A Year of Mud and Gold: San Francisco in Letters and Diaries, 1849-1850

by William Benemann

A Year of Mud and Gold is a collection of over two hundred excerpts from letters and diaries of ordinary men and women caught up in the rapid transformation of San Francisco during its gold rush heyday, 1849–50. Together these accounts render a rich mosaic of San Francisco’s metamorphosis from a small Mexican outpost into a rough-and-tumble boomtown filled with gamblers and prostitutes, evangelists and entrepreneurs—men, women, and children from all parts of the world, arriving in California with the dream of striking it rich. The correspondents come from a variety of economic and social backgrounds. Some are barely literate, while others write as well as the finest authors of nineteenth-century travel literature. Their writings address a broad range of concerns, from business prospects and consumer prices to social mores and popular amusements. The letters and diaries also hold clues to processes central to frontier the Americanization of Hispanic California, the stresses that migration placed on individuals and families, the fluidity of boomtown economies, and the nature of gender and race relations in an urban population of immigrants.

Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[Glenn Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book researching for the long western I wrote - which will be the third book I am going to publish. If you are a history fan, get it - if not - pass. You will learn a lot that history books do not tell about the beginning years of the California Gold Rush. Well over 90% of the people going to San Francisco were men - as an example during this time period. Cholera was rampant on the trail, a fact widespread on journals online and in this book - but never documented in any western I have ever read. I enjoyed the book for its fascinating facts. I recommend this book for those who love history.

[Glenn Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book. It is a good read for history fans.