During the height of the California gold rush, an egg would cost the equivalent of $25 in today’s money, coffee went for $100/pound, and a pair of boots would set you back more than $2,500.
Gold Rush
The first U.S. gold rush…
The first U.S. gold rush started in North Carolina in 1803 when a 12-year-old boy found a 17-pound gold nugget on his father’s farm. It supplied all the gold for the nation’s mints until 1829.
During the California Gold Rush a Chinese laundry…
During the California Gold Rush a Chinese laundry man named John-John washed enough gold dust out of pants cuffs and shirttails of miners to set himself up for life.
In 1799 a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek…
In 1799 a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina and used it as a doorstop. It was gold.
Chinese gold miners in the 1849 gold rus …
Chinese gold miners in the 1849 gold rush would often melt down the gold they found into common household items, like pots, and cover them in soot to protect the gold from bandits.