story about a frog jumping contest in nearby Calaveras County thrust him into the national spotlight. His name: Samuel Clemens—Mark Twain. Clemens boss at the “Call” was also destined to become a best-selling author, Brett Harte. Unlike Clemens, Harte wrote almost exclusively about western characters—colorful stories about miners, bandits, and gamblers. His tale of an orphaned baby adopted by a group of rough miners would make him famous and rich.For every famous success, there were a thousand smaller stories of people who used their wits, not their shovels—to find a fortune. Creative entrepenuers were everywhere—looking for a new angle— a new way to make money, more money.Historian Sylvia Sun-Minnick, author of “Samfow”There were three miners that were ready to give up the piece of property that they were living in, an old shack. And they were ready to abandon it, so the Chinese came and offered to buy this old shack for $25. And the miners said, “this is a good sale,” so they took the money, went down to the local saloon and started laughing. Well as soon as the Chinese got title to it, they tore up all the flooring, all the floor boards, and they gleaned the gold dust that had fallen out between the cracks when the fellows took off their pants. And so they came through with $300.In 1848 and early 49, everyone was making money—but the party didn’t last forever. For most miners, it didn’t last very long at all.DespairBy mid 1849, the easy gold was gone—but the 49ers kept coming. There was still gold in the riverbeds, but it was getting harder and harder to find. A typical miner spent 10 hours a day knee-deep in ice cold water, digging, sifting, washing. It was backbreaking labor that yielded less and less.As panning became less effective, the miners moved to more advanced techniques for extracting the precious metal. But it was a losing battle as...
