Hello there! I’m Linda Shenton Machett, and I’m here to talk about Lady Goldrushers!
While visiting my dad, I was in the midst of deciding what to write for my next series. We were watching Gold Rush: Alaska, one of his favorite shows which got me to thinking about the early gold and silver rushes here in America. Research nerd that I am, I immediately pulled out my smart phone and started hunting for information. I stumbled on Joann Levy’s book They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush and was intrigued. Female gold rushers?
Hooked, my mind raced as I continued to research. The book’s title came from the forty-niners themselves who announced they were “going to see the elephant.” Those who turned back claimed they had seen “the elephant’s tracks” or the “elephant’s tail,” and that was enough for them. Filled with first person accounts, Ms. Levy’s book immersed me into a woman’s world of packing up their worldly goods and headed west on horseback or in wagons to seek their fortune. Some convinced their husbands, fathers, or brothers to go, but a large percentage of the women set out on their own. The reasons they went were as numerous as the women themselves.
The US has been home to lots of gold rushes (as well as silver and other precious metals and gems). Most people have heard of 
the California and Alaskan rushes, but the first rush of any size occurred in northern Georgia two decades before the California rush. In 1829, the tiny town of Dahlonega was overrun with men seeking their fortune after hearing about a find in the mountains. I decided that’s where my series would begin. The series continues with the Pikes Peak rush in 1859, followed by the 1899 Nome rush.
Guts, grit, and determination defined these women whose journals and diaries contained such entries as:
“One of the party shot him {a snake}; he measured nine feet, about as large as my arm a little above the wrist. In the course of the day, another came down the tree very near us, but a different species, not so large, which was very soon dispatched. The gentlemen took them to the village, to show what big things they had done.”
“We spent three days very pleasantly although all were nearly starved for want of wholesome food but you know my stomach is not lined with pink satin, the bristles on the pork, the weavels {sic} in the rice, and worms in the bread did not start me at all.”
But despite the hardships, the women continued to prospect:
“This morning the gold fever raged so high that I went again to dig with the rest but got very little gold…came home tired tonight. Still in good spirits.”
How many women participated in the gold rushes is not known. Most lived anonymously, and left little record behind. I hope in some small way, Gold Rush Hannah honors these stalwart women.
Question for readers: What would make you leave everything you know to travel a great distance to try your hand at prospecting for gold? Comment for your chance to win an ebook edition of Gold Rush Bride Hannah.
Here’s a little more about Gold Rush Bride Hannah:
A brand-new widow, she’s doesn’t need another man in her life. He’s not looking for a wife. But when danger thrusts them together, will they change their minds…and hearts?
Hannah Lauman’s husband has been murdered, but rather than grief, she feels…relief. She decides to remain in Georgia to work their gold claim, but a series of incidents makes it clear someone wants her gone…dead or alive. Is a chance at being a woman of means and independence worth risking her life?
Jess Vogel never breaks a promise, so when he receives a letter from a former platoon mate about being in danger, he drops everything to help his old friend. Unfortunately, he arrives just in time for the funeral. Can he convince the man’s widow he’s there for her protection not for her money?
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Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily ever after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Linda has been scribbling stories since her parents gifted her a notebook in the third grade. She now resides in central New Hampshire where she works as a Human Resources professional and volunteers as a docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of World War II.
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I don’t of anything which would motivate me for that, but I admire the women who did.
Those women were amazing!
The adventure of it all.
It would be an adventure!
I am not sure there is anything that could entice me to give up the comforts of home to rough it in the wilderness on the slight chance of actually finding gold. So much work for so little profit- it was definitely not an easy life. I do admire the tenacity needed to go after a dream.
You’re right way too much work for a maybe of fortune.
adventure
Totally agree!
Sounds intriguing
I too love to watch the Gold diggers in Alaska tv show – but maybe prefer looking for diamonds??
Ooh! Yeah diamonds are much better!
I am not sure what would have motivated me to go, maybe if I lost everything or a family member asked me to go with them. I give those women credit who did go. They were very adventurous.
I feel the same way.
Not being a outdoor type I wouldn’t leave my family or home for chance of gold. But the life back in the gold rush days could attract me to want to have or take a chance for sudden riches
That would be a lot of time outside
I can think of nothing that would make me leave everything I know to chase golden dreams. It’s amazing how many followed that dream & endured the hardships that came along with it!
I was surprised to learn just how many people went.
This book looks interesting.
Escaping from an abusive situation would make me go hunt for gold.
Definitely.
Honestly, I don’t know what would motivate me, unless I had no family and no means to really support myself, and had just enough to get where I might could find gold. Back then, there really weren’t that many choices for women if they were on their own. And, for ones that weren’t, they didn’t really have options, either, if they didn’t want to fit into society’s norms.
Many did go because they didn’t have a better choice.
I am not sure that I would be willing to give up everything to go looking for gold. That seems to be a rough life, not to mention if you found gold what you would have to do to keep people from taking it away from you. Not the life I would want.
Good point about having to protect your find.
I would if it was my best chance
For many it was.
Very interesting post, Linda.
I don’t think there would be anything that would motivate me to leave everything and prospect for gold. That being said; we never know what circumstances we may find ourselves in that may be that motivation to do just that.
Blessings, Tina
Very good point!
Welcome Linda. thanks for sharing this information. I have always been interested in these stories, but I have never been interested enough to want to go. And I am pretty sure that I would not choose of my own to go. Just me I guess. I would love to read your book. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
I think it would take a situation that I had no where else to turn or anyone to help me. I would go because I had no other choice of making a living.
I think that’s why I would go
I have to admit, I am not the adventurist type of woman. I am not comfortable with a situation I am not really comfortable with. I would probably starve before marrying someone I knew nothing about, much less a much older person with a bad attitude. One of us would have to go and it would be me, back where I came from.
I hear you!
Love this blog and authors
A combination of adventure and just being able to go and the weather maybe and hoping for a chance at love too
Great reasons!
It is amazing to hear of the exploits of the past. It is great for us to remember such things.
I agree! We need to remember.
We must have driven by the Wright Museum of World War II on a trip up to see my husband’s relatives. We drove around Lake Winnipesaukee but really didn’t stop anywhere. Next time we get up that way we will definitely have to stop in.
I knew there was prospecting for gems in Georgia and the Carolinas, but did not realize there was also a gold rush. Thank you for an interesting post. If the claim were as close as Georgia, I think the interest would be to get the money so I could live a good and comfortable life with no worry of the future. If traveling to the Pikes Peak area, the interest in gaining wealth and having an adventure would likely be the driving reason. It would be much harder to get there and the living conditions a bit more difficult. If it were the Alaskan gold fields, I would likely have to be driven by a dire need of my family. It could be money needed to save the family home, a medical need for a loved one, or some other major necessity. As rough as the conditions were, I am sure I would try to get what I needed as soon as possible so I could go home.
I love that you were in the area. Winni is such a beautiful lake. I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and I’m fascinated by your different reasons for each gold rush, but that makes sense – the farther you’d have to travel, the more dire the need would have to be.
Right now I can’t think of anything that would cause me to do this; I imagine if I were hard-pressed enough for funds, I might plunge into it. Knowing myself, were I unmarried, I’d be more likely to opt for a mail-order bride marriage.
Interesting that you’d choose mail-order bride over prospector – so brave!
The only way I’d leave everything to go treasure hunting is if I knew there was a certainty I’d find it. Your book sounds interesting. Thanks for the chance to win a copy
Thanks for stopping by!
I totally understand it. That’s what I’m doing now–rushing around the country, “hunting gold.” Trying to find a life, a job, a new home. I left my comfortable home with my parents to chase dreams, trying to find out who I am and what I want, and to “make my fortune.”
I’d probably enjoy roughing it in the wild. I don’t like danger, but I do like camping. And I love treasure hunting!
You get to where you feel stifled by your old life, like a glove that’s too tight. You need to grow, and your old life won’t allow it. So you break out, move somewhere where you can learn and grow.