While the forty-niners were experiencing mixed success in the gold fields, other immigrants were making different plans for enterprise in the region. Peter J. Blodgett writes:

Before the great rush reached its second anniversary, it was clear that the wealth of El Dorado would galvanize economic enterprises of all kinds. As gold production vaulted upward from two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in 1848 to more than ten million dollars in 1849 to beyond forty million dollars in 1850 and the number of miners increased tenfold in the same period, many astute men and women saw endless opportunities from profit from the combination of vast amounts of ready money and enormous demand for nearly every commodity and service imaginable.

Forced to grow quickly to accommodate the multitudes of immigrant miners, cities and small towns soon became markets in themselves, affording resourceful businessmen and women who could provide needed services the...