# California gold rush **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247 "2024-02-07T16:07:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/1 "2024-02-07T16:07:11Z")
Stories abound of how items like eggs sold for $8 an egg (about three months wages for an average American at the time) during the California gold rush. Certainly fortunes were made during the California gold rush but how many fortunes were founded on mining gold versus selling general supplies at inflated rates? I suspect far more of the latter than the former. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/2 "2024-02-07T16:26:11Z")
I mean, it kind of goes without saying I think. San Francisco became a major city _because_ of the gold rush, going from less than 1000 residents in 1846 to 50,000 by 1855. ALL that was gold-rush related in some way. Several extant companies were founded to supply goods or services during the gold rush - Levi Strauss & Co and Wells Fargo are probably the largest two you’d know of. Others had their initial capital stake generated as a result of the gold rush, even if the companies were founded later and elsewhere - Philip Armour made the capital that founded Armour meat packing in the gold rush, and so did John Studebaker. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/3 "2024-02-07T16:26:33Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I suspect far more of the latter than the former. I’m pretty sure that’s well-established. The people who got really wealthy weren’t the prospectors, it was the merchants, and later the people who bought up all the claims, like George Hearst. You can spend a day selling a hundred shovels to a hundred men, and make money, or you can spend the day digging, and maybe make nothing. Even if 99 out of the hundred men make nothing, the shovel salesman still makes money. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/4 "2024-02-07T16:52:00Z")
[Leland Stanford by himself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Stanford#Businesses) probably made more money than all the prospectors combined. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/5 "2024-02-07T17:04:56Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > You can spend a day selling a hundred shovels to a hundred men, and make money, or you can spend the day digging, and maybe make nothing. Or you could [manufacture shovels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Shovel_Shop) and make a fortune (or increase your fortune, since the Ames brothers were already a growing business). Many of those who made such fortunes during the Gold Rush made more fortunes during construction of the transcontinental railroad. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/6 "2024-02-07T17:44:14Z")
Steamship businesses were big winners early on as most of the prospectors traveled to California by sea and most of their supplies were sent that way. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/7 "2024-02-07T17:55:21Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > The people who got really wealthy weren’t the prospectors, it was the merchants, and later the people who bought up all the claims, like George Hearst. Hearst? Any relation to William Randolph? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/8 "2024-02-07T18:07:52Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Hearst? Any relation to William Randolph? [Indeed.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hearst) Mostly remembered as [the bad guy in _Deadwood_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hearst#In_popular_culture). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/9 "2024-02-07T18:21:42Z")
They were, however, often struggling to find a crew willing to sail the ship back - in many cases, sailors who came to California on a ship deserted to mine for gold themselves. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/10 "2024-02-07T18:32:52Z")
Were there _any_ miners who made a fortune strictly off mining gold? All of the names associated with making their fortune in the gold rush – Strauss, Stanford, Hearst, etc. – did so through mercantile means. John Sutter himself ended up bankrupt. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/11 "2024-02-07T20:20:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Steamship businesses were big winners early on as most of the prospectors traveled to California by sea and most of their supplies were sent that way. Except many ships were simply abandoned by their crews and left rotting. > [@Schnitte](#): > > They were, however, often struggling to find a crew willing to sail the ship back - in many cases, sailors who came to California on a ship deserted to mine for gold themselves. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/12 "2024-02-07T20:35:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Except many ships were simply abandoned by their crews and left rotting. [And then converted into buildings](https://web.archive.org/web/20111227172242/http://museumca.org/goldrush/getin-pr01.html). > [@](#): > > There was a shortage of buildings, so clever entrepreneurs got the idea of buying the hulk of a ship for a song, dragging it onto the beach, cutting the topsides off and converting it into a store, warehouse or restaurant. [Seems that the ships owners didn’t mind much.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/11) > [@](#): > > The companies providing such transportation created vast wealth among their owners and included the U.S. Mail Steamship Company, the federally subsidized Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Accessory Transit Company. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/13 "2024-02-07T20:59:58Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Were there _any_ miners who made a fortune strictly off mining gold? All of the names associated with making their fortune in the gold rush – Strauss, Stanford, Hearst, etc. – did so through mercantile means. John Sutter himself ended up bankrupt. I can’t think of many fortunes, but a few sane souls went home with their winnings, or bought land in California. There were a couple of original families in Santa Cruz – one was Spanish – who bought land and built their windfall into substantial family businesses. Probably were the kind of people who would have been successful anyway. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/14 "2024-02-07T21:04:15Z")
I’m reading In _The Heart Of The Sea_, the story that inspired _Moby Dick_. The closing chapter mentions that many men abandoned whaling and sailed their ships to California to join the gold rush. One source says that some 600 men and 14 ships sailed from Nantucket alone. From the Nantucket Historical Association: _In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. “Gold Fever” swept the county upon the news of the discovery as men rushed to cash in on the find. No fewer than fourteen vessels sailed from Nantucket to San Francisco that year, loaded with passengers and crews eager to seek their fortunes. By January 1850, 650 Nantucketers—a quarter of the voting population—had headed west. They were joined over the next few years by hundreds more islanders who might otherwise have worked in the island’s or New Bedford’s whale fisheries…_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/15 "2024-02-07T21:12:32Z")
Oh, you’re looking for those who profited by inflated prices. Here’s one: > **[Eugene Kelly (banker)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Kelly_(banker))** > > Eugene Kelly (November 25, 1808 – December 19, 1894) was an Irish-American merchant, banker, and philanthropist who founded corporations in San Francisco and New York City. > Eugene Kelly was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, the son of Thomas Boye O'Kelly. At the age of twenty-four he emigrated to the United States, and became a clerk in the mercantile house of Donnelly Bros, New York. After a few years, he removed to Maysville, Kentucky, and went into business, but later on established himself in... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2024, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/16 "2024-02-07T21:46:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Seems that the ships owners didn’t mind much.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/11) > > > [@](#): > > > > The companies providing such transportation created vast wealth among their owners and included the U.S. Mail Steamship Company, the federally subsidized Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Accessory Transit Company. Assuming most of the ships were a few decades old, ship owners were probably upgrading to steam vessels anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/17 "2024-02-08T14:26:27Z")
Entirely possible. A lot of the steamships in that era were either converted or built just as sailing ships had been, except with the addition of steam engine and paddle wheel. A few had screw propellors, but all of them maintained sails and rigging in case the steam engine failed. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/18 "2024-02-08T14:29:12Z")
Seems much the same as Howard Hughes, who made a fortune out of oil without AFAIK drilling a single well. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/19 "2024-02-08T20:22:20Z")
which is why SF is built on landfill ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247/20 "2024-02-08T21:39:00Z")
Well, a tiny part of it on the waterfront anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-gold-rush/997247.md?page=2)