American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture

357 Pages·2000·2.17 MB·English

by  Brian Roberts

A
American Alchemy
Cultural Studies
of the United States
Alan Trachtenberg, editor
editorial advisory board
Michele Bogart
Karen Halttunen
Mae Henderson
Eric Lott
Miles Orvell
Je√rey Stewart
A
American
Alchemy
The California
Gold Rush and
Middle-Class
Culture
Brian Roberts
the university of north carolina press
chapel hill & london
∫ 2000 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Set in Monotype Bulmer by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roberts, Brian, 1957– American alchemy : the California
gold rush and middle-class culture / by Brian Roberts.
p. cm.—(Cultural studies of the United States)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn 0-8078-2543-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn 0-8078-4856-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. California—Gold discoveries—Social aspects.
2. Frontier and pioneer life—California. 3. Frontier
and pioneer life—West (U.S.) 4. Pioneers—California—
History—19th century. 5. Pioneers—Northeastern
States—History—19th century. 6. Middle class—
California—History—19th century. 7. Middle class—
Northeastern States—History—19th century.
8. California—Social conditions—19th century.
9. Northeastern States—Social conditions—19th
century. i. Title. ii. Series.
f865.r64 2000 979.4%04—dc21 99-048082
04 03 02 01 00 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother, Margaret Cardoza,
and in memory of my father, Don Roberts

A
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 California Gold and Filthy Lucre 17
2 Gold Fever as a Cure 43
3 Husbands and Wives 69
4 Numberless Highways to Fairy Grottos 93
5 A Great and Perverse Paradise 119
6 California Is a Humbug 143
7 Widows and Helpmates 169
8 A Wild, Free, Disorderly, Grotesque Society 197
9 The Prude Fails 221
10 The End of the Flush Times 243
Conclusion 269
Notes 277
Index 321
A section of illustrations
follows page 142.

A
Acknowledgments
About a year ago we, meaning myself and my ‘‘better half,’’ were
driving cross-country, heading west to new jobs in Sacramento. ‘‘Ho
for California!’’ I screamed at the top of my lungs each morning as we
approached the car and the long day’s drive. About the time we
crossed into South Dakota we began to notice something: we were
surrounded by motorcycles. As luck would have it, our trip corre-
sponded with the last days of South Dakota’s famous Sturgis Rally, the
largest gathering of bike enthusiasts on the planet. The participants
were not just enthusiasts, their machines not mere motorcycles. Most
of the rally-goers were rough-looking men, bearded and dangerous
Hell’s Angel types. Their bikes were ‘‘choppers,’’ great and thunder-
ing beasts. What man and beast seemed to be saying was this: ‘‘hey
perfessor, we are gonna . . . kick! your! ass!’’ Later on we faced
the unavoidable meeting with these ru≈ans, for they occupied every
cafe, campground, motel, service station, and restroom in the state. It
turned out that most of these men were lawyers, stockbrokers, or
college professors. For hours I babbled incessantly over this discovery,
and all my babblings made the same point: ‘‘it’s my book! it’s my
book come to life!’’
This is what happens to a person who has been working on a book
for eight years. All becomes the book. The book becomes all. For eight
years this book has taken over my life. Many people and institutions
have stood by while this was happening and many have actually helped
the process along. I am responsible for all the errors here, the errors of
fact, interpretation, and judgment. But they are going to have to take
responsibility for something, maybe for helping me, maybe for not
telling me to stop.
Research for this project was supported by a fellowship from the