American history

Fever

By the winter of 1848, whispers of a gold strike had drifted eastward across the country -- but few easterners believed. It was an age when rumors were discounted -- and government officials were revered. The gold discovery needed validation, and President James Polk delivered just that in early December, 1848:

"The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by authentic reports of officers in the public service."

Polk's confirmation reached deep into the soul of millions. His simple words were a powerful call to action. Farmers left their fields; merchants closed their shops; soldiers left their posts -- and made plans for California. Newspapers fanned the fires.

Horace Greeley the of New York Tribune:

"Fortune lies upon the surface of the earth as plentiful as the mud in our streets. We look for an addition within the next four years equal to at least One Thousand Million of Dollars to the gold in circulation."

By early 1849, gold fever was an epidemic.

Charlie Martin Sr., Historian:

"In the Richmond, Indiana paper (in 1849) for example, there was a big ad. This guy was selling salve you got it in a bottle -- and for $2.50 or $5.00 you could get this bottle of salve. And all you did was rub it all over your body, get up on the top of the mountain and roll down and all the gold stuck to you; and guaranteed you by the time you got to bottom with one roll you'd have enough gold, when you scraped it off, to live happily ever after. That was all you needed. And he sold two types of salve, one for gold and one for silver. Now, this was the type of thing that caused the young men of the day -- the 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 year-old guys to go -- because they thought they could live happy the rest of their lives."

Discussions of gold could be heard at nearly every kitchen table in the nation. Young men explained to their wives that a year apart would be worth the hardship.

Miner Melvin Paden:

"Jane, I left you and them boys to procure a little property by the sweat of my brow so that we could have a place of our own-that I might not be a dog for other people any longer."

They said their goodbyes and streamed west in unison -- thousands of young adventurers with a collective dream -- a year of pain in return for a lifetime of riches. They were dubbed "forty-niners" because they left home in 1849. When they would return, was another matter entirely.