Divulging areas you'll never get to, but are aware of or heard about.

[johnnysau]

Let the information flow here, let others research new areas. Something you read about, heard, or knowledge you came upon. The internet is cool, but tidbits of of old info is way cooler. Add your story. johnnysau

 

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Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[winners58]

Many old Indian burial grounds have great treasures waiting to be dug and they also hid caches there. You never know what you'll find from one hole to the next and you know it's authentic!
I haven't found any gold or silver yet but tons of awesome weapons, pots, hides and other stuff! It was buried like trash for us to find later!

NO! I think its a Felony, definitely bad Juju,


43 CFR part 7 see § 7.4

 

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DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[against the wind]

I apologize for hijacking this thread, please know that it isn't my intention. I just joined this site quite literally because it's all new to me and I can't stop thinking about things buried or left behind. I have very valid information on a few things hidden in the ground that I would love to find, but I don't know the first thing about metal detectors, so I'm looking for some kind helpful people to guide me on my way! If someone would like to point me in the direction of a thread to post in I would greatly appreciate it!!

Welcome to the forum from Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

 

[Goldwasher]

I do a lot of research and read a lot of first hand accounts.

It is true that people sold everything and moved west. But, those were settlers and that happened later.

A huge number of people who came to California from the East coast were from money and returned home with some of what they made in the gold fields.
Some of them did catch the fever and follow the later rushes.

Yes many many died. It was either a muddy mess or hot as crap and the seasons in between were full of mosquitos and disease.

A lot of people don't know about how the weather that kicked in in 1853 really chased a lot off people of before they even got a chance to try and settle some where.

In fact even the Chinese who were here during the Ca. rush came from money. They were also treated much differently early on than they were later on when they were building the railroads.

Many people from many nations worked together and next to each other. It's really interesting to read the impressions in the diaries.

Every town that remains along the Motherlode and in most Towns in the west have homes standing that were built by families that did well mining and developing. They weren't all scoundrels and mining the miners. They were building industry and culture.

Its funny the way its told today in school it was all pointless and no one got any money out of the ground.

Not everyone that wanted to " see the elephant" started or ended penniless and crazy.

In fact it was pretty much the opposite.

And yes they dug and even reburied vast wealth in the ground and put just as much down on paper for generations to come to chase in their dreams and out in whats left of the wilds.

My aim is to get as much of it as I can too

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Alot of the Chinese had jumped ship when they ported and stayed for the gold as did many sailors from around the world. Some rich ones may have come later.
It's estimated that as many as half turned around before they got to the Rockies from out east, most disheartened by the grueling journey.
There were a few that did well at first but the easy gold played out fast and most that followed the rush didn't have the first clue about mining.
Most of the successful men were previous miners from the Appalachians or Georgia and foreigners that had experience in gold mining, but most went home empty handed or went into other work when the gold didn't pan out.
I read about a boat that had docked that was full of rakes and some rich women in the early 1850's. The dock worker asked the women what all the rakes for for and they said they were going to rake up the gold hehe. That was most people's perception but the real miners already knew.

By the time people from the east coast took the year long journey to travel there by ship or wagon most of the easiest gold was gone and the area was already filling up with diggers that had beat them there from Mexico or Oregon and the locals already there.
Most were lucky to cover their expenses and the rest became employees of the successful miners.
The first big mass migration of north America were the 49ers going west and alot had sold out to take the chance. Others went to start new businesses there and a new life.
The settlers that followed afterwards were in much smaller number over many more years.

 

[Goldwasher]

There were only around two thousand Chinese in the U.S in 1850. By 1852 there were 20,000.

Most of the ship jumpers were Kanaka and sailors from the west coast and South America.. there essentially were no Chinese.

In 1849 there were less than 60 Chinese in the California

The first Chinese that immigrated to Ca. only had two companies offering passage. Most of those passages were prepaid by agents looking for labor. They secured it with passage. The Chinese laborer had to work off the ticket.

Many paid the passage and worked as they wanted once here.

They were actually quite welcome in the early years as they worked cheaper than anyone and didn't really mind as they still made more than back in China

All foreign Miners were ordered to pay a tax by 1850 so many avoided mining.

The Chinese exclusion act didn't happen until 1882

the annual production of gold didn't drop below one million dollars until 1862.

The easy gold was not gone the first few years and countless people who had never mined did very well.

By 1855 the end of the rush three hundred thousand people had come to California from around the world. Three hundred Thousand did not decide to go back to where they were from before they made it. That just didn't happen.

More people moved across the west and settled after the rush than came to California from 1848 to 1855 300,000

vs. the 4 million that used the homestead act plus those that just moved.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

The homestead act lasted ten times longer but even then there was only one census taken during the gold rush and it's accuracy is very questionable as admitted by the state. They couldn't accurately count with the masses of people coming and going and moving around so much. Entire counties weren't even counted.
We probably shouldn't hijack this thread but this is a good subject and maybe we've read different accounts. Either way that time period and the people living it are fascinating and those stories never bore me.

 

[HappySwede]

Speaking of quantities, during my visit in the US, I spent some time prospecting old riverbed / sluicing operations on land - quite big ones too. That is, those placers usually a bit above the current stream.

I did this both in California and Idaho, testing edges, bottoms, old piles of material that were never sluiced, but had a hard time fiding even small specs. I'm used to bad placers having at least something in them.

Who were those people that mined this and did they make any profit? I imagine these were the late arrivals, hoping for more than they were finding. Guessing that those who didnt have the stream placers, often had a rough time back then.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Yep late arrivals most likely. Could have very well been the Chinese. They were known to work the deposits no one wanted and they'd work for much less money.

 

[HappySwede]

Do you guys know whether one ounce of gold would buy more beef back then, or today?

Because if there was inflation going on from all the gold being mined, those working the bad placers had an even bigger disadvantage if gold was coming too easy for the neighbours. The better they did, the less valuable your own gold would be.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Gold prices were stable but inflation was rampant in the mining camps. Everyone had to at high prices.

 

[N-Lionberger]

In the Gold Rush everything was obscenely expensive.

 

[mytimetoshine]

SMH..

 

[Goldwasher]

Old piles of material that were never sluiced?

Most likely the hand stack from the head of a Long Tom. So, the cobble had most likely been washed off.

Often times they would move the low grade/worthless overburden and only work the paying gravels. Just like today.

Not all Chinese were hired on as labor for others. They would go in in their own groups and go back over previously work ground. Going after the fine gold that the previous diggers weren't bothering with. They would wash of rocks and then stack them VERY neatly.

You can tell the difference between an early dig and a dig that was reworked by the Chinese. Ground that was hit by the Chinese tends to be pretty clean of gold.

You know why Chinese coins are found?

They used their own currency in their communities. Think about it a Chinese coin wouldn't buy a shovel in a tent ran by a Chiliean miner surely not a Georgia boy.

You know why prices were so high?

Because even the inexperienced were pulling a lot of gold out of the ground...contrary to what has been proposed earlier.

Just like now its what the market could bear.


Your not gonna mark your shovels at $20 bucks if they aren't selling.

Inflation is when you need more cash than you did before cause it is worth less. The currency has less buying power.

It's not the same as "inflated prices" When there is a port price and a camp price...there is not a true inflation situation.

Just marketing. It's not the mercantile fault shovels break..they charge what they can..and they should they are smart enough to buy them by the crate..and pack them out to the camps. Also the trip back to Sacramento for a cheaper shovel could kill you and your not digging.

Makes a $20 dollar shovel in Uniontown a much smarter purchase than the $8 dollar one all the way back at the dock on the Sacramento.



​

 

[Goldwasher]

Do you guys know whether one ounce of gold would buy more beef back then, or today?

Because if there was inflation going on from all the gold being mined, those working the bad placers had an even bigger disadvantage if gold was coming too easy for the neighbours. The better they did, the less valuable your own gold would be.

they didn't eat that much beef during the gold rush. A whole hell of a lot of Deer and Elk..

Game was free or available cheaper and more consistant from a Market Hunter.

here's a cool list

Notice who is earning a pretty high wage compared to who would be considered other wage earners.

He's called a Gold Miner.

​

Another Androsphere Blog: How much did things cost in 1850's USA?

Notice its hard goods and textile related items that are most expensive. The wholesale price is much higher after it is shipped to the west coast. The preferred way was via ship and it cost a lot. it drove up the price before it ever made it to the market.

Again that is not "inflation"​

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Sorry I should have said local inflation. It's the same thing really, takes more dollars for the same item.
Supplies were expensive back then for the same reasons it's expensive in Alaska today. It costs money to get goods there and it takes more money to pay for it.
Just inflated for a different reason.
Costs just as much to get the supplies there gold or no gold.
Market inflation comes in many different forms. Of course we can't compare today's inflation with an 1850 mining camp but the amount of gold didn't matter. It was expensive everywhere.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

It wasn't uncommon for the wives to make more $ than their husbands in those mining camps.
She may rent out a room to sleep, make pies and sell eggs, laundry was a big money maker for women back then and they did quite well at times.
There are some interesting books about women of the mining camps.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

The Chinese were more traditional back then and stayed with their own groups mostly. The majority came here to escape the turmoil in China after the opium war and find a better life but most died single old men and they had the lowest birth rates of any group since women were not allowed to emmigrate. It was a 90 percent male migration rate.
The Chinese that were here definitely didn't come from money.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Beef...hell yes the mining camps were good business for the ranchers.
Our earliest ranch is dated 1855. There was nobody else to sell beef to at that time but the miners really.
Some grew large gardens and made a killing selling vegetables to the mining camps.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

It wasn't uncommon for the wives to make more $ than their husbands in those mining camps.
She may rent out a room to sleep, make pies and sell eggs, laundry was a big money maker for women back then and they did quite well at times.
There are some interesting books about women of the mining camps.

There were extremely few women in early 1850's mining camps. Most of our pioneer families have Native American in their blood line because of this.
The ones that did come were interesting characters for sure.

 

[Goldwasher]

The Chinese were more traditional back then and stayed with their own groups mostly. The majority came here to escape the turmoil in China after the opium war and find a better life but most died single old men and they had the lowest birth rates of any group since women were not allowed to emmigrate. It was a 90 percent male migration rate.
The Chinese that were here definitely didn't come from money.

The early ones did. They only came from six provinces. It wasn't initially the peasant thing to do to just go and leave China. I have read a whole book on the misconceptions and myths about the Chinese that came here to start new lives vs. those that came to work. many knew they would be treated poorly and sent money home and planned on returning with a leg up in their own society.

The ones that came in the 1860's to wrk on the railroad were totally different.