October 29, 2009

Post date: Oct 30, 2009 9:09:10 PM

California Gold Rush!

The California gold rush was in full swing 160 years ago (in 1849). Everyone headed to the hills to find their fortune. San Francisco's population dropped to only 200! Now the population is 3/4 million.

When miners returned to San Francisco, they found that the new currency was gold (nuggets or dust). Things were so expensive that it was cheaper to ship laundry to China and back than to have it cleaned locally. Today a legacy of the gold rush lives on -- blue jeans were first produced by Levi Strauss as the perfect work pants for miners.