ABSTRACT
Many aspects of the California Gold Rush and Nevada’s Comstock Silver Boom are familiar stories. The world rushed to San Francisco and the gold fields in 1849 and gold poured into the world economy. In 1859, the rush shifted to Virginia City and silver joined the flow of gold through the Golden Gate. The magnitude of California and Nevada precious metals production is generally appreciated and there is no point in retracing this familiar ground. Instead, the goal of this paper is to suggest connections and consequences that have hitherto received too little attention.
