Rush for Riches. Gold Fever and the Making of California.

Oakland and Berkeley: Oakland Museum and University of California Press, 1999 Book. Fine. Hardcover. 1st Edition. First edition. Profusely illustrated throughout. Extensive notes, appendices, illustration sources, bibliography and index. Cloth. A very fine copy with pictorial dust jacket. This excellent and very readable work carries the story of the California Gold Rush from 1849 through the decades of the 1860's and '70's and on to the climactic year of 1884 in which hydraulic mining operations were shut down. Holliday provides a rich interpretive narrative whose central theme is how, after decades of careless freedom, the miners were finally reined in by the farmers, which ultimately led to the dramatic courtroom decision to shut down hydraulic mining operations. A handsome book..