Two of my Proxy Brides books have some of the hero’s riches
coming from gold found further West. The existence of their holdings out west
actually cause problems between hero and heroine in both
A and
my new book releasing next week,
A Bride for Hamilton. Ransom’s claim was in
Oregon and he was anxious to get back to it. Hamilton keeps his claims a secret
from his bride which leads to all sorts of complications. I found it
fascinating to research the Gold Rush. Here’s a little of what I found:
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that
began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's
Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000
people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden
influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and
the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood,
in the Compromise of 1850.
The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. Whole
indigenous societies were attacked and pushed
off their lands by the
gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year
for Gold Rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were
from Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America in late 1848. Of
the approximately 300,000 people who came to California during the Gold Rush, about
half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the Gila
River trail; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While
most of the newly arrived were Americans, the gold rush attracted thousands
from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China. Agriculture and ranching
expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco
grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of
about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built
throughout California. In 1849 a state constitution was written. In September
1850, California became a state.
At the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law
regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking
claims" was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and
riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. Although the mining caused
environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed
and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as
steamships came into regular service. By 1869, railroads were built from
California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances
reached a point where significant financing was required, increasing the
proportion of gold companies to individual miners. Gold worth tens of billions
of today's US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few,
though many who participated in the California Gold Rush earned little more
than they had started with.
Shortly after the discovery of gold in the Sutter’s Mill in
California (which started the California gold rush), another state also started
its own lust-for-gold movement: Oregon. Reports of gold discovered in Oregon
date back to 1850, but it was not quite enough to spark the Oregon gold rush.
Two years later, however, the discovery of rich gold deposits by a group of
sailors who headed for Crescent City did the job. The area where the deposit
was found is now called Sailors Diggings. Prior to the first documented gold
discovery in Southwestern Oregon, the region was pretty much uninhabited, with
the exception of Native Americans, fur trappers, and gold prospectors
travelling to Mother Lode Country.
In 1854, the Oregon gold rush was on its full-scale. A ditch
that stretched about eleven miles long was constructed to deliver water to the
rich-placer ground. Soon after that, large deposits were found in three
different river drainages including the Rogue, Applegate, and Illinois Rivers.
Althouse Creek
was considered one of the richest; some said that it was
prospected by more than 10,000 men during the first decade of the gold rush.
Many of those men had been in the Northern California before they came to the
creek; unfortunately for them, rich grounds had been already claimed by the
time they arrived.
The drive for fortune seemed to know no bounds, and it took
only a little while until prospectors realized that there were richer grounds
in the area. Nearly every tributary for as long as 50 miles north of California
border contained gold. The first period of the Oregon gold rush lasted until
1861, but it continued right away as soon as the discovery of gold in Eastern
Oregon. The old mining towns in Southwest Oregon were abandoned, but you can
still find them today.
Marry in haste, repent at leisure…
Sadie Fitzsimmons must choose between total
destitution and marriage by proxy with someone she’s never met.
When Sadie steps off the train to meet her new
husband for the first time, life in Nebraska is not at all what she had
expected. Torn between honoring the vows she spoke to a stranger, and her
desire to be free of all obligations, Sadie must face the consequences of her
choices.
Hamilton Foster had worked hard for his
successes. All that was missing from his perfect life was a family of his own.
Sending home to Boston for a wife seemed like a good idea until she arrived and
she was too pretty to be trusted.
Follow along to see if these two can find their
happily ever after.
Ransom is just looking for a mother for his orphaned niece.
The fact that she’s from Boston is a
Hannah needs a husband. Her new name will protect her siblings. The fact that
he lives in the back of beyond gives them a place to hide. She hadn’t counted
on him being so appealing.
But what happens when they realize how very permanent their proxy marriage
truly is?
bonus. Their arrangement allows him to get
out of town.
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~ Happy Reading ~
