1;“The timid stayed home. So we are working with a populace of people who have in them at least that sense of adventure. And what they called “go ahead”. There was a lot of that expression used. It’s a “go ahead country;” we are “go ahead people” and those that had it came.”J.S. Holliday, author of “The World Rushed In”: “Editors and preachers and doctors and lawyers and scientists would never have gone west, never of put themselves out on the frontier. But because of gold, they went to California.”Gold was a magnet that brought people—dynamic, energetic people—from all over the world. This vibrant mix quickly turned San Francisco into a cultural mecca, with theater, opera, and more newspapers than any city but London. The city became the envy of the world—thanks to a collision of cultures that became its greatest strength.ImpactAlthough the gold in the California hills eventually ran out—the impact of the Gold Rush era lives on. California was shaped by the adventurers who stayed—to form the idea that is California today: a place that accepts and nurtures risk takers.J.S. Holliday, author of “The World Rushed In”:“As no where else, you can fail in California. And I think the California Gold Rush taught people that failure was okay. And the reason being that everyone failed in California—everyone, every day. So failure, was not a distinction, not a burden, not a mark, not a shame. Failure in Des Moines, failure in Youngstown, failure in Savannah, failure in Philadelphia, well, you’d hear “what’s the matter with you? Your father’s disappointed in you.” You don’t want to fail at home. But you feel free to fail in California. The result is that people accepted failure—which is the equivalent of saying they are willing to take risks. And California has been the most ris...
