alifornias looser structure challenged women as societys moral guardians. Nancy Taniguchi wrote, ...women acted upon and responded to the Gold Rush in varied, subtle, and significant ways. Weaving womens diversity, adversity and opportunity into gold-rush California enriches our history...8 Whether they hung onto their Victorian sensibilities or not, all the writings display women struggling to find their bearings in California society. Through their different and changing views of foreigners, work and money, and social norms and customs, we are able to experience the ways in which the loose structure of Gold Rush society caused discord in the new population of California. Women, reveal the intricate internal tensions caused by the collision of old world values and frontier freedom.Gold Rush women encountered many foreigners, both on the journey West as well as during their everyday lives once they got settled. California would have been the most, if not the only, diverse place they had ever been. From Native Americans, to Spanish, women were in constant contact with people ethnically different from themselves. One woman wrote in a letter, ...I am among the French and Duch and Scoth and Jews and Italions and Sweeds and Chinese and Indians and all manner of tongues and nations but I am treated with due respect by them all.9 The writings of women on this topic indicate that these encounters were not without their difficulties. As with the woman above, they all had their prejudices and perceived stations. In her letters, Mary Jane Megquier expresses her opinion about foreigners, and she often contradicts herself. Thus indicating that she had difficulty in adjusting to her new ethnically diverse surroundings and in deciding how many of her preconceived racial notions she should let go of. Mrs. Megquier encounters many foreigners over the course of her travels to California, as well as during her time spent there. Her first...
