Eldorado: The California Gold Rush [Hardcover]

Dale L. Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0312878338 | ISBN-13: 978-0312878337 | Edition: 1st

"Gold! Gold on the American River!"

This declaration, shouted in the streets of San Francisco in the spring of 1848, electrified the nation, and its echo was heard in the farthest corners of the globe. In the five years that followed, tens of thousands of hopeful argonauts made their way to the vast territory on the Pacific conquered by the United States in its recent war with Mexico. They traveled overland from the Missouri River, their ox-drawn wagons crossing the Rocky Mountains, vast plains and deserts, and the formidable peaks of the Sierra Nevada. They journeyed by boat and on foot across the fever-ridden jungles of the Isthmus of Panama. They took ship from eastern seaports and sailed sixteen thousand miles via Cape Horn to the gateway of the goldfields, the new city of San Francisco.

In Eldorado, award-winning historian Dale L. Walker presents the complete, often gaudy, always fascinating story of the California Gold Rush, the greatest mining bonanza in all of American history. The story ranges from the discovery by a New Jersey carpenter at a sawmill north of Sutter's Fort to the advent of large-scale hydraulic mining that spelled the ruination of the land and the end of the boom days when a Forty-niner with a pick and a pan found "colors" in a streamed and earned his wages-an ounce of raw gold a day.

Walker's narrative of this pivotal event of American history is drawn from the lives and experiences of those "on the ground" in the rush, those who blazed the trails and settled the West in their search for the riches at the rainbow's end.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The California Gold Rush of 1848-1853 may have led prospectors more often to bankruptcy than to riches, but the lure of gold also provoked an explosion of settlement and economic growth that transformed what had been a sleepy Mexican province into one of the most dynamic and cosmopolitan states of a newly transcontinental Union. Walker (Pacific Destiny), drawing heavily on contemporary accounts, gives a panoramic account of this epic. He describes the gold fever that gripped the country, and the glitter and squalor of boomtown San Francisco and the mining camps. He crafts finely etched portraits of some of the tens of thousands of "Forty-niners" who braved the malarial jungles of Panama, the treacherous sea passage around Cape Horn, or the grueling trek across the Plains and Rockies to seek their fortunes in the gold fields. In California, Walker notes, the gold economy almost overwhelmed the real economy; prices soared and crops went unharvested as farmers left the land, workers left their trades and soldiers deserted their posts to go panning in mountain streams. But by1853, the romance was fading; corporate mining interests were pushing out the prospectors and bringing in industrial hoses capable of blasting away whole hillsides. It's a quintessential American story, and Walker's meticulous research and stylish storytelling bring it vividly to life.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Born in Illinois, the son of a career army sergeant, Dale L. Walker is a journalism graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso whose 20 books reflect his varied historical interests: military and Western history, 19th century "Golden Age" journalism, biography, and Jack London studies. Among his books are Januarius Macgahan: The Life and Times of an American War Correspondent; Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West; The Boys of '98; Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders; Bear Flag Rising: The Conquest of California; Pacific Destiny; and Eldorado: The California Gold Rush. He is a four-time winner of the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, the Owen Wister Award for life achievement in the history and literature of the American West, and many other awards, and is a member of the prestigious Texas Institute of Letters.

Walker, who lives in El Paso, Texas, with his wife of 43 years, Alice McCord, has been involved in virtually every aspect of the book business. He has served as a university press director, newspaper book page editor, magazine editor, fiction editor for Forge Books, book columnist and reviewer, and has written historical books, magazine work, and fiction.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312878338
• ISBN-13: 978-0312878337
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,964,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, Penetrating, Fascinating, January 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Eldorado: The California Gold Rush (Hardcover)

Dale L. Walker's approach to writing American history makes him the most absorbing historian of our times. He tells history by focusing on those who were involved; by drawing vivid and penetrating portraits of the characters who made the history. He is also an amazing researcher, unearthing material that escapes others. This makes him far more readable than Ambrose, and his material is richer as well. Eldorado tells the story of the California gold rush in such rich detail that the whole era springs to life. We come to understandings about what happened, and the men and women who settled California, and the implications of the gold rush that linger even in present times. This is a remarkable work, by a masterful historian, and one that, I suspect, will win literary awards.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walker shines in this superb narrative ..., July 13, 2003

By 

Steven Anderson Law (Missouri Ozarks) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eldorado: The California Gold Rush (Hardcover)

Many books have been written about the California Gold Rush, and most recently a popular contender by H. W. Brands, but only the acclaimed author and historian Dale L. Walker, and expert in California history, could bring us such a brilliant and comprehensive account of this time and place of the American West, and he does so in his latest release, ELDORADO.

In the pre-Gold Rush era, California was a mecca of commerce for traders from all over the world. Those who stepped foot on its shores, or made the overland journeys across the Oregon or Santa Fe trails, all sought a prosperous beginning. John Augustus Sutter was no exception, as he left his wife and children and their home in Switzerland, evading substantial debt and economic loss, to start over. Dale L. Walker enlightens the reader on the important role the "Empresario" Sutter played in the commercial and social development of northern California, and ultimately, if not ironically, how such a man in his business ventures suffered, rather than gained, from the discovery of gold at the site of his new saw mill.

Though the story of James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's mill, under Sutter's employ, is likely the key highlight in the history of the Gold Rush, it is a perfect example of how the glamour of such an event can mask the reality of the craze, if not madness, that developed afterward. Walker offers great depth on how the news of the gold discovery reached the media and governments all over the world. How the news was received, who believed it and who didn't, and how those who did attempted to claim their share of the new fortune. Walker offers detailed accounts of the sea journeys around Cape Horn, or the partial sea journeys to the malaria laden jungles of Panama, then to San Francisco Bay - the prices they paid, the accommodations they received, and the fears and anxieties they faced. Rather by land or by sea, the trek alone was dreadful and life-staking. The disease cholera an invisible gauntlet, more so then the social and environmental challenges, to the success in reaching the land of gold.

Dale L. Walker has never failed to provide readers with a compelling, engaging narrative on any of his subjects, but ELDORADO could very well be his best work yet, and is sure to receive worldwide praise and recognition. The book belongs in every public and school library, and in the personal library of world leaders. It's a book for all times and all ages, a tremendous accomplishment, and Dale L. Walker more precious than gold to the writings of American history.

5.0 out of 5 stars Go West..., February 16, 2010

By 

Paul Brooks (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eldorado: The California Gold Rush (Paperback)

I have always been curious about just what exactly happened in California in 1849. I could tell you that gold was discovered and there was a "rush" to travel to the gold fields and that many people ended up very disappointed. That was about the extent of my meager knowledge on the subject.

I was pleased to pick up this excellent book by Dale Walker. The basic facts are about as I surmised but as they say the devil is in the details.

The author devotes many pages relating the time consuming and dangerous journey to the California gold fields north of San Francisco. At the time the vast majority of the county's population resided east of the Mississippi. Therefore you had three unappetizing choices to get there: a mule train across the western desert and mountains; a sea voyage around South America or a slog across Central America and then a journey up through Mexico. The author's inclusion of eyewitness accounts of encounters with jungle fevers, storms at sea and searing desert treks confirms that there was no easy way from the East to the West in 1849.

In another section the author discusses the typical 49er. It is easy today to dismiss these men as naive, gullible, greedy and the dregs of society looking for the "easy money". The fact was that most men in 1849 were being crushed by poverty in the cities or barely surviving as farmers. The possibility of making a fortune far out weighed, for many, their inevitable short and hard lives. Puffed up press accounts telling of "tripping over golden nuggets" also helped motivated many thousands to undertake the treacherous journey to the gold fields.

As the author tells us some few did make a fortune but the vast majority traded in one life of poverty for another. Working the gold fields subjected men to inevitable encounters with the most unhealthy of life styles. If they survived the poor sanitation, inadequate diet and lack of adequate shelter then the total lawlessness of the towns awaited them. Some few with a modest accumulation of gold soon found the allure of liquor, gambling and "sporting ladies" would quickly relieved them of their hard earned mining success.

The author places the gold rush in the historical context of the War with Mexico and California's Independence. He also includes biographical discussion of key players such as John Sutter, John Fremont and others. This is a fine overview of the subject that satisfied my curiosity and greatly contributed to my meager knowledge of the subject.