A Golden State
Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California
1st Edition
Published on 1. June 1999
Book
Hardback
325 pages
978-0-520-21770-6 (ISBN)
Description
California's Gold Rush triggered momentous changes not only for the state, but also for the nation and the world. The economic impact of that epoch-making event is the focus of this second volume of the California History Sesquicentennial Series. The chapter contributers offer a range of perspectives, including commentaries that reflect the new scholarship of environmental and resource history. Together, the essays and more than 90 illustrations show how the Gold Rush precipitated a veritable economic revolution whose effects continue in the late-20th century. Among the topics covered are the relationship between technology and society; the environmental impact from mining and the sudden increase in California's population; the influence of the Gold Rush on agriculture, manufacturing, banking, and transportation; and its impact on the peoples and economies of Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The popular image of the independent prospector is also examined anew, as is the role of different groups of industrial workers, including Chinese, Mexicans and women.
More details
Series
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
15 color illustrations, 76 b-w photographs, 9 tables
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 0 mm
Weight
907 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-21770-6 (9780520217706)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
James J. Rawls is an instructor of history at Diablo Valley College and author of numerous books on California history. Richard J. Orsi is Professor of History at California State University, Hayward, and editor of the journal California History, the journal of the California Historical Society.
Content
Preface, Michael McCone and Richard J. Orsi 1. A Golden State: An Introduction, James J. Rawls 2. Making Old Tools Work Better: Pragmatic Adaptation and Innovation in Gold-Rush Technology, Ronald H. Limbaugh 3. Capitalism comes to the Diggings: From Goold-Rush Adventure to Corporate Enterprise, Maureen A. Jung 4. "We all live more like brutes than humans": abor and Capital in the Gold Rush, Daniel Cornford 5. Environmental Changes before and after the Gold Rush, Raymond F. Dasmann 6. "I am resolved not to interfere, but permit all to work freely": The Gold Rush and American Resource Law, Donald J. Pisani 7. Mother Lode for the West: California Mining Men and Methods, Duane A. Smith 8. Seeing the Elephant, Anthony Kirk 9. The Gold rush and the Beginnings of California Technology, David J. St. Clair 10. From hard Money to branch Banking: California Banking in teh Gold-Rush Economy, Larry Schweikart and Lynne Pierson Doti 11. "Prosperity of Everty Kind": Ranching and Farming during the Gold-Rush Era, Lawrence James Jelinek 12. The Golden Skein: California's Gold-Rush Transporation Network, A. C. W. Bethel 13. A Vertiable revolution: The Global Economic Significance of the California Gold rush, gerald D. Nash