Prologue

Sierra Foothills, California, August 1854.

In the early days of what would be called the California Gold Rush, stories had abounded of men who would go out on their own with little more than a shovel, pickaxe and a strong back, and would suddenly strike it rich. They returned to their eastern homes to live the easier life of wealthy folk, with few cares save the preservation and spending of that wealth.

Countless men, and often their families, would travel, spending their last savings in hope to realize this dream. Make the sacrifice for the better future. And while there were a number of people who achieved this goal, the percentage was in the single digits. The rest would find themselves either worse off financially, or at best, just break even.

The idea of a man staking a claim and then keeping it for his own soon transitioned to corporations gobbling up massive pieces of land to be mined for precious metals. The man working the mines was an employee, getting filthy, and getting paid a pittance to a business with many managers and executives who never even stepped foot out to a mine, and stayed clean.