The curse of gold: how the gold rush captured the Americans and did not want to let go

The gold rush that overtook the inhabitants of the California coast in the middle of the 19th century played a cruel joke in the life of most of them. The stories of many families who devoted their lives to the search for gold turned out to be so tragic that a century after these events, the famous publication LIFE made a series of materials about ruined lives.

Gold seekers while away a break in the game of playing cards.

Here, in Melons, in the mid-19th century, an American "hit the jackpot", collecting 10 thousand dollars in gold.

A sign over a road in California.

California province.

Hubert Brady was one of those who found years of fever and knew many fascinating stories about this period. True, in those days he was still a child.

The father of this American also hit a big jackpot at the gold mines in 1847.

In this picture, two Californians carefully examine a place that a hundred years ago enriched more than one person.

For many decades after the gold rush in America, assay offices functioned in which you could check the ore for the presence of precious metal.

And it looked like gold mines in the 20th century.

This elderly American could not give up the passion of his ancestors and was looking for gold a hundred years later, just for fun. Of course, his find was very modest: only about thirty dollars in 60 days.

At the height of the gold rush, a gold nugget weighing about 90 kg was found in one of the mines of Morgan. This old man by the name of Purdy worked in the legendary mine many years after a historical find.