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Emily Pihl
HIS 178-1
Crispin-Peralta
6 February 2013
The Essence of Freedom: An Anaylsis of the Women in the California Gold Rush
On August 28, 1847, Sam Brannan published San Francisco’s first newspaper, The
California Star, revealing the community’s population figures: 459 residents, among them 138 women (Levy, xix). From the very beginning, the presence of women in the late nineteenth century Californian communities measured extremely sparse. Three years later, after Brannan’s notorious “Eureka” cry finally hit the press, the 1850 San Franciscan sex ratio of whites confirmed such scarcity with a shocking ratio of two female to every twelve male (Hurtado, 76).
The numbers alone proved one of the most astounding gender disconnections California will ever know; for, with the onset of the Gold Rush of the 1850’s, an influx of gold-fevered men permeated the streams, coasts, and mountains of the West. Though pockets of women did exist, this initial male dominance of the northern territory heavily impacted the later presence and culture of Californian women. Through continental and seafaring travel routes, women eventually entered into the scene of the gold rush, and when they did, a new generation of independent women arose. As a result of the uncultivated and harsh reality of the Gold Rush, late nineteenth century, Californian women experienced both hardships and triumphs, defining a new age of occupational opportunism, needs for domestication and changes in societal norms.
As women began to travel to the west, whether with their gold seeking husbands, as independent individuals, or as elder daughters, the essence of freedom and opportunity welcomed them. Prior to its official statehood in 1850, California initially lacked governmental,

Pihl 2 regulated law and order, so people remained free from systemized legislature, eastern restrictions and all societal norms. Thus, women who came to the mines found freedom from typical conventionalities and gained ability to live more autonomously. Many women eagerly embraced this rare chance of autonomy and once they reached the west, never wanted to return. In San
Jose, Mary Jane Megquier’s confessed similarly that “‘…the very air I breathe seems so very free [in California] that I have not the least desire to return [to Maine]’” (Levy, 109). Not only was the air “free” but also was it opportunistic. Because of the obvious absence of women throughout the California Sierra, the male dominated society placed high value on women’s labor, which provided a chance for females to gain economic prosperity. It was common for women to make money quickly and profitably, as Henry Packer describes in the fall of 1850, because “women’s time is much more valuable than men’s. A woman can get $150.00 per month for house work, while hundreds of men are now employed upon the levee…’” (Rohrbough, 178).
The opportunities appeared endless, and women took advantage of such.
The most common occupations for woman revolved around providing domesticized facilities and labor for transients and miners; running a boardinghouse, washing service or bakery often profited woman greatly. One example comes from Luzena Stanley Wilson, a
Missourian who in the spring of 1849 traveled to California with her husband to seek gold. Upon settling near Deer Creek, Sacramento, and seeing the nearby Wamac’s Hotel advertising for
$1.00 meals, Luzena became determined to commercially compete. In her diary she told how she bought two boards, and “‘…with my own hands I chopped stakes, drove them into the ground, and set up my table… and when my husband came back at night he found…20 miners eating at my table’”(Wilson). Within months, Luzena’s Coyote Digging’s boardinghouse consisted upwards of two hundred boarders at twenty five dollars a week; her instant wealth earned her a

Pihl 3 quick and comfortable retirement. This demand for warm housing, home-cooked meals and clean clothes was high among an uncivilized gold rush community because these luxuries provided men of the gold rush with a sense of normalcy and brought them the comforts of home. Men, driven by their needs for “sexual gratification, for intellectual companionship, for domestic services or for “civilizing” influences,” obsessed over the lack of female society (Rohrbough,
92). Because of the 19 th
century gender relations, women typically symbolized the private sphere of homemaking and propriety, while men occupied the political and economic sphere. These standards dictated both social relations and community life of the nineteenth century, especially in the East. However, the initial deprivation of women in California greatly upset this regularity, leaving men not only without cooks and caregivers, but also without the normalcy of traditional,
American domesticity. As a result, when women eventually appeared in the mines and boomtowns, men glorified their presence and greatly welcomed their civility. To some degree, the ‘49ers “used the presence of women to measure the transformation of California into what they called a genteel society” ( Rohrbough, 92). Women like Luzena Wilson met the needs for this “genteel society,” and through their active participation as domesticators, helped begin to civilize a very rugged California.
Nevertheless, though occupation opportunity enticed many women, incentives like high paychecks and male appreciation often masked a harsh reality; living and working in a primitive mining camp provided nothing more than continuous demands, discomfort and hardship. Daily life throughout the nineteenth century gold rush greatly benefited some women, while also sadly defeating others. Unclean and unaccommodating mining sites contained no physical appeal or comfort, and the surrounding company of brazen, wily men only added to a women’s distress.
Luxuries like bathtubs, fresh produce, and paved roads were foreign in California’s mines. Even

Pihl 4 major economic hubs like San Francisco, California’s largest city, boasted few comforts, for even streets remained littered and unpaved (Levy 54). In a letter to her son in 1852, Mary Ballou, also a boardinghouse keeper, wrote of these deplorable conditions, the repetitive and backbreaking work; she described how her hard work caused severe arm pain, sicknesses and extreme fatigue. Even through her economic prosperity, Mary “would not advise any Lady to come out here and suffer the toil and fatigue” which plagued a woman of the time (Ballou). In addition, lack of female companionship, social networks and the typical eastern society further beleaguered those who already detested the untamed mining communities. Isolation and loneliness often drove women to find success or value in less conservative lines of work. While a large majority of American women journeyed to California with spouses or family, the gold rush’s urbanization attracted many single women. Yet, upon arrival, some of these young women
“found neither lawful spouses nor dependable employment” but sadly instead found “…a demand for and a supply of prostitutes” (Hurtado, 79). Prostitution flourished in gold rush communities, not only because of a high demand from young, sex-hungry men, but also because no governmental or societal codes yet restricted such lewd activity. The west condoned prostitution as an amendable cure for loneliness and as an occupational “chance for social mobility in the sexually permissive city” (Krazmien). So, single women often turned towards parlor houses, brothels and gambling halls for employment, social security and in essence, a hopeful chance at a somewhat normal livelihood. The harsh realities of the gold rush certainly challenged the eastern image of the “perfect housewife” or “innocent young woman” and instead altered a woman’s social norm to include realities like uncomfortable living styles and lewd professions like prostitution.

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These harsh realities, however, were not always readily accepted or praised by everyone in the female society. Instead of condoning lewd behavior or praising uncomfortable living conditions, many women viewed California’s immorality and lack of cleanliness in a negative light. As a result, these women sought to civilize the gold rush camps. At a time where male vigilante committees fought to protect property entitlement, many Californian woman created similar committees and instead “literally and figuratively rolled their sleeves and went to work to tidy up society” (Levy 205). Individuals and associations attempted to civilize the gold rush communities through civic projects. Women like Georgiana Kirby focused on the uneducated, seeking to civilize other young women and children; she started a girl’s school in her home.
Margaret De Witt, a religious activist, organized fund-raising to earn $16,000 towards erecting
San Francisco’s First Presbyterian Church in 1850. Churches promoted moral reformation throughout mining camps and cities, and through their congregational participation, women targeted debaucheries like gambling, prostitution and drinking. The gold rush’s wild and untamed society offered extra opportunities for women to gain independence as activists and reformers, giving a new generation of women a voice and critical value as individuals.
In conclusion, because of the opportunistic and advantageous appeal of the gold rush, an eventual influx of women swept into California, only to be transformed socially, domestically and individually. The need for female propriety and domestic labor provided women with ability to achieve economic prosperity. Through their labor, women brought a sense of civility into the male dominated, gold mining communities. As activists, reformers and laborers, the average
Californian women gained worth, value, and an internal independence. Women of the gold rush varied greatly in their achievements, proficiencies and involvements as a part of the changing society around them. However, this variation and uniqueness of every woman’ story added to the

Pihl 6 greater picture of change and transformation California endured. Because of the gold rush, the definition of female conventions and roles in society shifted and, contrasted to traditional, nineteenth century gender conventions, gold rush women finally gained an essence of freedom in
California, both within and outside of their private sphere of domesticity.

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Works Cited
Ballou, Mary. ""This Muddy Place"" Letter to Selden. 27 Oct. 1852. History Matters: The U.S.
Survey Course on the Web . Web. 3 Feb. 2013. <http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6512/>.
Hurtado, Albert L. Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California .
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1999. Print.
Krazmien, Mindy M. "Gold-Rush Era Prostitutes." FoundSF RSS . Web. 04 Feb. 2013.
<http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Gold-Rush_Era_Prostitutes>
Levy, Jo Ann. They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush . Hamden, Ct.:
Archon, 1990. Print.
Luzena, Wilson S. "Luzena Stanley Wilson '49er." PBS . PBS, 2001. Web. 03 Feb. 2013. < http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/three/luzena.htm#ch6>.
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation .
Berkeley: University of California, 1997. Print.