Primary Sources: The American West: Gold

The sources in this set document the broad “forty-niner” experience.

An online exhibit from the California State Library exploring the gold rush era. It includes selections of primary source materials.

"The Gold Rush Letters Collection features correspondence from two Missourians, Jonathan Huff Biswell and Elisha Cotton Winchell, who migrated to California during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Biswell, a farmer, sought his fortune in the gold fields with modest success and eventually returned to Missouri. Winchell, a lawyer, settled in Sacramento, established a law practice, and went on to become a well-respected judge and businessman. The letters provide a vivid description of their journeys across the country and life in the new state of California. The originals can be found in Pickler Memorial Library Special Collections & Museums at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO."

"The collection covers the dramatic decades between the Gold Rush and the turn of the twentieth century. It captures the pioneer experience; encounters between Anglo-Americans and the diverse peoples who had preceded them; the transformation of the land by mining, ranching, agriculture, and urban development; the often-turbulent growth of communities and cities; and California's emergence as both a state and a place of uniquely American dreams. The production of this collection was supported by a generous grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation."

"the N. A. Chandler Gold Rush Era Letters collection consists of fifty-six handwritten letters from 1855 to 1872. Fifty-five of these letters are from N. A. Chandler to Jane M. Chandler and one letter is from Jane M. Chandler to N. A. Chandler. Four letters were written on picture sheets, two from California display Gold Rush motifs and one from Lowell, Massachusetts displays statistics of Lowell Manufactures for 1859. " Claremont Colleges Digital Library