Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes [Paperback]

John Boessenecker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471390186 | ISBN-13: 978-0471390183 | Publication Date: September 11, 2000

A lively collection of true tales of villainy and violence during the California Gold Rush

"Boessenecker has done as much as anyone to change and illuminate California's Wild West image . . . if you would like a good read about how gold fever ignited a rush not only of families, but prostitutes, feuds, lynchings, duels, bare-knuckle prizefights, and vigilantes, then is this the place to start." -Wild West

"A lively, thoughtful, well-researched book, and those interested in the rough, early years of the Mother Lode will not be disappointed." -Ledger-Dispatch (Jackson, Ca)

"[Boessenecker] has done an amazing job of researching newspapers, legal documents, diaries, and other sources, as well as making skillful use of the recent research. . . . Excellent narrative . . . . Very well done, Gold Dust & Gunsmoke is a 'must.'" -True West

"Boessenecker's meticulous research and vivid prose make this excellent book a fascinating collection of true stories." -Tulsa World



Packed with never-before-told tales of the American frontier, Gold Dust & Gunsmoke sends us galloping through the tumultuous California territory of the mid-nineteenth century, where disputes were settled with six-shooters and the lines of justice were in perpetual flux. Armed with meticulous research, John Boessenecker displays a remarkable knack for finding the perfect details to capture all the color, excitement, and hullabaloo of the Gold Rush. Published in tandem with the 150th anniversary of California's statehood, these authentic stories of gunfighters, lawmen, vigilantes, and barroom brawlers are an important contribution to the rich lore of the American West.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Most of this work is a collection of barely connected anecdotes of outrages and villainy perpetrated in post-Mexican War California from 1848 to 1860. In the absence of strong law enforcement, and with an enormous number of young male emigrants and transients, violence became the primary means of settling disputes. Banditry, personal disagreements, official corruption, dueling, and tensions between the Mexican and American populations increased the risk of bloodshed. The violence abated as the Gold Rush culture was subsumed into more mainstream American society, but it left an indelible imprint on American culture and popular perceptions. The anecdotes gathered by attorney Boessenecker (Lawman, LJ 2/1/98) are interesting, but the analysis is sketchy, mostly limited to the observation that murder rates were much higher then than now and that popular writers and myth-makers drastically distorted the facts of the era. For subject collections in larger libraries.AEdwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Movies and television have created an image of the Old West as an extremely violent place. This is to a large extent false, for most of the West was relatively peaceful during the frontier era. One outstanding exception was California during the Gold Rush. A lust for gold was the driving force behind the conflicts that developed as a diverse group of participants each fought for a share of the promised fortunes. Violence and lawlessness ran rampant in the 1850s, recording the highest homicide rate in the history of peacetime U.S. This is an outstanding collection of true "Wild West" stories told in a most engaging manner. Not only are the cast of characters profiled and events described but also they are placed in context to show how the actions involved were essential in establishing the California territory, and how they even affect the present. There should be considerable interest as the timing of this publication coincides with the sesquicentennial celebration of the Gold Rush and the statehood of California. Fred Egloff --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (September 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471390186
• ISBN-13: 978-0471390183
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First History of Violence in the Gold Rush, September 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes (Hardcover)

A Review from Wild West Magazine, October 1999:

It is an odd twist of history. Hollywood created the gunfighter myth and placed its heroes primarily in Texas, with overlapping gun-toting cowboys in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Oklahoma and the Dakotas. Yet, when we think of California in terms of the Wild West, we usually think of someone salting a gold mine...period. It's high time, on the 150th anniversary of the Forty-Niners' rush to the far coast, to rethink Old California.

San Francisco attorney and historian John Boessenecker has done as much as anyone to change and illuminate California's Wild West image. With intense research and fine writing skills, Boessenecker brings us gunfighters, thieves, assassins, gamblers and highwaymen, the likes of which one seldom reads about. And these are not just ordinary ruffians and ne'er-do-wells; these people stole from other folks in a wide variety of ways and made an art out of shooting and cutting up friends as well as enemies.

So while we have plenty of biographies of Billy the Kid and lots of reruns on the OK Corral, it's refreshing that Boessenecker presents solid information on interesting but mostly overlooked California characters and events. The author says that the decade of turbulence and bloodshed that followed the discovery of gold "has not been equaled before or since in the history of peacetime America." In the epilogue, Boessenecker presents some murder-rate figures that lend support to that statement. He concludes that the gold seekers' ready resort to violence "left an enduring mark on our nation's history."

If you would like a good read (367 pages) about how gold fever ignited a rush not only of families, but of prostitutes, feuds, lynchings, duels, bare-knuckle prize fights, and vigilantes, then this is the place to start, the book to open.

Leon Metz

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not like the TV westerns, February 16, 2006

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A Reviewer (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes (Paperback)

This is an absolutely fascinating book. I think most people would agree that western movies and TV shows are probably not very authentic. They would be correct in that assumption. In the gold rush era of California there was certainly no shortage of men handy with their fists and their guns. But it probably didn't all go down the way you think. It was much more violent than I would have imagined. But this book covers so much more than that. You will read of things that will make your mouth hang open and many things you weren't aware of. I can't thank John Boessenecker enough for bringing all this to light.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wilder than Tombstone and Deadwood on a Saturday night!, April 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes (Hardcover)

Boessenecker's Gold Rush era-California is wilder than Tombstone, Dodge City and Deadwood on a Saturday night Fourth of July weekend. I thought I knew the Old West, but I didn't, because I didn't know Old California. Now I do. The chapter on Joaquin Murrieta is worth the price of the book and clears away a cloud of unknowing about California's most legendary bandit. I hope this is just volume one. --- Allen Barra, author of Inventing Wyatt Earp