12;every tack in California. By cornering the market, he could extort huge profits, a technique he executed flawlessly—over and over. But Brannan was only the first in a long line of entrepenuers who made their fortunes without digging for gold. In 1853 -- according to legend—this man stitched a pair of pants out of canvas; sturdy pants that later became popular with the miners—very popular. His name:Levi Strauss. But during the Gold Rush, Strauss was best known for his prosperous dry good business. It wasn’t until 1872 that he added a critical innovation to canvas pants, the metal rivet—abreakthrough that would change the course of American fashion.This New York butcher decided one day to walk to California. Eventually, he opened a meat market in Placerville—and later took his profits to Milwaukee, where he set up a meat processing plant. His name was Phillip Armour, and the Armour meat packing company became one of the nation’s largest. Armour’s neighbor in Placerville, was an enterprising wheelbarrow maker who dreamed of bigger things. After saving every dime for six years, he left California for his home in Indiana. There, he plowed his profits into the family wagon-making business. The man’s name was John Studebaker—and the family enterprise would go on to build covered wagons for the Oregon-bound pioneers, and later—automobiles.These two businessmen also looked west and saw opportunity. Sensing the unsettled atmosphere in California—they offered what many miners desperately wanted: stability.They offered secure, honest banking, transportation, even mail delivery. They wereHenry Wells and William Fargo. Their company, Wells Fargo, became a giant in the banking industry. The most famous celebrity of the Gold Rush era came to California as a complete unknown and took a job writing for the San Francisco “Call.” It wasn’t long until his fanciful ...
