Gold Rush: Bibliography
The subject matter addressed by “California Gold Rush” is vast, complex, and ever provocative of new perspectives and analysis, and the exhibit is far from exhaustive. The following bibliography, divided into primary and secondary sources, provides links to some of the many resources that have informed this exhibit and are available for further study. These include books and dissertations; journal, magazine, and newspaper articles; laws, legislation, court cases, and other government documents; reports; manuscript materials; maps; website articles; and videos and podcasts.
Primary Sources
Books
Allsop, Thomas, and Robert Allsop. California and Its Gold Mines: Being a Series of Recent Communications from the Mining Districts, Upon the Present Condition and Future Prospects of Quartz Mining; with an Account of the Richer Deposits, and Incidental Notices of the Climate, Scenery, and Mode of Life in California. London: Groombridge and Sons, 1853.
Ansted, David Thomas. The Gold-Seeker’s Manual; Being a Practical and Instructive Guide to All Persons Emigrating to the Newly-Discovered Gold Regions of California. London: J. Van Voorst, 1849.
Borthwick, John David, and Adolph Sutro. Three Years in California. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1857.
Bowie, Augustus Jesse. A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California: with Description of the Use and Construction of Ditches, Flumes, Wrought-Iron Pipes, and Dams. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1885.
Buffum, Edward Gould. Six Months in the Gold Mines: from a Journal of Three Years’ Residence in Upper and Lower California, 1847-8-9. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1850.
Crackbon, Joseph. Narrative of a Voyage from New York to California via Chagres, Gorgona & Panama: Journey Across the Isthmus, Etc.; Residence in Panama, 1849.
Davis, Winfield J. Arguments in Gold-Run Case. Sacramento: H. A. Weaver, 1881.
[Diary: Journal of a Passenger on Palmetto Mining Company Voyage from Charleston, South Carolina to Coloma, California, via Isthmus and San Francisco, March 3-Aug. 21, 1849 ; Mining Days in Coloma to Oct. 12, 1849], n.d.
Facts Concerning Quartz and Quartz Mining. New-York: W. L. Burroughs’ steam power presses, 1852.
Ferran, Augusto, José Baturone, and Luis Marquier. Album californiano colleción de tipos. Havana, Cuba: s.n., 1849.
Gerstäcker, Friedrich. Narrative of a Journey Round the World, Comprising a Winter-Passage Across the Andes to Chili: with a Visit to the Gold Regions of California and Australia, the South Sea Islands, Java, etc. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1853.
Huntley, Henry Vere.California: Its Gold and Its Inhabitants. London: T. C. Newby, 1900.
Jackson, William A. Appendix to Jackson’s Map of the Mining Districts of California: Bringing down All the Discoveries Since 1849, to the Present Time, of the Placers and All Descriptions of Vein Mines, to Which so Much Attention Is at This Time Directed. Also the New Towns Built and Located, with the Boundaries of the Counties and the Seats of Justice in Each. New York: Lambert & Lane, 1851.
Keller, George. A Trip Across the Plains, and Life in California. Massillon: White’s Press, 1851.
Kelly, William. An Excursion to California over the Prairie, Rocky Mountains and Great Sierra Nevada: With a Stroll through the Diggings and Ranches of That Country. London: Chapman and Hall, 1851.
Kent, Edward N. Instructions for Collecting, Testing, Melting and Assaying Gold: with a Description of the Process for Distinguishing Native Gold from the Worthless Ores Which Are Found in the Same Locality, and the Chemical Tests and Necessary Apparatus to Be Used for Testing Gold, Silver, Platina and Mercury … for the Use of Persons About to Visit the Gold Regions of California. New York: E.N. Kent, 1848.
Mining & Miners, and Diggers & Priggers. London: W. Kent & Co., 1854.
Orton, J. W. The Miner’s Guide, and Metallurgist’s Directory. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1849.
Patterson, Lawson B. Twelve Years in the Mines of California; Embracing a General View of the Gold Region, with Practical Observations on Hill, Placer, and Quartz Diggings; & Notes on the Origin of Gold Deposits. Cambridge, Mass: Miles & Dillingham, 1862.
Prince, James H., and A. Henry. Stevens. Rules and Regulations of the Mutual Protection Trading and Mining Company. Boston: The Company?, 1849.
Weatherbe, d’Arcy.Dredging for Gold in California. San Francisco: Mining and Scientific Press, 1907.
Woods, Daniel B. Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings. London: Sampson Low, 1851.
Newspaper and magazine articles
“All Alike.” Sierra Citizen, June 3, 1854.
“Another Excitement at Sonora.” Sacramento Daily Union, June 18, 1851.
“Base Outrage.” Daily Alta California, September 24, 1853.
“A California Mining Camp.” Scribner’s Monthly 15, no. 4 (February 1878): 480-493.
“Celestial.” Daily Alta California, May 11, 1850.
“The Celestials.” Sacramento Transcript, March 27, 1851.
“Celestials.” San Diego Herald, May 8, 1852.
“Chileno Servants.” Sacramento Daily Union, December 19, 1854.
“The Chilenos and other Foreigners in the city of San Francisco attacked by an Armed Party of Americans — Great Excitement — Meeting of the Citizens — Formation of a citizen armed Police — Arrest of the Rioters — Their Trial and Sentence.” Weekly Alta California, August 4, 1849.
“China.” California Star, April 1, 1848.
“The China Boy.” Daily Alta California, May 12, 1851.
“Chinese Citizenship.” Daily Alta California, May 21, 1853.
“A Chinese Grand Row.” Nevada Journal, March 24, 1854.
“Chinese War.” Placer Herald, September 11, 1852.
“The Cooleys.” Sacramento Daily Union, April, 27, 1852.
“Departures of Celestials.” Marysville Daily Herald, October 25, 1855.
“’Diggings’ and ‘Diggers.’” Placer Times, June 3, 1850: p. 3, col. 2.
“A Few More.” Sacramento Daily Union, September 5, 1854.
“Fire and Excitement among the Indians at Houck Farm.” Sacramento Transcript, June 25, 1850: p. 2, col. 2.
“Fourteen Chinamen Committed.” Weekly Butte Record, December 23, 1854.
“Funeral of a Chinese Miner.” Sacramento Daily Union, October 1, 1851.
“Highly Important! Great Excitement in El Dorado County!” Sacramento Transcript, October 25, 1850: p. 2, col. 1.
“The Indian Difficulties.” Placer Times, April 28, 1849: p. 2, col. 2-3.
“The Indians.” San Francisco Daily Alta California, December 15, 1850: p. 2, col. 1.
“Indians and Chinese.” Shasta Courier, July 30, 1853.
“Letter from the Mountains.” Daily Alta California, July 26, 1853.
“Marysville.” Sacramento Daily Union, May 11, 1852.
“Matters in San Francisco.” San Joaquin Republican, January 6, 1854.
“Messrs. Editors.” Marysville Daily Herald, July 12, 1851.
“Mexican Females.” Nevada Journal, October 25, 1851.
“Mining Intelligence.” Sacramento Daily Union. August 10, 1853.
“Mining News.” Placer Herald, July 30, 1853.
“Movements of the Chinese.” Sacramento Daily Union, December 20, 1853.
“Modas De Paris.” La Semana de Las Señoritas Mexicanas 3,(January 1, 1852): 391-393.
“Mr. Shaw on Stockton.” San Joaquin Republican, December 13, 1851.
“Mr. Van Gelder Informs.” San Joaquin Republican, September 1, 1852.
“Muerte a los Espanoles.” El Clamor Publico, August 11, 1855.
“News of the Fortnight.” Daily Alta California, May 16, 1852.
“Our Indian Policy.” Daily Alta California (S.F.), May 29, 1850: p. 2, col. 1.
“Our Indian Tribes.” San Francisco Daily Alta California, March 13, 1850: p. 2, col. 1.
“Our Population.” Daily Alta California, March 8, 1850.
“Our Population.” Sacramento Transcript, September 3, 1850.
“Placer Intelligence.” Weekly Alta California, July 12, 1849.
“Prospectus.” The Californian (Monterey, California), August 15, 1846: p. 1, col. 1.
“Protection.” Calaveras Chronicle, March 19, 1853.
“Report on Land Titles in California.” Sacramento Transcript, July 20, 1850: p. 2, col. 5.
“Review of Passing Events.” Sacramento Daily Union, April 29, 1852.
“A Road Scene in California.” Wide West, December 25, 1854.
“Sacramento Intelligence.” Daily Alta California, July 9, 1851.
“San Francisco by Moonlight.” Daily Alta California, February 18, 1851.
“San Joaquin Correspondence.” Daily Alta California, June 18, 1851.
“San Joaquin News: Expulsion of Foreign Miners – Excitement on Shaw’s Flat.” Daily Alta California, July 16, 1852.
“The Sonora Troubles.” Daily Alta California, August 9, 1850.
“Spanish in San Francisco.” Daily Alta California, May 22, 1853.
“Statistics of the Tuolumne Water Companies.” Daily Alta California, August 5, 1852.
“Translation of Nine Sections of the Foreign Miner’s Law into Chinese, by Richard Cole, Esq.” Sacramento Daily Union, April 16, 1853.
“Tremendous Excitement at Sonora! Two Mexicans Hung!! And Two Chilenos Shot!!” San Joaquin Republican, June 18, 1851.
“Tuesday Morning May 31.” Daily Alta California, May 31, 1853.
“Up-River News.” Sacramento Daily Union, November 10, 1851.
Wilson, Robert. “Correspondence of the Alta California: The Chilean Disturbance.” Daily Alta California, January 7, 1850.
Wilson, Robert. “Correspondence of the Alta California: The Disturbance at the Mines.” Daily Alta California, January 2, 1850.
Laws, legislation, court cases, and other government documents
Adam Johnston to Orlando Brown, September 16, 1850. In: Report of the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating, In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, a copy of the correspondence between the Department of the Interior and the Indian agents and commissioners in California. Sen. Exec. Docs., 33 Cong., Spec. Sess., Doc. 4, pp. 43-45 (688).
Byrne, Jason K. In the Circuit Court of the United States, Ninth Circuit, District of California : Edwards Woodruff, Complainant, Vs. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company, et Al., Defendents; before Hon. Lorenzo Sawyer, Circuit Judge; Argument of Jas. K. Byrne, Solicitor for Defendants, on Motion for a Temporary Injunction. San Francisco: J.K. Byrne, 1882.
Cadwalader, George. Address of George Cadwalader Delivered at Sacramento, February 28 and March 1st, 1882, in the Case of the State of California Vs. Gold Run Hydraulic Mining Co. Sacramento: H. S. Crocker & Co., 1882.
California State Legislature, Chapter 133, 1850 Statutes of California. An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.
California State Legislature, Chapter 33, 1852 Statutes of California (PDF). An Act Respecting Fugitives from Labor, and Slaves Brought to This State Prior to Her Admission into the Union.
California State Legislature, Senate Bill no. 54. An Act Relative to the Protection, Punishment and Government of Indians. Original Bill File Chapter 133, Location: E6553, Box 1. California Secretary of State, California State Archives.
California Superior Court, Sacramento County. The People of the State of California Vs. the Gold Run Ditch and Mining Co.; Abstract of the Testimony of Certain Witnesses. W. C. Belcher and J. K. Byrne, Attorneys for Defendant. n. p, 1910.
Flint, Wilson. Speech of Hon. Wilson Flint, in the Senate of California, March 21, 1856: on the Bill to Reduce the Chinese Mining License Tax. Sacramento: s.n., 1856.
Instructions to Owners and Operators of Hydraulic Mines in California. San Francisco: War Dept., Office of California Debris Commission, 1904.
Letter of transmittal from Mc Dougal to Speaker John Bigler, State Assembly conveying the information that he has requested help from President Fillmore in Indian wars. Written in San Jose, March 15, 1851. Folder F3753:190, Military Department. Adjutant General. Indian War Papers, F3753. California Secretary of State, California State Archives.
“Treaty K made at Village of Temecula by O.M. Wozencraft,” in Indian Tribes of California, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, March 23, 1920, 31-33. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920.
United States Census Bureau. “Censuses of American Indians.” Accessed January 6, 2023.
Other publications and manuscript materials
Adelphi Company Collection, 1849. Small Manuscript Collection, Box 891. California History Section. California State Library.
An Appeal to the Legislators and People of California, on Behalf of the Mining Industry. San Francisco: California Miners’ Association, 1887.
The Barometer: A Weekly Paper Published Aboard the Mary Waterman on a Voyage to California in 1850, n.d.
Barry, James H. Biographical and Historical Sketch of Philip A. Roach. San Francisco: J.H. Barry, 1889.
Gibson, Otis. Chinese Question from a Chinese Standpoint. San Francisco: Cubery & Co., 1874.
Joshua Hendy Iron Works. Catalogue of Hydraulic Mining Machinery. San Francisco, 1887.
Leidesdorff, William. William Alexander Leidesdorff: A Biographical Essay. Pamphlets and speeches. California History Section, California State Library, Biographical Information File.
Lindgren, Waldemar. Gold-Quartz Veins of Nevada City & Grass Valley Districts, California. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896.
Luzena Stanley Wilson ‘49er: Her Memoirs as Taken Down by her Daughter in 1881. Mills College: Eucalyptus Press, 1937.
North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company. Annual Report with Statements of Account. San Francisco: The Company, n.d.
[Risdon Iron Works Catalogues]. San Francisco: Risdon Iron Works, 1897.
San Francisco Citizens’ Debris Committee and the Anti-Debris Association of the Sacramento Valley. Report. San Francisco, 1881.
“Series of Interesting Sketches and Scenes in California.” Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion 3, no. 18 (October 30, 1852): 276-277.
Shaw, Pringle. Rambling in California: Containing a Description of the Country, Life at the Mines, State of Society, &c. Interspersed with Characteristic Anecdotes, and Sketches from Life … Toronto: J. Bain, 1856.
The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52 by Louise Amelia Knapp Clappe aka Dame Shirley.
Stretch, Richard Harper, Charles Waldeyer, and Hamilton Smith. Reports on the Spring Valley Hydraulic Gold Company, Comprising the Cherokee Flat Blue Gravel and Spring Valley Mining and Irrigating Company’s Property, Situated at Cherokee Flat, Butte County, California. New York: United States Mining Investment Company, 1880.
Wilson, Elinor. “Beckwourth-Wilson Research.” 19??. Manuscript collection containing research materials on the subject of James P. Beckwourth. California History Section, California State Library.
Maps
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. “Description of Sketch of General Riley’s Route Through the Mining Districts July and Aug. 1849.” Accessed December 30, 2022.
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. “Description of Mine De Santa Vaga Haute Californie.” Accessed December 30, 2022.
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. “Description of Natomas Irrigated Lands.” Accessed December 30, 2022.
Jackson, Wm. A. (William A.). Jackson’s Map of the Mining Districts of California. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. London: Published by John Arrowsmith, 1851.
Marshall, James Wilson. [Map of Coloma at the Time That Gold Was Discovered], 1850.
Secondary Sources
Books and dissertations
Avella, Steven M. Sacramento, Indomitable City. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
Ayers, James J. Gold and Sunshine, Reminiscences of Early California. Boston: R. G. Badger, 1922.
Barry, T. A., and B. A. Patten. Men and Memories of San Francisco in the “Spring of ’50.” San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 1873.
Beasley, Delilah L. (Delilah Leontium). The Negro Trail Blazers of California. New York: G.K. Hall, 1997.
Beebe, Lucius, and Charles Clegg. San Francisco’s Golden Era. Berkeley: Howell-North, 1960.
Beilharz, Edwin A., and Carlos U. López. We Were 49ers!: Chilean Accounts of the California Gold Rush. Pasadena, Calif: Ward Ritchie Press, 1976.
Bonnett, Wayne. Down River: Sacramento to the Golden Gate. Sausalito, CA: Windgate Press, 2009.
Broussard, Albert S. Civil Rights, Racial Protest, and Anti-Slavery Activism in San Francisco, 1850-1865. Albert S. Broussard (publisher), 1999.
Burns, John F., ed. Sacramento: Gold Rush Legacy, Metropolitan Destiny. Carlsbad, CA: Heritage Media Corp., 1999.
Butruille, Susan G., Women’s Voices from the Mother Lode: Tales from the California Gold Rush. Susan G. Butruille (publisher), 1998.
Coleman, Charles M. P. G. and E. of California; the Centennial Story of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 1852-1952. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952.
Cook, Fred S. Steamboats in the Valley. Volcano, CA: California Traveler, Inc., 1971.
De Graaf, Lawrence Brooks., Kevin. Mulroy, and Quintard. Taylor. Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. Los Angeles: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2001.
Dobie, Charles Caldwell. San Francisco, A Pageant. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1933.
Hittell, John S. A History of the City of San Francisco And Incidentally of the State of California. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 1878.
HIttell, John S. Hittel on Gold Mines and Mining. Québec: G. & G.E. Desbarats, 1864.
Jeffrey, Julie Roy, Frontier Women: Civilizing the West? 1840-1880, Hill and Wang Publishing, 1998.
Johnson, Richard B., ed. History of Us: Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria. Compiled by Tribal Chairman Richard B. Johnson. Santa Rosa: Comstock Bonanza Press, 2018.
Kemble, John Haskell. San Francisco Bay: A Pictorial Maritime History. New York: Bonanza Books, 1957.
Lapp, Rudolph M. Blacks in Gold Rush California. Yale Western Americana Series. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
Lapp, Rudolph M., Mallette Dean, and James E. Beard. Archy Lee: a California Fugitive Slave Case. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1969.
Lewis, Oscar. San Francisco: Mission to Metropolis. Berkeley: Howell-North, 1966.
Lindsay, Brendan C. Murder State: California’s Native American Genocide, 1846-1873. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
Lockwood, Charles. Suddenly San Francisco: The Early Years of an Instant City. San Francisco: California Living, 1978.
Lopez, Raul David. Racial intolerance during the California Gold Rush. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015.
MacMullen, Jerry. Paddle Wheel Days in California. Stanford University: Stanford University Press, 1944.
Madley, Benjamin. An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
McGowan, Joseph A., and Terry R. Willis. Sacramento: Heart of the Golden State. Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publications, Inc., 1983.
Monroy, Douglas, “The Creation and Re-creation of Californio Society,” Rooted in Barbarous Soul: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California, ed. Kevin Starr and Richard Orsi. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Morefield, Richard, and Antonio Franco Coronel. The Mexican Adaptation in American California, 1846-1875. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, 1971.
Neasham, V. Aubrey, and James E. Henley. City of the Plain: Sacramento in the Nineteenth Century. Sacramento: The Sacramento Pioneer Foundation, 1969.
Pater, Alan H., Coloma: First Town of the Mountains, Western Places Publishing, 1998.
Rawls, James J. and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History. Tenth Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
Rawls, James, and Richard Orsi. A Golden State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
Roberts, Brian. American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
Sandos, James A., “Between the Crucifix and the Lance: Indian-White Relations in California, 1769-1848,” Rooted in Barbarous Soul: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California, ed. Kevin Starr and Richard Orsi. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Shoup, Laurence H. Rulers and Rebels: A People’s History of Early California, 1769-1901. New York: IUniverse Inc., 2010.
Smith, Stacey L. Freedom’s Frontier: California and the Struggle over Unfree Labor, Emancipation, and Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
Soule, Frank, John H. Gihon, and James Nisbet. The Annals of San Francisco. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1855.
Talbott, J. F. First Discovery of Gold in the Famous Mines of Gold Run & Dutch Flat. Sacramento, 1907.
Taylor, Bayard. El Dorado, or Adventures in the Path of Empire. New York: George P. Putnam & Co., 1854.
Taylor, Rev. William. Seven Years Street Preaching in San Francisco. New York: Carlton & Porter, 1856.
Trimble, Paul C. Riverboats of Northern California. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2011.
Watkins, T. H., and R. R. Olmsted. Mirror of the Dream: An Illustrated History of San Francisco. San Francisco: Scrimshaw Press, 1976.
Weaver, John D. Los Angeles: The Enormous Village, 1781-1981. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1980. Young, John P. San Francisco: A History of the Pacific Coast Metropolis. San Francisco: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912.
Wheeler, B. Gordon. Black California: The History of African-Americans in the Golden State. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1993.
Youngdahl, Marny. Gold Rush Crime, Disorder, and Law Enforcement. University of Nebraska at Kearney, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2016.
Journal articles and reports
Baur, John E. “The Health Factor in the Gold Rush Era.” Pacific Historical Review 18, no. 1 (1949).
Beitzel, Aaron. “California and Unfree Labor: Assessing the Intent of the 1850 ‘An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.” History in the Making 6, Article 8 (2013).
Campbell, Robert B., “A Business Man’s Revolution,” American Quarterly 51, no. 3 (September 1999): 657-683.
Chen, Yong “The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to California Reconsidered,” The Western Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (Winter 1997): 521-546.
Cook, Brittneydawn. “Stories of Folsom Lake, Its Dam and the Electrification of Sacramento.” California State Library Foundation Bulletin no. 125 (2019): 2-13. https://cslfdn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Bulletin125-preview.pdf
Crawford, Jeff, and Herrick, Jessica. “Intelligent Engineering: William Hammond Hall and the State Engineering Department.” Sacramento History 6 (2006): 133-160.
Cutter, Donald C., “Some Musings on the Gold Rush and Its Hispanic Heritage,” The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 4 (Winter, 1999): 429-433.
Dilsaver, Lary M., “After the Gold Rush,” Geographical Review 75, no. 1 (January 1985): 1-18.
Eifler, M. “Taming the Wilderness within: Order and Opportunity in Gold Rush Sacramento, 1849-1850.” California History 79, no. 4 (2000): 192-207.
Fite, Gilbert C., “Agriculture,” The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 4 (Winter, 1999): 437-441.
Forbes, Jack D. “The Native American Experience in California History.” California Historical Quarterly 50, no. 3 (September 1971).
Gendzel, Glen “Pioneers and Padres: Competing Mythologies in Northern and Southern California, 1850-1930,” The Western Historical Quarterly 32, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 55-79.
Gordon, Mary McDougall, “Overland to California in 1849: A Neglected Commercial Enterprise,” The Pacific Historical Review 52, no. 1 (February 1983): 17-39.
Gressley, Gene M., “The Gold Rush in Miniature,” The Western Historical Quarterly 30, no. 4 (Winter, 1999): 433-437.
Hamilton, Gary G., “The Structural Sources of Adventurism: The Case of the California Gold Rush,” The American Journal of Sociology 83, no. 6 (May 1978): 1466-1490.
Herbert, Christopher. “’Life’s Prizes Are by Labor Got’: Risk, Reward, and White Manliness in the California Gold Rush.” Pacific Historical Review 80, no. 3 (August 2011): 339-368.
Higley, Caroline “The Rise and Fall of Sutter’s Golden Empire,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 14, no. 3 (Summer 1964): 26-36.
Hurtado, Albert L., “California Indian Demography, Sherburne F. Cook, and the Revision of American History,” The Pacific Historical Review 58, no. 3 (August 1989): 323-343.
Hurtado, Albert L. “Sex, Gender, Culture, and a Great Event: The California Gold Rush.” Pacific Historical Review 68, no. 1 (February 1999): 1-19.
Johnston-Dodds, Kimberly. “Early California Laws and Policies Related to California Indians.” Report prepared for the California Research Bureau. September 2002. Accessed January 6, 2023.
Lawson, Scott J. “The Attempt to Revive the Hydraulic Mining Industry, 1893-1940.” California Historian 42, no. 3 (Spring 1996): 14-20.
Littlefield, Douglas R., “Water Rights during the California Gold Rush,” The Historical Quarterly 14, no. 4 (October 1983): 415-434.
McKanna, Clare V. Jr., “Enclaves of Violence in Nineteenth-Century California,” The Pacific Historical Review 73, no. 3 (August 2004): 391-423.
Mei, June “Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850- 1882,” Modern China 5, no. 4 (October 1979): 463-501.
Miller, Larisa K. “The Secret Treaties with California’s Indians.” Prologue (Fall-Winter 2013): 38-45. Accessed January 6, 2023.
Mitchell, M. D. “Land and Water Policies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.” Geographical Review 84, no. 4 (1994): 411.
Noel, Jana “Jeremiah B. Sanderson: Educator and Organizer for the Rights of ‘Colored Citizens’ in Early California,” The Journal of Negro Education 74, no. 2 (Spring 2005): 151-158.
Owens, K. “Far from Zion: The Frayed Ties between California’s Gold Rush Saints and LDS President Brigham Young.” California History 89, no. 4 (2012): 5-57. Retrieved January 26, 2021, from
Riley, Glenda, “Women on the Panama Trail to California, 1849-1869,” The Pacific Historical Review 55, no. 4 (November 1986): 531-548.
Roth, Mitchel. “Cholera, Community, and Public Health in Gold Rush Sacramento and San Francisco.” Pacific Historical Review 66, no. 4 (November 1997): 527-551.
Smith, Stacey L. “Pacific Bound: California’s 1852 Fugitive Slave Law.” January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2023 from BlackPast.
Steffen, Jerome O., “The Mining Frontiers of California and Australia: A Study in Comparative Political Change and Continuity,” The Pacific Historical Review 52, no. 4 (November 1983): 428-440.
Zerbe, Richard O. Jr., and Anderson, C. Leigh, “Culture and Fairness in the Development of Institutions in the California Gold Fields,” The Journal of Economic History 61, no. 1 (March 2001): 114-143.
Newspaper and Website Articles
Anderson, Susan D. “The History of Juneteenth.” June 18, 2020. Blog post on California Historical Society website.
Anderson, Susan D. “The California Connection to Juneteenth You Probably Didn’t Learn in School.” June 17, 2021.
Castillo, Edward D. “Short Overview of California Indian History,” California Native American Heritage Commission website. Accessed December 27, 2022.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.” Article in series on the Gold Rush for American Experience. Accessed January 5, 2023.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “African Americans in the Gold Rush.” Article in series on the Gold Rush for American Experience. Accessed January 5, 2023.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush.” Accessed January 5, 2023.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “The Gold Rush.” Series for American Experience. Accessed January 5, 2023.
Library of Congress. “The Discovery of Gold.” Accessed December 27, 2022.
Memoriachilena: Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. “Vicente Pérez Rosales (1807-1886).” Accessed December 30, 2022.
National Park Service. “National Register of Historic Places—Nomination Form for Ott’s Assay Office/South Yuba Canal Office.” Accessed December 30, 2022.
Nonko, Emily. “Campaign Unveils Hidden History of Slavery in California.” January 8, 2020.
SFGenealogy. “California Bound.” Accessed December 30, 2022,
United State Census Bureau. “U.S. Census Bureau History: The California Gold Rush”. January 2018.
University of California. “The Gold Rush Era, 1848-1865.” Regents of the University of California, 2011. Accessed December 2022.
Yoacham, Cristián Guerrero. “Notas Críticas Para Una Bibliografía Chilena Sobre El “Gold Rush” En California.” Estudios Hemisfericos y Polares 5, no. 1 (Enero-Marzo, 2014): 67-103.
Videos and Podcasts
California Institute for Rural Studies. Episode 1: “Freedom Chasers: Early Black Settlers and the California Dream.” We are Not Strangers Here. March 25, 2021. Podcast, website, 24:50.
California Institute for Rural Studies. Episode 2: “Hidden Roots: Uncovering the Legacies of African American Homesteaders in California.” We are Not Strangers Here. March 25, 2021. Podcast, website, 30:31.