Franklin A. Buck

As immigrants poured into California in search of gold, cities and towns were forced to grow quickly to accommodate them. Outposts and mining camps sprung up seemingly overnight, leaving food, clothing, tent shelters, and tools initially high in demand, and therefore high in price. While the miners sought riches digging for gold, entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to make their wealth a different way—by filling the miners' burgeoning needs for provisions.

Young New Englander Franklin A. Buck was one such entrepreneur. When he arrived in San Francisco in August of 1849, he found the city already glutted with most of the provisions he brought to peddle. However, Buck remained optimistic, believing that the smaller towns and outposts that lay closer to the gold fields would still offer opportunities for trade. In the following selection from his collected...