U.S. Population in 1860
In the last year of Democrat James Buchanan's one term as president, about 31.4 million people, including slaves, lived in the United States, according to the census of 1860. But only about…
Cholera During the Gold Rush
The secret enemy of the gold-seekers was cholera. It had appeared initially in the United States in 1832-34, dissipated, and then burst again in the winter of 1848-49. From 1849 until 1854,…
Infinite Wealth of the Land
"The idea that the wealth of the American West was inexhaustible drove prospectors back and forth across the plains, and fostered these legends about the life of the gold-hunters: their…
California Tale
"California instils a respect for meum and tuum [mine and thine] ; he had made a 'pile' at the diggings—you never meet a man who has been there and has not—and had lost…