The California gold rush evokes romantic notions of adventurers in search of instant wealth. The period is inextricably linked to the basic idea of the American Dream— anyone, regardless of class, could head to the mining fields and find success. Although it required a sizable investment to travel to California, the playing field was certainly leveled when the prospectors arrived. In fact, those who were skilled in the manual trades were probably better adapted to the difficult work of extracting gold than their more refined peers.

While a smattering of prospectors undoubtedly got rich during the rush, many more either failed miserably or barely broke even. Others never even got started. Nevertheless, the hoards of immigrants who flocked into California in the late 1840s and early 1850s most assuredly transformed the region from a slumbering Mexican territory into an American state teeming with citizens eager...