As the gold rush enveloped California and immigrants continued to pour in, mining camps and towns were forced to grow rapidly to accommodate the miners. The law of supply and demand ensured that enterprising businessmen would step in to provide the essentials: food, housing, clothing, and tools. Establishing police authority, government administration, and infrastructure, however, was a far more difficult task. Consequently, boomtowns were often wild and lawless places where all manner of behavior was tolerated. In his book TheWorld Rushed In, author and historian J.S. Holliday writes of the inhabitants:

There were no "hometown eyes" watching them—no mothers, fathers, uncles, in-laws, preachers, teachers, neighbors. There is the freedom of anonymity. If you are anonymous, you can dare to behave in a way that you would never behave under the supervision of home—and all the weightliness...