Forgotten Books: Firsthand account of the Gold Rush of California by Daniel B. Woods

Daniel B. Woods published Sixteen months at the gold diggings in 1852. The book tells his experience as a forty-niner in the Gold Rush of California - before that, he was a schoolteacher.  

Woods got to California through a Mexico of just 7 million inhabitants. The country was plagued by robbers and guerrillas and his journey was dangerous. 

Later, he met a San Francisco of tents and adobe houses drown by sickness, alcoholism, and suicides. There, he had a close encounter with death,

At that very moment there was the sharp crack of a pistol in the store adjoining, and separated only by a cloth partition.

Daniel B. Woods was a religious man and draw inspiration and strength from The Pilgrim’s Progress, a popular theological fiction of the 1800s. 

In his book, he talks of their interactions with the American Indians. 

At the River Mercedes we saw some Indians, called Savage’s Indians, from an American with that name, who shot the chief and took his place in the tribe.

He also tasted grizzly meat.

I chewed, and found it delicious—similar to young pork. 

And the tale of a bear attack shows the same problems seen today in backcountry camping: two men and a woman died by a grizzly after cooking near their tent. 

Wood also reports the shooting of a condor. 

It proves to be a species of the vulture, and measures, between the tips of its wings, eight feet and eleven inches.

He found many Chileans prospecting gold in California. Those immigrants came with their families and had mining experiences in their native country. 

Everything was expensive at the gold mines. Sometimes, the miners earned less than what was needed to keep prospecting. Wood made $390 in three months. 

The gold also brought problems with personal security. He changed often his sleeping quarters and used the gold as a pillow tied to his wrist.

Leaving the mines, he encountered a very different San Francisco.

The city of tents and sheds was changed to one of substantial edifices,

The gold of California opened doors to what we have today. 

Read the book for free here. 

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