A Golden State

A Golden State PDF Author: Marlene Smith-Baranzini
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520217706
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
A collection of essays on mining and economic development in California from the Gold Rush through the end of the 19th century. This is the second in a series of four volumes comemmorating the state's sesquicentennial.

The Bonanza King

The Bonanza King PDF Author: Gregory Crouch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501108212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
“A monumentally researched biography of one of the nineteenth century’s wealthiest self-made Americans…Well-written and worthwhile” (The Wall Street Journal) it’s the rags-to-riches frontier tale of an Irish immigrant who outwits, outworks, and outmaneuvers thousands of rivals to take control of Nevada’s Comstock Lode. Born in 1831, John W. Mackay was a penniless Irish immigrant who came of age in New York City, went to California during the Gold Rush, and mined without much luck for eight years. When he heard of riches found on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1859, Mackay abandoned his claim and walked a hundred miles to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Over the course of the next dozen years, Mackay worked his way up from nothing, thwarting the pernicious “Bank Ring” monopoly to seize control of the most concentrated cache of precious metals ever found on earth, the legendary “Big Bonanza,” a stupendously rich body of gold and silver ore discovered 1,500 feet beneath the streets of Virginia City, the ultimate Old West boomtown. But for the ore to be worth anything it had to be found, claimed, and successfully extracted, each step requiring enormous risk and the creation of an entirely new industry. Now Gregory Crouch tells Mackay’s amazing story—how he extracted the ore from deep underground and used his vast mining fortune to crush the transatlantic telegraph monopoly of the notorious Jay Gould. “No one does a better job than Crouch when he explores the subject of mining, and no one does a better job than he when he describes the hardscrabble lives of miners” (San Francisco Chronicle). Featuring great period photographs and maps, The Bonanza King is a dazzling tour de force, a riveting history of Virginia City, Nevada, the Comstock Lode, and America itself.

Six-Guns and Saddle Leather

Six-Guns and Saddle Leather PDF Author: Ramon Frederick Adams
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486400358
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 848

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Book Description
Authoritative guide to everything in print about lawmen and the lawless—from Billy the Kid to the painted ladies of frontier cow towns. Nearly 2,500 entries, taken from newspapers, court records, and more.

A Golden State

A Golden State PDF Author: Marlene Smith-Baranzini
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520217706
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
A collection of essays on mining and economic development in California from the Gold Rush through the end of the 19th century. This is the second in a series of four volumes comemmorating the state's sesquicentennial.

Adolph Sutro

Adolph Sutro PDF Author: William R. Huber
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476638403
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Adolph Sutro was forever seeking challenges. Emigrating from Prussia to the U.S. at age 20, the California gold rush lured him west. At the Comstock Lode in Nevada, he conceived an idea for a tunnel to drain the hot water that made the mines perilous and inefficient. But he would have to overcome both physical obstacles and powerful opposition by the Bank of California to realize his vision. Back in San Francisco, Sutro bought one twelfth of the city, including the famous Cliff House perched over the Pacific Ocean. When it burned to cinders on Christmas Day, 1894, he built a massive, eight-story Victorian replacement. He used his expertise in tunneling and water solutions to create the world's largest enclosed swimming structure, the Sutro Baths--six glass-covered heated saltwater pools with capacity of 1,000 swimmers. Other challenges followed but Sutro was not invincible. After a two-year term as mayor of San Francisco, he succumbed to debilitating strokes which left him senile. His death in 1898 started disputes among his heirs--six children by his wife and two by his mistress--that lasted more than a decade.

Scribner's Magazine ...

Scribner's Magazine ... PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description


Monumental Lies

Monumental Lies PDF Author: Ronald M. James
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
ISBN: 1647791170
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
A playful embrace of tall tales and exaggeration, Monumental Lies explores the evolution of folklore in the Wild West. Monumental Lies: Early Nevada Folklore of the Wild West invites readers to explore how legends and traditions emerged during the first decades following the “Rush to Washoe,” which transformed the Nevada Territory after in 1859. During this Wild West period, there was widespread celebration of deceit, manifesting in tall tales, burlesque lies, practical jokes, and journalistic hoaxes. Humor was central, and practitioners easily found themselves scorned if they failed to be adequately funny. The tens of thousands of people who came to the West, attracted by gold and silver mining, brought distinct cultural legacies. The interaction of diverse perspectives, even while new stories and traditions coalesced, was a complex process. Author Ronald M. James addresses how the fluidity of the region affected new expressions of folklore as they took root. The wildly popular Mark Twain is often a go-to source for collections of early tall tales of this region, but his interaction with local traditions was specific and narrow. More importantly, William Wright—publishing as Dan De Quille—arose as a key collector of legends, a counterpart of early European folklorists. With a bedrock understanding of what unfolded in the nineteenth century, James considers how these early stories helped shaped the culture of the Wild West.

Notes

Notes PDF Author: California Historical Society
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Newsletter of the Society. Contains brief articles on historical documents and on Society meetings and business. Included are auction catalogs.

Scribner's Magazine

Scribner's Magazine PDF Author: Edward Livermore Burlingame
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description


Guide to America; a Treasury of Information about Its States, Cities, Parks, and Historical Points of Interest

Guide to America; a Treasury of Information about Its States, Cities, Parks, and Historical Points of Interest PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 726

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Catalog of Printed Books

Catalog of Printed Books PDF Author: Bancroft Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : America
Languages : en
Pages : 818

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Book Description