Product Review

The California Gold Rush - As seen on public television

Product Features
Narrated by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor John Lithgow
Previously viewed on public television
From a 4-time Emmy-winning producer
Features frontier women, winners and losers, the birth of San Francisco, and more

Product Description
The American Dream
Gold come and get it. The California frontier called to thousands of young American men who were hungry to be their own boss, to make a quick fortune instead of toiling away for years for someone else. Men left their wives and children, farmers walked away from fields, soldiers abandoned posts and merchants deserted shops to head west for California gold.

But just getting there was a test of endurance that involved either sitting on a disease- and pest-infested ship for up to six months with little-to-no food and water, or walking 2,000 miles along the treacherous Oregon-California Trail. Visions of rivers filled with gold kept them going.

A World Event
Turns out the American dream appealed to people from around the world hopeful men and women arrived in San Francisco from China, Chile, Ireland, France, Turkey and many other nations. The California frontier was packed with young, adventurous miners and entrepreneurs, who depended on them. Everyone quickly got a lesson in supply and demand.