Roaring camp : the social world of the California Gold Rush

Historical insight is the alchemy that transforms the familiar story of the Gold Rush into something sparkling and new. The world of the Gold Rush that comes down to us through fiction and film—of unshaven men named Stumpy and Kentuck raising hell and panning for gold—is one of half-truths. In this brilliant work of social history, Susan Johnson enters the well-worked diggings of Gold Rush history and strikes a rich lode. She finds a dynamic social world in which the conventions of identity—ethnic, national, and sexual—were reshaped in surprising ways. She gives us the all-male households of the diggings, the mines where the men worked, and the fandango houses where they played. With a keen eye for character and story, Johnson restores the particular social world that issued in the Gold Rush myths we still cherish.

Winner of the 2001 Bancroft Prize.

Publishers Weekly

The California Gold Rush is commonly identified with the peculiarly American movement of Manifest Destiny, but as Johnson reveals in this informative study of the period, the Gold Rush was in fact one of the most cosmopolitan and multicultural events of the 19th century. Mexicans, French, Chinese, African-Americans, Chileans and Miwok Indians all panned for gold alongside their WASP counterparts in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. The collision of these cultures sometimes led to humorous misunderstandings (as when Chinese miners mirthfully watched a white colleague struggle to use chopsticks), but just as frequently it produced ugly crimes, like when Mexican prospector Joaquin Murrieta was assaulted and evicted from his mining claim by jealous whites. Complicating relations in the mines was the almost complete absence of women; Johnson shows how men of all races found themselves reassessing gender roles in ways that had everything to do with ethnicity and cultural hegemony. For example, Anglo miners tended to feminize Chinese and French men, who made their fortunes in laundry and cooking as often as in mining gold. Johnson skillfully investigates the ramifications of these social pressures, though at times she surrenders to the ivory tower habit of interpreting the interpretations, analyzing the discourse about events instead of the events themselves. Hers is an intensely academic brand of social history: readers will find phrases like "homosocial," "gendered meanings" and "constructions of race" liberally sprinkled throughout the text. Underneath the jargon, however, is a valuable study of the complex, often troubled societies that contributed to one of America's great national mythologies. 15 photos, 1 map. (Jan.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

"Susan Lee Johnson's Roaring Camp explores the dynamic social world created by the gold rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Stockton. In it we find Mexican families like the Murrietas who worked the mines, did the wash, and rose up against Anglo rule. There are the California Indians who tried to maintain their customary practices even while helping to construct the sawmill at Sutter's fort where gold was discovered in 1848. We enter the all-male households of the diggings, the mines where the men worked, and the fandango houses where they played. At places like Casa de los Amigos in Stockton, the Long Tom Saloon in Sonora, and Madame Clement's in Mariposa, California, gold found its way out of the hands of men from around the world into the hands of women from Mexico, Chile, and France.". "Johnson charts the ways in which the conventions of identity were reshaped in the diggings. More explicitly than back home, where gender could be mapped predictably onto bodies understood as male and female, gender in California chased shamelessly after racial and cultural markers of difference, heedless of bodily configurations."--BOOK JACKET. "Susan Lee Johnson's Roaring Camp explores the dynamic social world created by the gold rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Stockton. In it we find Mexican families like the Murrietas who worked the mines, did the wash, and rose up against Anglo rule. There are the California Indians who tried to maintain their customary practices even while helping to construct the sawmill at Sutter's fort where gold was discovered in 1848. We enter the all-male households of the diggings, the mines where the men worked, and the fandango houses where they played. At places like Casa de los Amigos in Stockton, the Long Tom Saloon in Sonora, and Madame Clement's in Mariposa, California, gold found its way out of the hands of men from around the world into the hands of women from Mexico, Chile, and France. Johnson charts the ways in which the conventions of identity were reshaped in the diggings. More explicitly than back home, where gender could be mapped predictably onto bodies understood as male and female, gender in California chased shamelessly after racial and cultural markers of difference, heedless of bodily configurations."-- Publisher Winner of the Bancroft Prize The world of the California Gold Rush that comes down to us through fiction and film is one of half-truths. In this brilliant work of social history, Susan Lee Johnson enters the well-worked diggings of Gold Rush history and strikes a rich lode. Johnson explores the dynamic social world created by the Gold Rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Stockton, charting the surprising ways in which the conventions of identityethnic, national, and sexualwere reshaped. With a keen eye for character and story, she shows us how this peculiar world evolved over time, and how our cultural memory of the Gold Rush took root. Maps, illustrations. "The world of the California Gold Rush that comes down to us through fiction and film is one of half-truths. In this brilliant work of social history, Susan Johnson enters the well-worked diggings of Gold Rush history and strikes a rich lode." "Johnson explores the dynamic social world created by the Gold Rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Stockton, charting the surprising ways in which the conventions of identity -- ethnic, national, and sexual -- were reshaped. With a keen eye for character and story, she shows us how this peculiar world evolved over time, and how our cultural memory of the Gold Rush took root. Book jacket."--Jacket Captures the multi-ethnic, multicultural world of the California Gold Rush, in a social history that profiles the era's diverse and colorful characters, the evolution of a unique society, and myths about the Gold Rush. When Rosa Feliz de Murrieta and her husband, Joaquin, chose to leave Sonora in 1849 and start out on the overland journey north to California, they were trying to improve their lot in life. Susan Lee Johnson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 425-448) And Index.