Luzena Stanley Wilson's Discovery Of Gold In The Gold Rush

Upon hearing the news as everyone else did about the gold being discovered in California, the Wilsons started their journey. They traveled to California and the wife, Luzena Stanley Wilson, had recalled the events in her memoir, which was taken down by her daughter in 1881. Once people from all over the world found out about the discovery of gold in California, many decided to try their luck in getting rich. With Luzena and her family, they “had almost nothing to lose” and “might gain a fortune” (Wilson). This was very similar to the thought process of many people back in the 1840s, as they thought they could only rise up from their current lives. As with many migrants from eastern United States, the Wilsons came from Missouri, which meant they had to travel a long way

Men of all professions had gone, such as lawyers, physicians, miners, mechanics, merchants, senators, and gamblers (Wilson). Most of the men had abandoned their jobs and family to try their luck in finding gold. Luzena had went with her husband and brought along their two kids. She had remembered that “the travelers were almost all men” (Wilson). Since there were virtually no women to tend to the men’s needs, men often interacted with women they didn’t know. “A hungry miner, attracted by the unusual sight of a woman” had paid Luzena five dollars for a biscuit that she had made (Wilson). Thus, women became cooks, prostitutes, and owners of hotels. Luzena had a hotel called ‘El Dorado,’ where she had “twenty miners eating at my table.” (Wilson). That was how women typically made money, by providing services that are outside of mining, the ones essential for life, like eating. Luzena had also recalled a ball taking place in Nevada City, where “there were twelve ladies present and about three hundred men” (Wilson). This really portrayed the gender imbalance and demonstrated competition among men for even a dance with the