.[20] Discovery of gold nuggets at the site of present-day Yreka in 1851 brought thousands of gold-seekers up the Siskiyou Trail[21] and throughout California's northern counties.[22] Settlements of the Gold Rush era, such as Portuguese Flat on the Sacramento River, sprang into existence and then faded. The Gold Rush town of Weaverville on the Trinity River today retains the oldest continuously used Taoist temple in California, a legacy of Chinese miners who came. While there are not many Gold Rush era ghost towns still in existence, the remains of the once-bustling town of Shasta have been preserved in a California State Historic Park in Northern California.[23]
Gold was also discovered in Southern California but on a much smaller scale. The first discovery of gold, at Rancho San Francisco in the mountains north of present-day Los Angeles, had been in 1842, six years before Marshall's discovery, while California was still part of Mexico.[24] However, these first deposits, and later discoveries in Southern California mountains, attracted little notice and were of limited consequence economically.[24]
By 1850, most of the easily accessible gold had been collected, and attention turned to extracting gold from more difficult locations. Faced with gold increasingly difficult to retrieve, Americans began to drive out foreigners to get at the most accessible gold that remained. The new Latin Americans and Chinese.[25]
In addition, the huge numbers of newcomers were driving Native Americans out of their traditional hunting, fishing and food-gathering areas. To protect their homes and livelihood, some Native Americans responded by attacking the miners. This provoked counter-attacks on native villages. The Native Americans, out-gunned, were often slaughtered.[26] Those who escaped massacres were many times unable to survive without access to their food-gathering areas, and they starved to death. Novelist and poet Joaquin Miller vividly captured one such attack in his semi-autobiographical work, Life Amongst the Modocs.[27]
The first people to rush to the goldfields, beginning in the spring of 1848, were the residents of California themselves—primarily agriculturally oriented Americans and Europeans living in Northern California, along with Native Americans and some Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians).[28] These first miners tended to be families in which everyone helped in the effort. Women and children of all ethnicities were often found panning next to the men. Some enterprising families set up boarding houses to accommodate the influx of men; in such cases, the women often brought in steady income while their husbands searched for gold.[29]
Word of the Gold Rush spread slowly at first. The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California or people who heard the news from ships on the fastest sailing routes from California. The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand Oregonians who came down the Siskiyou Trail.[30] Next came people from the Sandwich Islands, and several thousand Latin Americans, including people from Mexico, from Peru and from as far away as Chile,[31] both by ship and overland.[32] By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California.[32]
Only a small number (probably fewer than 500) traveled overland from the United States that year.[32] Some of these "forty-eighters",[33] as the earliest gold-seekers were sometimes called, were able to collect large amounts of easily accessible gold—in some cases, thousands of dollars worth each day.[34][35] Even ordinary prospectors averaged daily gold finds worth 10 to 15 times the daily wage of a laborer on the East Coast. A person could work for six months in the goldfields and find the equivalent of six years' wages back home.[36] Some hoped to get rich quick and return home, and others wished to start businesses in California.
By the beginning of 1849, word of the Gold Rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent. The largest group of forty-niners in 1849 were Americans, arriving by the tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes[37] (the name "forty-niner" was derived from the year 1849). Many from the East Coast negotiated a crossing of the Appalachian Mountains, taking to riverboats in Pennsylvania, poling the keelboats to Missouri River wagon train assembly ports, and then travelling in a wagon train along the California Trail. Many others came by way of the Isthmus of Panama and the steamships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Australians[38] and New Zealanders picked up the news from ships carrying Hawaiian newspapers, and thousands, infected with "gold fever", boarded ships for California.[39]
Forty-niners came from Latin America, particularly from the Mexican mining districts near Sonora and Chile.[39][40] Gold-seekers and merchants from Asia, primarily from China,[41] began arriving in 1849, at first in modest numbers to Gum San ("Gold Mountain"), the name given to California in Chinese.[42] The first immigrants from Europe, reeling from the effects of the Revolutions of 1848 and with a longer distance to travel, began arriving in late 1849, mostly from France,[43] with some Germans, Italians, and Britons.[37] Most of these national groups arrived from seafaring, coastal regions.
It is estimated that approximately 90,000 people arrived in California in 1849—about half by land and half by sea.[44] Of these, perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 were Americans, and the rest were from other countries.[37] By 1855, it is estimated at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California from around the world.[45] The largest group continued to be Americans, but there were tens of thousands each of Mexicans, Chinese, Britons, Australians[46] French, and Latin Americans,[47] together with many smaller groups of miners, such as Filipinos, Basques[48] and Turks.[49]
People from small villages in the hills near Genova, Italy were among the first to settle permanently in the Sierra Nevada foothills; they brought with them traditional agricultural skills, developed to survive cold winters.[50] A modest number of miners of African ancestry (probably less than 4,000)[51] had come from the Southern States,[52] the Caribbean and Brazil.[53]
A notable number of immigrants were from China. Several hundred Chinese arrived in California in 1849 and 1850, and in 1852 more than 20,000 landed in San Francisco.[54] Their distinctive dress and appearance was highly recognizable in the goldfields, and created a degree of animosity towards the Chinese.[54]
There were also women in the Gold Rush. They held various roles including prostitutes, single entrepreneurs, married women, poor and wealthy women. They were of various ethnicities including Anglo-American, Hispanic, Native, European, Chinese, and Jewish. The reasons they came varied: some came with their husbands, refusing to be left behind to fend for themselves, some came because their husbands sent for them, and others came (singles and widows) for the adventure and economic opportunities.[55] On the trail many people died from accidents, cholera, fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. While in California, women became widows quite frequently due to mining accidents, disease, or mining disputes of their husbands. Life in the goldfields offered opportunities for women to break from their traditional work.[56][57]
Legal rights
When the Gold Rush began, the California goldfields were peculiarly lawless places.[58] When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California was still technically part of Mexico, under American military occupation as the result of the territory" and did not become a state until September 9, 1850. California existed in the unusual condition of a region under military control. There was no civil legislature, executive or judicial body for the entire region.[59] Local residents operated under a confusing and changing mixture of Mexican rules, American principles, and personal dictates.
While the treaty ending the Mexican–American War obliged the United States to honor Mexican land grants,[60] almost all the goldfields were outside those grants. Instead, the goldfields were primarily on "public land", meaning land formally owned by the United States government.[61] However, there were no legal rules yet in place,[58] and no practical enforcement mechanisms.[62]
The benefit to the forty-niners was that the gold was simply "free for the taking" at first. In the goldfields at the beginning, there was no private property, no licensing fees, and no taxes.[63][64] The miners informally adapted Mexican mining law which had existed in California.[65] For example, the rules attempted to balance the rights of early arrivers at a site with later arrivers; a "claim" could be "staked" by a prospector, but that claim was valid only as long as it was being actively worked.[58][66][67]
Miners worked at a claim only long enough to determine its potential. If a claim was deemed as low-value—as most were—miners would abandon the site in search for a better one. In the case where a claim was abandoned or not worked upon, other miners would "claim-jump" the land. "Claim-jumping" meant that a miner began work on a previously claimed site.[66][67] Disputes were sometimes handled personally and violently, and were sometimes addressed by groups of prospectors acting as arbitrators.[61][66][67] This often led to heightened ethnic tensions.[68] In some areas the influx of many prospectors could lead to a reduction of the existing claim size by simple pressure.[69]
Development of gold-recovery techniques
Four hundred million years ago, California lay at the bottom of a large sea; underwater volcanoes deposited lava and minerals (including gold) onto the sea floor. By tectonic forces these minerals and rocks came to the surface of the Sierra Nevada,[70] and eroded. Water carried the exposed gold downstream and deposited it in quiet gravel beds along the sides of old rivers and streams.[71][72] The forty-niners first focused their efforts on these deposits of gold.[73]
Because the gold in the California gravel beds was so richly concentrated, the early forty-niners simply panned for gold in California's rivers and streams, a form of placer mining.[74][75] However, panning cannot take place on a large scale, and industrious miners and groups of miners graduated to placer mining "cradles" and "rockers" or "long-toms"[76] to process larger volumes of gravel.[77] Miners would also engage in "coyoteing".[78] This method involved digging a shaft 6 to 13 meters (20 to 43 ft) deep into placer deposits along a stream. Tunnels were then dug in all directions to reach the richest veins of pay dirt.
In the most complex placer mining, groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river, and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom.[79] Modern estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey are that some 12 million ounces[80] (370 t) of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush (worth over US$16 billion at December 2010 prices).[81]
In the next stage, by 1853, hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds on hillsides and bluffs in the goldfields.[82] In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds.[83] The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it was collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$15 billion at December 2010 prices) had been recovered by "hydraulicking".[81] This style of hydraulic mining later spread around the world.
A byproduct of these extraction methods was that large amounts of gravel, silt, heavy metals, and other pollutants went into streams and rivers.[84] As of 1999 many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining, since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits do not support plant life.[85]
After the Gold Rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County). By the late 1890s, dredging technology (also invented in California) had become economical,[86] and it is estimated that more than 20 million ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging (worth approximately US$28 billion at December 2010 prices).[81]
Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining, that is, extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically quartz), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of the gold-bearing quartz.[87] By 1851, quartz mining had become the major industry of Coloma.[88] Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to surface, the rocks were crushed and the gold separated, either using separation in water, using its density difference from quartz sand, or by washing the sand over copper plates coated with mercury (with which gold forms an amalgam). Loss of mercury in the amalgamation process was a source of environmental contamination.[89] Eventually, hard-rock mining wound up becoming the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country.[81][90] The total production of gold in California from then till now is estimated at 118 million ounces (3700 t).[91]
Forty-niner panning for gold
Sluice for separation of gold from dirt with water
Excavating a river bed after the water has been diverted.
Crushing quartz ore prior to washing out gold.
Excavating a gravel bed with jets, circa 1863.
Recent scholarship confirms that merchants made far more money than miners during the Gold Rush.[92][93] The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the rush was Samuel Brannan, the tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher.[94] Brannan opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the goldfields. Just as the rush began he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and re-sold them at a substantial profit.[94] However, some gold-seekers too made substantial money. For example, within a few months in 1848, one small group of prospectors working on the Feather River retrieved a sum of gold worth more than $3 million by 2010 prices.[95]
On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after taking all expenses into account. Most, however, especially those arriving later, made little or wound up losing money.[96] Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements which disappeared, or which succumbed to one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns that sprang up. By contrast, a businessman who went on to great success was Levi Strauss, who first began selling denim overalls in San Francisco in 1853.[97]
Other businessmen, through good fortune and hard work, reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging,[98] or transportation.[99] Boardinghouses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons and gaming houses.[100]
By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.[101]
Path of the gold
Once extracted, the gold itself took many paths. First, much of the gold was used locally to purchase food, supplies and lodging for the miners. It also went towards entertainment, which consisted of anything from a traveling theater to alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. These transactions often took place using the recently recovered gold, carefully weighed out.[102][103] These merchants and vendors, in turn, used the gold to purchase supplies from ship captains or packers bringing goods to California.[104]
The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world. A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard-earned "diggings". For example, one estimate is that some US$80 million worth of California gold was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants.[105]
As the Gold Rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold,[106] and private mints created private gold coins.[107] With the building of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold bullion was turned into official United States gold coins for circulation.[108] The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the booming California economy.[109]
Near-term effects
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new people in California within a few years, compared to a population of some 15,000 Europeans and Californios beforehand,[110] had many dramatic effects.[111]
Development of government and commerce
The Gold Rush propelled California from a sleepy, little-known backwater to a center of the global imagination and the destination of hundreds of thousands of people. The new immigrants often showed remarkable inventiveness and civic-mindedness. For example, in the midst of the Gold Rush, towns and cities were chartered, a state constitutional convention was convened, a state constitution written, elections held, and representatives sent to Washington, D.C. to negotiate the admission of California as a state.[112]
Large-scale agriculture (California's second "Gold Rush"[113]) began during this time.[114] Roads, schools, churches,[115] and civic organizations quickly came into existence.[112] The vast majority of the immigrants were Americans.[116] Pressure grew for better communications and political connections to the rest of the United States, leading to statehood for California on September 9, 1850, in the Compromise of 1850 as the 31st state of the United States.
Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.[117] The Gold Rush wealth and population increase led to significantly improved transportation between California and the East Coast. The Panama Railway, spanning the Isthmus of Panama, was finished in 1855.[118] Steamships, including those owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, began regular service from San Francisco to Panama, where passengers, goods and mail would take the train across the Isthmus and board steamships headed to the East Coast. One ill-fated journey, that of the S.S. Central America,[119] ended in disaster as the ship sank in a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas in 1857, with approximately three tons of California gold aboard.[120][121]
Within California, the first steamship, the SS California (1848), showed up on February 28, 1849. Soon steamships were carrying miners the 125 miles (201 km) up the Sacramento River to Sacramento, California.
Conflict with Native Americans
The human and environmental costs of the Gold Rush were substantial. Native Americans, dependent on traditional hunting, gathering and agriculture, became the victims of starvation, as gravel, silt and toxic chemicals from prospecting operations killed fish and destroyed habitats.[84][85] The surge in the mining population also resulted in the disappearance of game and food gathering locales as gold camps and other settlements were built amidst them. Later farming spread to supply the camps, taking more land from the use of Native Americans.
Native Americans also succumbed in large numbers to introduced diseases such as smallpox, influenza and measles. Some estimates indicate case fatality rates of 80–90% in Native American populations during smallpox epidemics.[122] By far the most destructive element of the Gold Rush on California Indians was the violence practiced on them and their environment by miners and settlers. Miners often saw Native Americans as impediments to their mining activities. Retribution attacks on solitary miners could result in larger scale attacks against Native populations,[123] for example, the Bridge Gulch Massacre; these reprisals often targeted tribes or villages unconnected with the original act.
The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians,[124] passed on April 22, 1850 by the California Legislature, allowed settlers to continue the Californio practice of capturing and using Native people as bonded workers. It also provided the basis for the enslavement and trafficking in Native American labor, particularly that of young women and children, which was carried on as a legal business enterprise. Native American villages were regularly raided to supply the demand, and young women and children were carried off to be sold, the men and remaining people often being killed in genocidal attacks.[125] According to the government of California, some 4,500 Native Americans suffered violent deaths between 1849 and 1870.[126]
In some areas, systematic attacks against tribespeople in or near mining districts occurred. Various conflicts were fought between natives and settlers.[127] The Native American population in California, estimated at 150,000 in 1845, had dropped to less than 30,000 by 1870.[128] (The pre-European population of Native Americans, estimated at 300,000, had already been decimated, almost exclusively due to diseases carried by the Spanish settlers.)[129] The factors of disease, however do not minimize the tone of racial violence directed towards California Indians. Peter Burnett, California's first governor declared that California was a battleground between the races and that there were only two options towards California Indians, extinction or removal. California, apart from legalizing slavery for Native Americans also directly paid out $25,000 in bounties for Indian scalps with varying prices for adult male, adult female and child sizes. California with a consortium of other new Western states stood in opposition of ratifying the eighteen treaties signed between tribal leaders and federal agents in 1851.[130] According to population historian Russell Thornton, estimates of the pre-Columbian population of California was at least 310,000, and perhaps as much as 705,000. By 1849, due to Spanish and Mexican colonization and epidemics this number had decreased to 100,000. But from 1849 and up until 1890 the Indigenous population of California had fallen below 20,000, primarily because of the killings.[131] Approximately 4,500 California Indians were killed between 1849 and 1870, while many more perished due to disease.[132]
After the initial boom had ended, explicitly anti-foreign and racist attacks, laws, and confiscatory taxes sought to drive out foreigners from the mines, especially the Chinese and Latin American immigrants mostly from Sonora, Mexico and Chile.[54][133] The toll on the American immigrants could be severe as well: one in twelve forty-niners perished, as the death and crime rates during the Gold Rush were extraordinarily high, and the resulting vigilantism also took its toll.[134]
World-wide economic stimulation
The Gold Rush stimulated economies around the world as well. Farmers in Chile, Australia, and Hawaii found a huge new market for their food; British manufactured goods were in high demand; clothing and even prefabricated houses arrived from China.[136] The return of large amounts of California gold to pay for these goods raised prices and stimulated investment and the creation of jobs around the world.[137] Australian prospector Edward Hargraves, noting similarities between the geography of California and his home country, returned to Australia to discover gold and spark the Australian gold rushes.[138]
Within a few years after the end of the Gold Rush, in 1863, the groundbreaking ceremony for the western leg of the First Transcontinental Railroad was held in Sacramento. The line's completion, some six years later, financed in part with Gold Rush money,[139] united California with the central and eastern United States. Travel that had taken weeks or even months could now be accomplished in days.[140]
Longer-term effects
California's name became indelibly connected with the Gold Rush, and fast success in a new world became known as the "California Dream."[141] California was perceived as a place of new beginnings, where great wealth could reward hard work and good luck. Historian H. W. Brands noted that in the years after the Gold Rush, the California Dream spread across the nation:
|The old American Dream ... was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard"... of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. [This] golden dream ... became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill.[142]
Overnight California gained the international reputation as the "golden state".[143] Generations of immigrants have been attracted by the California Dream. California farmers,[144] oil drillers,[145] movie makers,[146] airplane builders,[147] and "dot-com" entrepreneurs have each had their boom times in the decades after the Gold Rush.[148]
The literary history of the Gold Rush is reflected in the works of Mark Twain (The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), Bret Harte (A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready), Joaquin Miller (Life Amongst the Modocs), and many others.[27][149]
Included among the modern legacies of the California Gold Rush are the California state motto, "Eureka" ("I have found it"), Gold Rush images on the California State Seal,[150] and the state nickname, "The Golden State", as well as place names, such as Placer County, Rough and Ready, Placerville (formerly named "Dry Diggings" and then "Hangtown" during rush time), Whiskeytown, Drytown, Angels Camp, Happy Camp, and Sawyers Bar. The San Francisco 49ers National Football League team, and the similarly named athletic teams of California State University, Long Beach, are named for the prospectors of the California Gold Rush.
In addition. the standard route shield of state highways in California is in the shape of a miner's spade to honor the California Gold Rush.[151][152] Today, aptly named State Route 49 travels through the Sierra Nevada foothills, connecting many Gold Rush-era towns such as Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Coloma, Jackson, and Sonora.[153] This state highway also passes very near Columbia State Historic Park, a protected area encompassing the historic business district of the town of Columbia; the park has preserved many Gold Rush-era buildings, which are presently occupied by tourist-oriented businesses.
First announcement, San Francisco, 1848
Gold fields and sailing routes to California, 1849
Whites, Native Americans and blacks engaged in gold prospecting, c. 1850.
Old-time gold nuggets from Tuolumne County, California; c. 1 in (25 mm)
See also
- Gold in California
- Barbary Coast
- California Mining and Mineral Museum
- Women in the California Gold Rush
- ^ "[E]vents from January 1848 through December 1855 [are] generally acknowledged as the 'Gold Rush'. After 1855, California gold mining changed and is outside the 'rush' era.""The Gold Rush of California: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles".
- ^ "California Gold Rush, 1848–1864".
- ^ For a detailed map, see California Historic Gold Mines, published by the State of California. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1889). History of California, Volume 23: 1843–1850. San Francisco: The History Company. pp. 32–34.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 39–41.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999). Rush for riches; gold fever and the making of California. Oakland, California, Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 55–56.
- ^ Starr, Kevin (2005). California: a history. New York: The Modern Library. p. 80.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 103–105.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 59–60.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999), p. 51 ("800 residents").
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (1999). A golden state: mining and economic development in Gold Rush California (California History Sesquicentennial Series, 2). Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999), p. 126.
- ^ Hill, Mary (1999). Gold: the California story. Berkeley and Los Angeles: p. 1.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003). The age of gold: the California Gold Rush and the new American dream. New York: Anchor (reprint ed.). pp. 103–121.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 75–85. Another route across Nicaragua was developed in 1851; it was not as popular as the Panama option. Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 252–253.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 5.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999), pp. 101, 107.
- ^ a b Starr, Kevin (2005), p. 80; "Shipping is the Foundation of San Francisco—Literally". Oakland Museum of California. 1998. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 363–366.
- ^ Dillon, Richard (1975). Siskiyou Trail. New York: McGraw Hill.pp. 361–362.
- ^ Wells, Harry L. (1881). History of Siskiyou County, California. Oakland, California: D.J. Stewart & Co. pp. 60–64.
- ^ The buildings of Bodie, the best-known ghost town in California, date from the 1870s and later, well after the end of the Gold Rush.
- ^ a b Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (1999), p. 3.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 9.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 8.
- ^ a b Miller, Joaquin (1873). Life amongst the Modocs: unwritten history. Berkeley: Heyday Books; reprint edition (January 1996).
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 43–46.
- ^ Moynihan, Ruth B., Armitage, Susan, and Dichamp, Christiane Fischer (eds.) (1990). So Much to Be Done. Lincoln: U Nebraska, p. 3
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000). Rooted in barbarous soil: people, culture, and community in Gold Rush California. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press. pp. 50–54.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 48–53.
- ^ a b c Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 50–54.
- ^ Caughey, John Walton (1975). The California Gold Rush. University of California Press. p. 17.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 197–202.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999) p. 63. Holliday notes these luckiest prospectors were recovering, in short amounts of time, gold worth in excess of $1 million when valued at the dollars of today.
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), p. 28.
- ^ a b c Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 57–61.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 53–61.
- ^ a b Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 53–56.
- ^ Johnson, Susan Lee (2001). Roaring camp : the social world of the California Gold Rush (1st ed. ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. p. 59.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 61–64.
- ^ Magagnini, Stephen (January 18, 1998)"Chinese transformed 'Gold Mountain'", The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 93–103.
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 57–61. Other estimates range from 70,000 to 90,000 arrivals during 1849 (ibid. p. 57).
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), p. 25.
- ^ Exploration and Settlement (John Bull and Uncle Sam)
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 193–194.
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), p. 62.
- ^ Gold Rush: Background
- ^ Freguli, Carolyn. (eds.) (2008), pp.8–9.
- ^ Another estimate is 2,500 forty-niners of African ancestry. Rawls, James, J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 5.
- ^ African Americans who were slaves and came to California during the Gold Rush could gain their freedom. One of the miners was African American Edmond Edward Wysinger (1816–1891), see also Moses Rodgers (1835–1900)
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 67–69.
- ^ a b c Out of Many, 5th Edition Volume 1, Faragher 2006 (p.411)
- ^ Moynihan, Ruth B., Armitage, Susan, and Dichamp, Christiane Fischer (eds.) (1990), pp. 3–8
- ^ Levy, Joann (1992). They saw the elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush. Archon:N.p., pp. xxii, 92
- ^ By one account, in late 1850, the population of California was over 110,000, not including the Californios or the California Indians. The surviving U.S. census counts in California add up to 92,600, not including the lost censuses of San Francisco (the largest city in California at that time), Contra Costa county and Santa Clara County. The women who came to California in the early years were a distinct minority, consisting of less than 10% of the population.
- ^ a b c Young, Otis E. (1970). Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 111–112.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999), pp. 115–123.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 235.
- ^ a b Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 123–125.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p.127. There were fewer than 1,000 U.S. soldiers in California at the beginning of the Gold Rush.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 27.
- ^ The federal law in place at the time of the California Gold Rush was the Preemption Act of 1841, which allowed "squatters" to improve federal land, then buy it from the government after 14 months.
- ^ Paul, Rodman W. (1947) California Gold, Lincoln: Univ. Nebraska Press, p.211–213.
- ^ a b c Clay, Karen and Wright, Gavin. (2005), pp. 155–183.
- ^ a b c Clappe, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith (2001) [1922]. The Shirley Letters from the California Mines, 1851–1852. Heyday Books, Berkeley, California. p. 109. "Dame Shirley" was the name adopted by Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe as she wrote a series of letters to her family describing in detail her life in the Feather River goldfields. The letters were originally published in 1854–1855 by The Pioneer magazine.
- ^ The rules of mining claims adopted by the forty-niners spread with each new mining rush throughout the western United States. The U.S. Congress finally legalized the practice in the "Chaffee laws" of 1866 and the "placer law" of 1870. Lindley, Curtis H. (1914) A Treatise on the American Law Relating to Mines and Mineral Lands, San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney, p.89–92. Karen Clay and Gavin Wright, "Order Without Law? Property Rights During the California Gold Rush." Explorations in Economic History 2005 42(2): 155-183. See also John F. Burns, and Richard J. Orsi, eds; University of California Press, 2003Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California
- ^ Information Sharing During the Klondike Gold Rush, p. 13–14. Douglas W. Allen, Simon Fraser University
- ^ Hill, Mary (1999), pp. 169–173.
- ^ Hill, Mary (1999), pp. 94–100.
- ^ Young, Otis E. (1970). Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 106–108.
- ^ Hill, Mary (1999), pp. 105–110.
- ^ Young, Otis E. (1970). Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 108–110.
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), pp. 198–200.
- ^ Images and detailed description of placer mining tools and techniques; image of a long tom
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1888), pp. 87–88.
- ^ Young, Otis E. (1970). Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 110–111.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 90.
- ^ The Troy weight system is traditionally used to measure precious metals, not the more familiar avoirdupois weight system. The term "ounces" used in this article to refer to gold typically refers to troy ounces. There are some historical uses where, because of the age of the use, the intention is ambiguous.
- ^ a b c d Mining History and Geology of the Mother Lode (accessed October 16, 2006).
- ^ Starr, Kevin (2005), p. 89.
- ^ Use of volumes of water in large-scale gold-mining dates at least to the time of the Roman Empire. (See Roman-era gold mines in Spain.) Roman engineers built extensive aqueducts and reservoirs above gold-bearing areas, and released the stored water in a flood so as to remove over-burden and expose gold-bearing bedrock, a process known as hushing. The bedrock was then attacked using fire and mechanical means, and volumes of water were used again to remove debris, and to process the resulting ore. Examples of this Roman mining technology may be found at Las Médulas in Spain and Dolaucothi in South Wales. The gold recovered using these methods was used to finance the expansion of the Roman Empire. Hushing was also used in lead and tin mining in Northern Britain and Cornwall. There is, however, no evidence of the earlier use of hoses, nozzles and continuous jets of water in the manner developed in California during the Gold Rush.
- ^ a b Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 32–36.
- ^ a b Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 116–121.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 199.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 36–39.
- ^ "Amador City, California – Historic Gold Mining Town. [full text] [book links]". readme-ebooks.org, The Pierian Press, 8 August 1999. Online. Internet. 18 May 1743. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 39–43.
- ^ Charles N. Alpers, Michael P. Hunerlach, Jason T. May, and Roger L. Hothem. "Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in California".
- ^ Hausel, Dan. "California - Gold, Geology & Prospecting". Retrieved 19 February 2013.
- ^ Karen Clay and Randall Jones, "Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush," Journal of Economic History, December 2008, Vol. 68 Issue 4, pp 997–1027
- ^ Rohrbough, Malcolm J. (1998). Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- ^ a b Holliday, J. S. (1999) pp. 69–70.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999), p. 63.
- ^ Clay and Jones, "Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush," Journal of Economic History, 2008.
- ^ The famous Levi's jeans were not invented until the 1870s. Lynn Downey, Levi Strauss & Co. (2007)
- ^ James Lick made a fortune running a hotel and engaging in land speculation in San Francisco. Lick's fortune was used to build Lick Observatory.
- ^ Four particularly successful Gold Rush era merchants were Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, Sacramento area businessmen (later known as the Big Four) who financed the western leg of the First Transcontinental Railroad, and became very wealthy as a result.
- ^ Susan Lee Johnson, Roaring Camp: The social world of the California Gold Rush. (2000), pp. 164–168.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 52–68, 193–197.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 212–214.
- ^ Young, Otis E. (1970). Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 109.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 256–259.
- ^ Holliday, J. S. (1999) p. 90.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 193–197; 214–215.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 214.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 212.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 226–227.
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), p. 50. Other estimates are that there were 7,000–13,000 non-Native Americans in California before January 1848. See Holliday, J. S. (1999), pp. 26, 51.
- ^ Historians have reflected on the Gold Rush and its effect on California. Historian Kevin Starr stated that for all its problems and benefits, the Gold Rush established the "founding patterns, the DNA code, of American California", and quotes from the The Annals of San Francisco in 1855 that the Gold Rush advanced California into a "rapid, monstrous maturity". See Starr, Kevin (2005), p. 80 and Starr, Kevin (1973), p. 110).
- ^ a b Starr, Kevin (2005), pp. 91–93.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 243–248. By 1860, California had over 200 flour mills, and was exporting wheat and flour around the world. Ibid. at 278–280.
- ^ Starr, Kevin (2005), pp. 110–111.
- ^ Starr, Kevin (1973). Americans and the California dream: 1850–1915. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 69–75.
- ^ Caughey, 1975, p. 192
- ^ Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1870, U.S. Bureau of the Census
- ^ Harper's New Monthly Magazine March 1855, Volume 10, Issue 58, p. 543.
- ^ S.S. Central America information; Final voyage of the S.S. Central America. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
- ^ Hill, Mary (1999), pp. 192–196.
- ^ Another notable ship wreck was the steamship Winfield Scott, bound to Panama from San Francisco, which crashed into Anacapa Island off the Southern California coast in December 1853. All hands and passengers were saved, along with the cargo of gold, but the ship was a total loss.
- ^ "The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology". Arthur C. Aufderheide, Conrado Rodríguez-Martín, Odin Langsjoen (1998). Cambridge University Press. p.205. ISBN 0-521-55203-6
- ^ While the Bloody Island Massacre occurred during this time period, it did not occur in the Gold Rush era mingin districts.
- ^ "An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians".
- ^ Heizer, Robert F. (1974). The destruction of California Indians. Lincoln and London: Univ. of Nebraska Press. p. 243.
- ^ "Minorities During the Gold Rush".
- ^ Castillo, Edward D. (1998). "California Indian History". Retrieved 2010-02-26.
- ^ Starr, Kevin (2005), p. 99.
- ^ "Destruction of the California Indians".
- ^ Norton, Jack (1979). Genocide in northwestern California: when our worlds cried. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press. ISBN 0-913436-26-7.
- ^ Thornton 1987, pp. 107=109.
- ^ "Minorities During the Gold Rush".
- ^ Starr, Kevin and Orsi, Richard J. (eds.) (2000), pp. 56–79.
- ^ Starr, Kevin (2005), pp. 84–87. Joaquin Murrieta was a famous Mexican bandit during the Gold Rush of the 1850s.The Last of the California Rangers (1928), "16. California Banditti," by Jill L. Cossley-Batt
- ^ (Spanish) Villalobos, Sergio; Silva, Osvaldo; Silva, Fernando and Estelle, Patricio. 1974. Historia De Chile. Editorial Universitaria, Chile. p 481-485.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 285–286.
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 287–289.
- ^ Younger, R. M. 'Wondrous Gold' in Australia and the Australians: A New Concise History, Rigby, Sydney, 1970
- ^ Rawls, James J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), pp. 278–279.
- ^ Historians James Rawls and Walton Bean have postulated that were it not for the discovery of gold, Oregon might have been granted statehood ahead of California, and therefore the first "Pacific Railroad might have been built to that state." See Rawls, James, J., and Walton Bean (2003), p. 112.
- ^ Kevin Starr, Americans and the California Dream, 1850–1915 (1986)
- ^ Brands, H. W. (2003), p. 442.
- ^ A perception of lawlessness also was connected with California. See, Robert A. Burchell, "The Loss of a Reputation; or, The Image of California in Britain before 1875," California Historical Quarterly 53 (Summer I974): 115-30 (stories about Gold Rush lawlessness deterred some immigration for two decades).
- ^ "[A]griculture dominated the post-Gold Rush sequence of development, employing more people than mining by 1869 ... and surpassing mining in 1879 as the leading element of the California economy." Starr, Kevin (2005), p. 110.
- ^ See, e.g., Signal Hill, California, Bakersfield, California; Los Angeles, California
- ^ 20th Century-Fox, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists are among the most recognized entertainment industry names centered in California; see also Film studio
- ^ Hughes Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft, North American Aviation, Northrop, Lockheed Aircraft were among the complex of companies in the aerospace industry which flourished in California during and after World War II
- ^ Gaither, Chris and Chmielewski, Dawn C (2006-10-10). "Google Bets Big on Videos". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2006-10-10. Retrieved 2006-10-10.
- ^ Watson (2005) looks at Bret Harte's notion of Western partnership in such California gold rush stories as "The Luck of Roaring Camp' (1868), "Tennessee's Partner" (1869), and "Miggles" (1869). While critics have long recognized Harte's interest in gender constructs, Harte's depictions of Western partnerships also explore changing dynamics of economic relationships and gendered relationships through terms of contract, mutual support, and the bonds of labor. Matthew A. Watson, "The Argonauts of '49: Class, Gender, and Partnership in Bret Harte's West." Western American Literature 2005 40(1): 33-53.
- ^ Gold Rush images on the state seal include a forty-niner digging with a pick and shovel, a pan for panning gold, and a "long-tom." In addition, the ships on the water suggest the sailing ships filling the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush era.
- ^ "Economic Development History of State Route 99 in California".
- ^ Papoulias, Alexander (2008-01-04). "Car Sales Curbed Along El Camino". Palo Alto Weekly. Office of California State Senator
- ^ "Your guide to the Mother Lode: Complete map of historic Hwy 49". historichwy49.com. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
- Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1884–1890) History of California, vols. 18–24.
- Clappe, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith (2001) [1922]. The Shirley Letters from the California Mines, 1851–1852.
- Clay, Karen; Gavin Wright (April 2005). "Order Without Law? Property Rights During the California Gold Rush". Explorations in Economic History 42 (2): 155–183.
- Dillon, Richard (1975). Siskiyou Trail: the Hudson's Bay Company route to California. New York:
- Gaither, Chris; Chmielewski, Dawn C. (2006-10-10). "Google Bets Big on Videos" (PDF).
- Harper's New Monthly Magazine March 1855, volume 10, issue 58, p. 543, complete text online.
- Heizer, Robert F. (1974). The destruction of California Indians. Lincoln and London:
- Hill, Mary (1999). Gold: the California story. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- Holliday, J. S. (1999). Rush for riches: Gold fever and the making of California. Oakland, California, Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- Johnson, Susan Lee (2001). Roaring Camp: the social world of the California Gold Rush. New York:
- Levy, JoAnn (1992) [1990]. They saw the elephant: women in the California Gold Rush. Norman:
- Moynihan, Ruth B.; Armitage, Susan; Dichamp, Christiane Fischer, eds. (1990). So much to be done: Women settlers on the mining and ranching frontier, 2d ed. (Women in the West). Lincoln:
- Rawls, James, J.; Bean, Walton (2003). California: An interpretive history. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Rawls, James, J. and Richard J. Orsi (eds.) (1999). A golden state: mining and economic development in Gold Rush California. California History Sesquicentennial, 2. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Starr, Kevin (2005). California: a history. New York:
- Starr, Kevin and Richard J. Orsi (eds.) (2000). Rooted in barbarous soil: people, culture, and community in Gold Rush California. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Thornton, Russel (1987). American Indian Holocaust and Survival: ˜a Population History Since 1492. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press.
- Wells, Harry L. (1971) [1881]. History of Siskiyou County, California. Siskiyou Historical Society.
Further reading
- Burchell, Robert A. (Summer 1974). "The Loss of a Reputation; or, The Image of California in Britain before 1875". California Historical Quarterly 53 (3): 115–130.
- Burns, John F. and Richard J. Orsi (eds.) (2003). Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- Drager, K.; C. Fracchia (1997). The Golden Dream: California from Gold Rush to Statehood. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company.
- Dwyer, Richard A.; Richard E. Lingenfelter; David Cohen (1964). The Songs of the Gold Rush. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
- Eifler, Mark A. (2002). Gold Rush Capitalists: Greed and Growth in Sacramento. Albuquerque:
- Hart, Eugene (2003). A Guide to the California Gold Rush. Merced: Freewheel Publications.
- Holliday, J. S.; William Swain (2002) [1981]. The World Rushed in: The California Gold Rush Experience. Norman:
- Hurtado, Albert L. (2006). John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Klare, Normand E. (2005). The Final Voyage of the SS Central America 1857. Ashland, Oregon: Klare Taylor Publishers.
- Knorr, Lawrence (2008). A Pennsylvania Mennonite and the California Gold Rush. Camp Hill: Sunbury Press.
- Lienhard, Heinrich. "Wenn Du absolut nach Amerika willst, so gehe in Gottesnamen!", Erinnerungen an den California Trail, John A. Sutter und den Goldrausch 1846–1849. Herausgegeben von [edited by] Christa Landert, mit einem Vorwort von [foreword by] Leo Schelbert. Zürich: Limmat Verlag, 2010, 2011. ISBN 978-3-85791-504-8
- Owens, Kenneth N. (ed.) (2002). Riches for All: The California Gold Rush and the World. Lincoln:
- Roberts, Brian (2000). American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-class Culture. Chapel Hill:
- Rohrbough, Malcolm J. (1998). Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. online edition
- Watson, Matthew A. (2005). "The Argonauts of '49: Class, Gender, and Partnership in Bret Harte's West". Western American Literature 40 (1): 33–53.
- Witschi, N. S. (2004). "Bret Harte." Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Oxford University Press. 154-157.
- Witschi, N.S. (2002). Traces of Gold: California's Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
External links
- California Gold Rush at DMOZ
- California Gold Rush chronology at The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
- Gold at the website of United States Geological Survey
- Gold Country Museum in Placer County, California
- "California as I Saw It:" First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849–1900 Library of Congress American Memory Project
- University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library
- 1848–1865: The Gold Rush EraThe University of California, Calisphere,
- , online exhibit"California As We Saw It": Exploring the California Gold RushCalifornia State Library,
- WorldHeritage pages with incorrect protection templates
- Coordinates not on Wikidata
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from 1999
- All articles containing potentially dated statements
- WorldHeritage articles needing page number citations from April 2012
- Articles with Spanish-language external links
- Commons category template with no category set
- Commons category without a link on Wikidata
- Spoken articles
- Articles with DMOZ links
- Featured articles
- California Gold Rush
- Pre-statehood history of California
- 1848 in the United States
- 1848 in California
- 1849 in California
- 1850 in California
- History of mining
- History of United States expansionism
- Maritime history of California
- Hydraulic engineering
- Barbary Coast, San Francisco


text:
Droop's Box: Simple Pen-test Using Nmap, Nikto, Bugtraq, Nslookup and Other Tools
Droops from http://infonomicon.org/ asked me to do a security scan on one of his boxes. I made a video of it that might be helpful to some wanting to do a vulnerability assessment. In this video I use Nmap, Nikto, Bugtraq and Nslookup to find out information about his box, whats running on it and how it might be penetrated. His IP has been changes since and he has patched his problems so dont bother hitting the ip in this tutorial.
Check it out and let me know what you think:
I think Droops plans on putting part of this video in an upcoming Infonomicon TV ep.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The War on Terror, started by the U.S. government as a response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and later joined by other governments, has had and continues to have grave consequences for the human rights of their citizens and of citizens of other countries. This is a high price for an uncertain gain.
However, before I list these consequences, I would like to make it clear that I believe, as any rational human being, that terrorism is evil, that it has to be destroyed and that democracies have a right to defend themselves against violent, anti-democratic fanatics.
I also believe that democratic governments should be especially vigilant because the freedoms that they are elected to protect, offer opportunities for those who hate freedom, opportunities that do not exist in other political systems. Potential terrorists find it relatively easy to enter a democracy and operate in it. A democracy is a very vulnerable form of government because of the freedom it gives to everyone, even those who don't mean well.
The freedoms of a democracy can be and are abused, but this, it seems, has frightened democratic governments to such an extent that they have decided to limit these freedoms up to the point that they are in danger of abandoning their values, and hence doing the work of the terrorists for them. It can be acceptable to limit certain rights for the protection of other rights, but the right to security has taken on an absolute priority, at the expense of all other rights. There is no reasonable balance anymore. Some have called the war on terror a "war on freedom" (source).
1. Civil liberties
Governments try to defend their countries against terrorist attacks by limiting civil liberties in their territories.
- The right to privacy has been limited: CCTV has become ubiquitous, DNA databases have been created, eavesdropping and wiretapping have been legalized etc.
- "No-fly-lists" have come into force, limiting the freedom of movement of even those who have written critically of the government or attended peace-protests.
- Hate speech laws have been voted to silence jihadist hate preachers, silencing others at the same time.
- "Racial profiling" by the police has turned innocent people into possible suspects, often inverting the burden of proof.
- Habeas corpus has been limited, periods of detention without charge extended, sometimes indefinitely (for "enemy combatants").
However, in spite of all this, the constraints on a government's actions within its territory are sometimes still considered to be inhibiting:
- "Extraordinary rendition" has been covertly practiced, allowing suspects to be tortured outside of the territory by professional torturers in other countries.
- Extra-territorial prisons have been created, in Guantanamo, but probably elsewhere as well, where suspects can be tortured or held indefinitely and where the Geneva Conventions supposedly don't apply.
2. Mentalities
The war on terror has also changed people's minds and attitudes.
- The media have started to censor themselves. Solidarity with the government at war and the commander-in-chief, or the fear of being perceived as unpatriotic, appeasers, "useful idiots" or even open allies of the enemy has turned them into uncritical supporters of the war.
- Citizens have turned on Islam and Muslims. Xenophobia and more specifically islamophobia have undermined the ideals of tolerance and multiculturalism, and have in certain cases even led to hate crimes against Muslims.
- A "culture of fear" has been created by the terrorist but also nurtured by irresponsible western politicians. This fear has damaged democracy. Not only have the media relinquished their traditional role as watchdogs. Politicians as well, and especially incumbents, have abused the fear of terrorism to harness support. Alert levels seem to go up just before elections.
3. Preemptive war
The US government has elaborated and implemented the strategy of preemptive war, a war
waged in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived inevitable offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war. (source)
The Iraq war was deemed a preemptive war because Iraq was allegedly about to attack the US with weapons of mass destruction, or supply these weapons to terrorists. Whatever the merits of the case against Iraq – and with the passing of time these seem to become weaker and weaker – the war has been framed, correctly or not, as a necessary stage in the ongoing war on terror. It has, however, resulted in massive numbers of casualties on both sides. The human rights violations caused by the war stand in no relation to the violations caused by terrorism or the violations that could have been caused by Saddam.
In any case, you can't solve the problem of terrorism by violent means only. Terrorism has causes, and there will be terrorism as long as these causes exist. (Mind you, I don't want to excuse or justify terrorism).
4. Counter-productive
It is now widely believed, even in US government circles, that the war on terror is counter-productive. Especially the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the torture in Abu Ghraib and the detentions in Guantanamo have produced a backlash and have increased rather than reduced the terror threat. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate issued the following among its "key judgments":
The Iraq conflict has become the "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. (source)
The war on terror has created and exacerbated resentment, hatred of the West and anti-americanism. And with anti-americanism often comes hatred of democracy and freedom and Islamic radicalization. Apart from the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan, there is no evidence that any of the strategies in the war on terror has done any good (source).
5. Misnomer
There is something fishy about the concept of a "war on terrorism". This "war" is in fact no such thing. It is in essence crime prevention and law enforcement. There is no well-defined enemy. Anyone can at any time become an enemy. For this reason, there is no conceivable end to the war. And if you claim to wage a war on terrorism, you might as well claim to wage a war on carpet bombing. Both are tactics or strategies, not something you wage war against.
If you insist on calling anti-terrorist actions a war, then you give too much credit to the riffraff you're opposing. Rather than deranged criminals they can call themselves soldiers. And soldiers defend something. You legitimize them. You turn a crime into a two-sided struggle in which each side defends its positions. This in turn leads to the view that the war on terror is a war of the West against the rest, bringing back images of colonialism, imperialism and the crusades, again legitimizing the terrorists, helping to consolidate their often internally opposed forces, and making them honorable in the eyes of ordinary citizens outside of the West.
I can understand that the concept of a "war on terrorism" is useful for the executives in the West, because an executive that is at war has more powers, less oversight, more popular support and less criticism, but it's a meaningless and dangerous concept. Let's give it up.


text:
Paying for CollegeIUPUI awards $231 million in undergraduate scholarships and financial aid every year
Reasonable tuition and fees, ample scholarship opportunities, and financial aid programs make the IUPUI School of Science a smart choice. See scholarships and student jobs.
Research provides purpose for undergrad's career in neuroscienceMichel Companion Psychology, Neuroscience, Undergraduate


text:
I'm exploring the web to find sites I like
PO Box: APDO 19-4300, Palmares, Alajuela, C.R.
"nice, very quiet and has new swimming pool"
Posted by: lore on Apr 13, 2013
see all reviews
Situated in one of the finest coffee growing regions (Palmares) this one acre secure property has all modern amenities with its signature attention to the well being of its guest.
Share your experiences with others. Don't forget to send your review to Debbie by using an easy form.
"nice, very quiet and has new swimming pool"
Posted by: lore
on Apr 13, 2013 >
1 contribution(s) Costa Rica
Visited on: Apr, 2013 | Leisure | With friend
751 people found this review helpful
we were pleased with our 4 day stay at tranquillity hill. they have a new owner who was very nice, and a nice new pool that we enjoyed in the hot weather. my partner uses a wheelchair- and they had 2 new wheelchair accessible units that also had kitchenettes. our room was very bright, clean and the owner and staff were very helpful.
Room Number:
april 7-2013
large, bright, wheelchair accessible, nice view of pool
Restaurants and Bars:
short walk agway
nice new pool even had a w/c ramp for my partner to wheel into pool in a chair they provided. very cool.
Other Comments:
we would go back there again for sure.
"Most distasteful B&B I have ever witnessed"
Posted by:
Dave from Halifax on Dec 1, 2009 >
2 contribution(s) Canada
Visited on: Dec, 2009
901 people found this review helpful
Not a place to stay Nov 24, 2009
My stay there was the most distasteful B&B I have ever witnessed. Nothing for breakfeast, the kitchen was the most disgraceful, slimy, greasy thing I have ever seen.Even if they did cook me something I would not eat it. There was no tv in my room as it was given to the workers to have in THEIR room. No one was helpful, the owner had moved in his local girlfriend and her entire family into the hotel, none of whom had anything and where Vampires and were undermining the poor owners authority as he is a quadrapaligic. I feel sorry for him but the hotel has only quad access for himself. He actual asked us to leave after 2 days as we complained about how disgusting the kitchen was and the lack of breakfast and the lack of atmosphere. The location is beautiful but unless the owner decides to make some wholesale changes I would not recommend this hotel to anyone from outside central america as you will be highly dissappointed. He needs all new staff and get rid of leeches whom are ! ruining his business. I would highly recommend staying somewhere else as even all the people in Palmeras know how bad it has become. It is even being used as a spot for men to bring"friends" for a couple hours. I dont think that is Tranquillity, spend your money elsewhere. I moved down to Casa Marta and had an excellant 2 weeks and would highly recommend here, you wouldn't be dissappointed. Tranquillity Hill rating -5 stars.


text:
Google's autocomplete function seems to show that its algorithm is sexist and discriminates against women, according to the United Nations.
A series of ads made for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, showed sexist sentiments -- all taken from actual Google searches made on March 9. The disheartening search results were placed over the mouths of women in portraits, as if they were being gagged by the strip of text.
The chauvinistic results stem from Google's autocomplete function which completes search phrases for users. The results are usually based on Google's algorithm which is what makes it more disturbing. When users would write, "Women should . . . " Google's autocomplete function would continue with possible endings, and unfortunately most were offensive:
U.S. & World
Women should stay at home
Women should be in the kitchen
Women should be slaves
The ads, from Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, did the same for "Women need to," "Women shouldn't" and "Women cannot," and all led to similar findings.
"When we came across these searches, we were shocked by how negative they were and decided we had to do something with them," Christopher Hunt, art director for the ad team, said.
UN Women said the searches showed that the world still needed to be educated about women's rights, empowerment and equality. We think it shows that there are still people in the world who think like Neanderthals.


text:
Greece's biggest firm leaves, jobless rate soars
Greece's jobless rate topped 25 percent and its biggest company said it would quit the country on Thursday in a fresh blow to an economy that German experts warned cannot be "saved" without writing off more debt.
The announcement by drinks bottler Coca Cola Hellenic (CCH) that it was switching its primary listing from Athens to London, and moving its corporate base to stable, low-tax Switzerland, is a bitter blow to the debt-crippled nation.
Continue Reading Below
The firm, which bottles Coke and other drinks in 28 countries from Russia to Nigeria, is Greece's biggest by market value and is 23 percent owned by The Coca-Cola Co of the United States. It said its Greek plants would be unaffected.
CCH's announcement coincided with data that showed Greek unemployment climbing for a 35th consecutive month in July to 25.1 percent from a revised 24.8 percent in June. The jobless rate has more than tripled since the country's now five-year-old recession began.
Fifty-four percent of Greeks aged 15-24 years are out of work, fuelling violent protests against the tax hikes, spending cuts and public sector job losses demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for more than 200 billion euros ($258.03 billion) in loans since 2010.
Greece is still far off target.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde, speaking in Tokyo, backed calls to give the country two more years, up to 2016, to cut its debt mountain to 120 percent of GDP from 165 percent in 2011.
The IMF is also pressing official lenders such as euro zone paymaster Germany to take a "haircut" on their Greek debt similar to that swallowed by private bondholders this year.
With elections in 2013, Berlin is resisting, but Germany's leading economic institutes warned on Thursday that without further debt restructuring, the Greek economy would not make it.
"Yes, we don't think Greece can be saved," Joachim Scheide, head of forecasting at the Kiel-based IfW institute, said when asked whether investors in Greek debt would have to accept another haircut.
"We need a restructuring of Greek debt; that would help Greece best," he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was greeted with angry protests on Tuesday on her first visit to Greece since the debt crisis erupted, opposes any further restructuring, at least until after Germans vote next September.
Her visit came as the Greek government is locked in talks with its "troika" of international lenders on more austerity measures to secure a next tranche of loans worth 31.5 billion euros. Without further aid, Athens says it will run out of money by the end of next month.
Data released by the finance ministry showed Greece had narrowed its central government budget deficit by 37 percent in the first nine months of the year.
But the figures did not include spending on local municipalities and social security - the areas of most concern for the troika, which comprises the IMF, the European Union's executive Commission and the European Central Bank.
Even after steep tax hikes, net government revenue stagnated at 36.7 billion euros, or 1.3 billion euros short of an interim target set under the bailout plan.
Private businesses say the tax hikes are suffocating them. Coca Cola Hellenic had complained about the high tax measures, and on Thursday said it was relocating.
Its Greek operations, which account for five percent of its bottling business, will be unaffected, but the move was bad news for a nation struggling to compete inside the euro zone.
Chief executive Dimitris Lois said the decision to switch the company's primary listing to London and its corporate base to Switzerland made "clear business sense".
Its move follows Greek dairy group FAGE's relocation to Luxembourg this month.
"This is a healthy company that does not want to suffer from Greece's high country risk," said an analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ($1 = 0.7751 euros)
(Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris, Annika Breidthardt and Michelle Martin in Berlin; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Catherine Evans)


text:
The city of Cleveland has a new secret weapon in its efforts to keep free agent guard LeBron James from bolting town: an 88-year-old sitcom star.
Betty White, the former "Golden Girls" actress who is experiencing a career renaissance of late after hilarious turns in a Snickers commercial and as a host of "Saturday Night Live," appears in a new ad geared toward keeping the superstar in Ohio, Entertainment Weekly reported.
White's new sitcom is based in Cleveland, home to James' Cavaliers. In the spot, the comedienne appears along with her fellow "Hot in Cleveland" co-stars Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, and Jane Leeves - in character - asking King James to stick around. While the other ladies seem to be ignorant about LeBron, White knows exactly who he is, even offering to make it "worth his while" if he stays home.
White is just one of the many celebrities across the country who have made appeals to James, easily the most sought after free agent in NBA history. New York magazine dedicated a large article in its May issue to wooing the star and politicians from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to President Obama have weighed in on what they think LBJ should do.
James was originally expected to announce his decision at the end of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, but now is expected to continue mulling his options through mid-week.


text:
- 3 Beds
- 4 Full Baths
Property TypeResidential – Partial Ownership
SubdivisionThe Sebastian
Listing Date08/08/18
Year Built2007
Available the week of5, 6, 30, & 31 / 2 winter, 2 summer.
AreaVail Village
Lot Size0.02 Acres (871 SqFt)
ParkingUnassigned, Underground
Property Description
Effortless ownership in the heart of Vail Village with amenities that will exceed your expectations! Make Vail your 2nd home with 4 weeks (2 winter/2 summer) in this 3 bed/4 bath penthouse residence! Fixed/deeded weeks. This residence truly lives like a home with great living space and views! For 2019, winter weeks are Feb 2-9 & Feb 9-16 and summer weeks are July 27-Aug 3 & Aug 3-10. Option to join the Timbers Reciprocity Program and use your weeks at other amazing properties around the world.
Presented By
- Bus Route
- In Town
- Walk to Slopes
- Mountains
- Ski Slopes
- Hiking/Pedestrian Trail
- Shuttle Service
- Air Conditioning
- Cable Available
- Deck
- Fireplace-Gas
- Hot Tub/Spa
- Jetted Bathtub
- Multi-Level
- Pool
- Clubhouse
- Club Membership Avai
- Fitness Center
- Front Desk
- On Site Management
- Shuttle Service
- Cable TV
- City Sewer
- City Water
- Electricity
- Gas
- Phone
- Snow Removal
- Trash Pickup
- Common
- Forced Air
- Dryer
- Washer
Financial Information
About Vail Village
Charming, pedestrian friendly Vail Village has everything you could need or want right at your fingertips. The heart of Vail is located at the base of the ski mountain, home to Gondola One, and has undergone a great transformation with the renovation and construction of dozens of properties. The Village, with its heated cobblestone streets and quaint European architecture, invites you to discover world-class fine dining, art galleries, local boutiques and luxury retail. In addition to the tremendous variety of shopping and dining, Vail Village hosts sporting and cultural events, festivals, and concerts year-round. These include the Burton US Open, The GoPro Mountain Games, Gourmet on the Gore, Sunday Summer Farmer's Markets, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Vail International Dance Festival and free winter and summer outdoor concert series at the stunning Solaris Plaza.
Area Market Data
3 Beds 4 Baths
3 Beds 4 Baths
1 Bed 2 Baths
We get asked this question a lot. Below is a tool that gives you the ability to see what the market is like in your community. Find out what homes like your own are selling for right in your back yard. Simply enter in your address, choose the proximity of the search and find out market data for other homes that are selling near you.
While we'll provide you with plenty of information, this is a snapshot of your market data and there are real people behind the high-tech and automated tools. If you would like more detailed information or help in understanding the results we are here to help.
Until then, enjoy the tools!
The data relating to the real estate for sale on this website comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange program of the Vail Multi-List Service, Inc.
Copyright © 2020 Vail Multi List, Inc. (VMLS). The information displayed herein was derived from sources believed to be accurate, but has not been verified by VMLS. Buyers are cautioned to verify all information to their own satisfaction. This information is exclusively for viewers' personal, non- commercial use. Any republication or reproduction of the information herein without the express permission of the VMLS is strictly prohibited.
Listing courtesy of LIV Sothebys Intl Realty Edwards


text:
We finally made it to the Top 10!
Something you may have noticed by now is that some of my favorite bands are missing from the countdown so far…..guess where they are?
2009 was another great year for new Hard Rock and Heavy Metal albums and I was lucky to have heard a great many of them. There were hundreds of new albums released by hundreds of bands over a wide range of Metal genres, it was very hard to keep up especially when I'm spending my hard-earned cash! Unfortunately, I can't buy every new album so there are more than a few that I have missed. I am still very lucky to have many labels, PR firms, and bands sending in their CDs for review, to all of them I would like to extend a very grateful THANK YOU! Without these promotions I would have never heard some great releases and discovered some new bands. I have totalled up the CDs and there were 125 albums up for this year's honors!
The only criteria I followed for my Top 40 was that the album had to be a studio album, not a live record, best of, or covers collection AND the album had to be released in 2009. In the beginning of the year I decided that an album that was released in 2008, but was released in 2009 for the U.S., qualified as a 2009 album…..basically I went by the date on the back of the CD! There are plenty of albums that got late U.S. releases and there may be a few in this countdown.
The ranking of the Top 40 is based solely on my enjoyment of the album and not some scientific formula. Bottom Line: I had to like it! There were so many releases this year that I more than doubled the list this year so I will be splitting it into three posts. Be sure to check out the links to the album reviews. So here is part 3, my Top 40 Albums of 2009 (#1 – #10):
Wolf – Ravenous (2009): I completely missed 2006's BLACK FLAME so I really didn't know what to expect when I picked up this latest album from Wolf. Needless to say, I was blown away and I immeadiately knew that this was going to be one of the best albums of the year. Wolf has this classic retro Metal sound with major influences from Iron Maiden, Helloween and Judas Priest so I ate this up immeadiately! The songs are all excellent and the twin lead guitars really make this album what it is, especially at the solos. I have been singing along, headbanging and playing air guitar to RAVENOUS since March and it definitely set the bar high to get into this year's Top 10.
Cheap Trick – The Latest (2009): THE LATEST album from Cheap Trick turned out to be the biggest comeback of the year from a band that never really went away! Cheap Trick has always been one of the most underrated Classic Rock bands coming out of the mid-'70s/early '80s and I always make the huge mistake about waiting to buy their new records until a few weeks after they are released. This year was no different and I waited until I caught part of their opening performance on Def Leppard's summer tour before I picked it up. The odds were against the band when they basically started the album off with a Slade cover ('When The Lights Are Out') but it turned out to be one of the best songs of the year for me! Cheap Trick has always been a band with excellent musicianship and songwriting skills and THE LATEST is just another example of how great this band is. If I could describe this album in one word: Beautiful. After I gave this album a full listen, I played it again to make sure my ears didn't deceive me…..I knew immeadiately that this was one of the best records of the year.
Sunstorm – House Of Dreams (2009): The Joe Lynn Turner factor! There is no doubt in my mind that JLT could sing me the menu at a McDonald's and I would absolutely worship it! This is the best AOR/Melodic Rock album of the year without a shred of doubt…..it's like it came straight from 1985. Now a lot of people are going to say that the album sounds too retro, too '80s, too keyboard friendly but that is exactly what it's supposed to be. Add in some awesome songwriter like Jim Peterik and Desmond Child lending a hand and you've got AOR gold, I swear if this record came out 25 years ago then it would have been a Top 10, multi-platinum album. The sound is Joe Lynn Turner meets Survivor meets Journey meets Pride Of Lions…..just plain old feel food melodic music that has great overall songwriting and musicianship (the guitars and keyboards complimenting each other perfectly) to go along with one of the greatest singing voices in all of Rock.
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (2009): One of my most highly anticipated albums of 2009, Heaven & Hell (or Black Sabbath if you want) did not disappoint with their first true full-length album since 1992's DEHUMANIZER. As many of you know, my favorite incarnation of Black Sabbath is the Ronnie James Dio era and it's safe to say that Black Sabbath as a whole is one of my favorite bands of all-time. When I gave THE DEVIL YOU KNOW it's inaugural couple of listens I was a little disappointed by the lack of fast and furious Metal songs like previous classic 'Neon Knights' and 'The Mob Rules' but I kept listening and it turned out that this is one heavy Doom record with a few well-placed fast numbers ('Double The Pain', 'Eating The Cannibals') to break the heaviness up a bit. Tony Iommi continues to write the best Metal riffs and Dio continues to sing better than vocalists half, even two-thirds, his age! The rhythm section of Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice are still as high-powered and brutal as ever and hearing them in concert proved to be a thunderous experience. Say what you want about this album not being HEAVEN & HELL (1980) or MOB RULES (1981), THE DEVIL YOU KNOW is definitely a great Black Sabbath Heaven & Hell album that can easily sit alongside those classics.
UFO – The Visitor (2009): Another one of my favorite bands…..one of Top 5 in fact! There is now way I could have a Best of 2009 countdown without putting in THE VISITOR because it was easily in the running for my favorite record of the year since I got it. You have to give UFO credit, they have been doing it longer than most of their peers (40 years and counting!) and they consistently put out solid records. Since the band reunited in 1995 with the classic lineup, there have been many lineup changes but the mainstay is founder and singer Phil Mogg who puts in a brilliant performance vocally and as a songwriter…..no one writes or turns a clever phrase quite like Phil. The lineup still isn't stable with founding bassist Pete Way out again due to health reasons and founding drummer Andy Parker coming back again to replace Jason Bonham when he left for Foreigner. Vinnie Moore proves that hes is more than capable of handling the guitar duties and holding back the Michael Schenker legend while Paul Raymond continues to be an integral part of the UFO sound on keybords, guitars and harmonies. Not a bad song on the album and well worth checking out.
Saxon – Into The Labyrinth (2009): I received the promo for INTO THE LABYRINTH in December 2008 and I reviewed it mid-January…..I almost declared this the album of the year right there! Saxon has been one of the most consistent bands from the early days of the NWOBHM movement and, since 1997, have released some great albums that combine pure Power Metal with that classic NWOBHM style. Take the first two songs from the album, 'Battalions Of Steel' and 'Live To Rock': the first is Traditional/Power Metal and the latter is pure NWOBHM as if it was 1981. What Saxon is doing is what I keep emphasizing throughout this year's countdown…..they are expanding/enhancing their trademark sound. You have to evolve and Saxon is showing a lot of the younger Metal bands out there just how to do it. Any other year and this would be my favorite album but there was stiff competition this year and a Top 5 showing is not bad at all.
Johnny Lima – Livin' Out Loud (2009): I had been reading all about Johnny Lima and this album for a couple of months before i actually broke down and ordered it from Johnny's website. First, let me give Johnny a ton of credit for emailing me within 10 minutes of my order and personally thanking me and then sending the CD out same day including an autograph. Then he emails me a couple days later to make sure the album arrived! Keeping a connection with the fans is what it's about and Johnny Lima gained an instant fan. And the music is good too! After spinning this once I knew this would be the best Glam/Hard Rock album of the year. If you like Poison, Def Leppard, early Bon Jovi, Dokken, Ratt, Cinderella and Motley Crue then you are definitely going to find a song on LIVIN' OUT LOUD that could easily fit into any of the bands' catalog. That's not to say that the album is a carbon copy of what these big bands have done in the past rather it's a statement that revisiting and reinterpreting the classic '80s Hard Rock style is OK. That's something that these bigger bands are afraid to do! Every song is catchy with a ton of hooks, big harmonies and great guitar…..this is the kind of record that is so infectious that you can't help but sing along and have a great time. This was a major contender for the top spot for 2009.
Sacred Oath – s/t (2009): Early in the year I started to read more and more about Sacred Oath and their forthcoming new album being an iTunes exclusive…..I don't download, I buy CDs, so I didn't pay much attention to the press releases. Then I read that the band was releasing the album on CD on their own label so I emailed the band for the release date. I received a promo copy in late May/early June and was completely blown away! Like I said in the review, if you took Metallica, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Judas Priest, Armored Saint, Diamond Head and Metal Church and rolled them all into one, you would get Sacred Oath. The band takes influences from all the great bands and blends them together for an American Metal feast that goes from Heavy Metal to Power Metal to Progressive Metal and then the NWOBHM. It's a huge sound to live up to and the album does just that. Searing riffs, pounding rhythm section and soaring vocals added to great songwriting…..it's a wonder why the band broke up 20 years ago, I'd bet they would have been huge. Well, they are huge this year because this was my #1 album hands down until the next two in the countdown showed up. This record is still in my weekly playlist, I don't see it leaving anytime soon, and 'High And Mighty' is one of my favorite songs of the year.
Ace Frehley – Anomaly (2009): Ace Frehley has always been my favorite member of KISS and, with KISS being my favorite band, anything a current of former member of KISS does is a big deal. The last time Ace released a solo album was TROUBLE WALKIN' in 1989…..20 years later ANOMALY has finally arrived! I have followed Ace's career in and out of KISS since I was a little kid and he has talked about a new record since the early '90s but nothing has ever come of it. Then there was the KISS reunion that lasted 6+ years and Ace started talking about a new solo record after he left the band in 2002 but nothing was released again. The only time I believed that Ace was releasing anything was when the album cover was released in June…..but would an actual record come out? September 15, 2009…..I was outside Best Buy before the store opened to get my hands on ANOMALY. One listen was all it took to hear that Ace Frehley had made a huge comeback with his solo career, ANOMALY is a well-written Hard Rock album and Ace sounds as focused as ever. Of all the albums he's released as a solo artist or in Frehley's Comet, ANOMALY ranks just below his KISS solo album. 'Foxy & Free', 'Outer Space', 'Pain In The Neck' and even the cover of Sweet's 'Fox On The Run' are all solid Hard Rock songs that are catchy and full of that signature Ace guitar tone. The surprises here are the acoutically driven ballads like 'Change The World' & 'A Little Below The Angels' that show Ace's diversity. This whole album is top notch from the music, to the album cover Ace designed to the special digipak packaging that tuens into a pyramid. I gave this album a ton of listening time and I still haven't taken it out of my daily rotation! When I started to make this year end best of list I installed ANOMALY near the top because I enjoyed it so much. The bottom line on this list is that I enjoy the album and, between the excellent songs and my KISS worship, Ace Frehley has gained the #2 spot for 2009.
One album to go everyone! The #1 album is next but before I get to it let me say again how great this year was for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal…..my Best of 2009 list, along with the other websites' lists, will attest to that. I've listened to more new releases this year than any other year that I can remember and this year's list was a hard one to make, there were so many really good albums that got left out of the countdown so maybe next year I will expand again to a Top 50. Let's move on though to my pick for the Top Album of 2009…..
KISS – Sonic Boom (2009)
So what album did you all expect? Of course my top album for 2009 is the new KISS record! I'm a KISS diehard after all! Seriously though, of all the 2009 albums I listened to this year, SONIC BOOM was the one I wanted the most, listened to the most, and enjoyed the most. Any year that your favorite band releases a new album is a good year but I had no hopes that KISS would actually follow through with releasing an album of all new material. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have been saying that they weren't interested in releasing a new album for the last 7 years and I had no reason to doubt their conviction. Who knows why they did now? Maybe Paul Stanley liked working on his solo album a couple years ago? Maybe the Wal-Mart deal was in place ahead of time? Maybe they were just bored? Who cares! The bottom line is that KISS has released an album that is their very best since REVENGE (1992) and it completely blows away the reunion album PSYCHO CIRCUS (1998). I'll be honest, I didn't expect much from SONIC BOOM because most KISS albums are half good songs and half filler. If the band was dead set against releasing a new record, why should they release a quality one? First thing the band did right was give Paul Stanley full control in the studio…..he's the one that guided the band from 1983 to 1992 and his track record as a producer, performer and songwriter are proof enough. Ever notice that all the singles in the '80s were Paul's songs? After Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley is my favorite and I have always told people the he is the talent in KISS. The second thing the band did right was actually write. Paul & Gene actually wrote songs, and performed them, together for the first time in a long time in addition to what they brought in individually. The songs are high quality, catchy and there is an element of true '70s KISS mixed with the KISS of today. Third thing the band did correctly was to involve Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the writing and in the singing to make it a true band effort. Nothing beats a band unit, compare SONIC BOOM and the sham that is PSYCHO CIRCUS and the winner is clear. I bought this album at my local Wal-Mart on October 6 (day of release) and I have played it everyday, many times more than once. I have been a diehard KISS fan since 1978, I've lived and died with this band and I am actually proud of them for releasing such a great record. I haven't felt this good about KISS' future since REVENGE and the 1996/1997 Reunion Tour…..SONIC BOOM is my favorite album of 2009!
Please check out The Top 40 Albums of 2009 (#11-#25) and The Top 40 Albums of 2009 (#26-#40) for the rest of this year's countdown.