1849 gold rush series
Half of the farmers were again on their feet financially. Oftentimes bread could not be had at all. Ham, formerly from 3 to 7 cents a pound, was now 12 cents butter, from 8 to 25 cents. A bushel of corn, formerly only 15 cents, advanced to $1 a barrel, containing 5 bushels, was $5. ‘The farmer fixed no price for his products but advanced them higher and higher with each new band of adventurers. The prices of provisions, cattle, and goods became exorbitant. ‘In the main, I think most of the gold seekers of this year had more ample means than those of later years it was the more necessary also, because nobody hereabouts was prepared for such a large number of emigrants. As they traveled westward the gold fever mounted they were wealthy speculators-not duffers. They had traveled in a sleigh direct from their homes to this place (more than 3,000 miles), in order to be the first to reach California. The first arrivals from the East were two rich merchants from New York. However, when a certain Widmer arrived here in the autumn, having been sent on by Solothurn von Sutter in California to conduct his wife and daughter over the prairie, no one could longer doubt the truth of the reports. For a long time I, and many other people as well, had regarded this much-discussed discovery of gold as a make-believe on the part of the United States Government to get the newly acquired region of California quickly populated. ‘At the end of January 1849 the first gold seeker showed himself in St. Quoting again Rudolph Friederich Kurz who was an eyewitness: Joseph for the hazardous over and trip about a hundred miles west to the present area of Marysville, Kansas, where the "California Trail joined the well-established Oregon Trail. Wagons and supplies could then be purchased in St. It was the optimum north and west point which could be reached in the relative security of the steamboat. Joseph was the point to reach for the trip across the plains. Thousands of Americans decided to head for the California gold fields. The discovery of gold in California changed all that.
![1849 gold rush series 1849 gold rush series](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/united-states-america-circa-2014-260nw-1904009455.jpg)
But most of this traffic was further south.
![1849 gold rush series 1849 gold rush series](https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/08/6a01348793456c970c01bb085f6640970d-450wi.jpg)
Emigrant traffic west over the Oregon Trail' who were camped four miles south of St.