The California Gold Rush recounts the mass migration that followed the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. It traces the arrival of prospectors from the United States and around the world, the explosive growth of towns and the rapid creation of commercial and political institutions.
The book examines mining methods, labour, lawlessness and the environmental damage caused by extraction. It also gives attention to racial exclusion, violence against Native Californians and the uneven distribution of wealth, showing how the rush transformed California even though most individual miners did not become rich.
