What profitable businesses arose as a result of the gold rush?
Where the Real Money’s At
Many people got rich off gold in the gold rush. But… the smart people started businesses that catered to the needs of the more than thirty-thousand miners. Sam Brannan, Luzena Wilson, and Levi Strauss are a few examples of ambitious entrepreneurs that flourished in the Gold Rush and the time after.
Sam Brannan set sail from New York Harbor in 1846 to escape persecution he and the other Mormons aboard the ship, The Brooklyn, faced. While at sea, The Mexican-American war started. By the time they reached California, the United States had captured the territory. Brannan heard rumors of gold nearby, and decided he should go check it out. He realized there was money here. He filled a botted and went back home. When he got there he walked out into the street and cried his famous call, “Gold! Gold! Gold! From the American River!” He sparked the rush. He soon planned to open a second shop and stock it with countless pickaxes, shovels, pans, clothes, and anything else miners would need. During the heat of the gold rush, he made five-thousand dollars a day(about $120,000 in 2005). Needless to say, he was raking it in. He may have been extremely rich and powerful, but when his wife divorced him and caused him to settle it with cash, his almighty business collapsed. Samuel Brannan, although once called the richest men in California, ended up selling pencils for a living.
Many people got rich off gold in the gold rush. But… the smart people started businesses that catered to the needs of the more than thirty-thousand miners. Sam Brannan, Luzena Wilson, and Levi Strauss are a few examples of ambitious entrepreneurs that flourished in the Gold Rush and the time after.
Sam Brannan set sail from New York Harbor in 1846 to escape persecution he and the other Mormons aboard the ship, The Brooklyn, faced. While at sea, The Mexican-American war started. By the time they reached California, the United States had captured the territory. Brannan heard rumors of gold nearby, and decided he should go check it out. He realized there was money here. He filled a botted and went back home. When he got there he walked out into the street and cried his famous call, “Gold! Gold! Gold! From the American River!” He sparked the rush. He soon planned to open a second shop and stock it with countless pickaxes, shovels, pans, clothes, and anything else miners would need. During the heat of the gold rush, he made five-thousand dollars a day(about $120,000 in 2005). Needless to say, he was raking it in. He may have been extremely rich and powerful, but when his wife divorced him and caused him to settle it with cash, his almighty business collapsed. Samuel Brannan, although once called the richest men in California, ended up selling pencils for a living.
Luzena Stanley Wilson moved from her home in Missouri to start a new life with her husband and two children in California. The day before she finally made it to Sacramento, they passed a mining camp where a man offered her five dollars for a biscuit she had made. She paused. The man, thinking that she was going to refuse the offer quickly doubled it to ten dollars(about $240 in 2005). She then accepted the offer. This is a foreshadow of how she would soon make her fortune. While they were in Sacramento, Luzena and her husband sold their oxen and bought a small plot of land in the city. On it they built a small hotel. After her encounter with the hungry miner, she knew she could sell her meals for a freakishly high price to hungry miners. In December of 1849, the hastily built levee broke and flooded the hotel. After that, the wilsons packed up and moved to Nevada City which was not much more than a large mining camp. She opened a new hotel called The El Dorado. Every meal the tables were filled with hungry miners. Within six months they had made over ten thousand dollars. Fire spread through Nevada City and burnt El Dorado to the ground about nine months after the grand opening. Mason and Luzena moved to a valley that had been called Vaca because of the Californios who had once owned it. They were one of the first settlers in the new town of Vacaville where they opened Wilson’s Hotel. In 1872 Mason Wilson suddenly abandoned her and moved to Texas. She then moved to San Francisco where she made her living selling real estate from the hotel where she lived. She died in 1902 of cancer. Luzena Wilson is a prime example of how women could escape bias and strike it rich.
Levi Strauss was a German-American who opened his famous jean company, Levi Strauss and Co. that still makes clothes today. He moved from Germany in 1847 to join his two brother’s dry goods business in New York. He moved to Louisville to sell his brother’s products and was later chosen to open an extension in San Francisco. His general, Levi Strauss and Co. sold everything a miner would need to live in California including clothes, dry goods, tent canvas, and other items that were imported from his brothers. Jacob Davis, inventor of riveted denim pants and one of Strauss’ customers went into business with Strauss to make the famous jeans. They filed for a patent for this new type of work pants in 1873. His new pants quickly sold well. At the end of his life he had made millions of dollars. His estimated worth was about six million dollars(163.5 million dollars in 2014).
Levi Strauss is a great example of making money by selling to the countless miners of the Gold Rush.
Many people made money by finding gold in California. But that took much hard labor and a little bit of luck. Sam Brannan, Luzena Wilson, and Levi Strauss did what most could not. They struck it rich in the gold rush- and never had to lift a shovel.
Allen D.
Levi Strauss is a great example of making money by selling to the countless miners of the Gold Rush.
Many people made money by finding gold in California. But that took much hard labor and a little bit of luck. Sam Brannan, Luzena Wilson, and Levi Strauss did what most could not. They struck it rich in the gold rush- and never had to lift a shovel.
Allen D.