FORTUNE’S FRENZY: A California Gold Rush Odyssey, by Eilene LyonHow do we remember the forty-niners? The hundreds of thousands of gold miners who flooded California, displaced Indigenous people, remade the landscape and laid the ground for statehood? Perhaps we picture a grizzled prospector panning for gold, broke and desperate, praying for the mother lode. Whatever we imagine, according to a new book by Eilene Lyon, the reality was much worse. “Fortune’s Frenzy” traces the path of Henry Jenkins, an Indiana farmer who left for California in 1851.

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Persons: Eilene Lyon, Henry Jenkins, Jenkins, Lyon, “, Susannah, ”, merriment ” Organizations: California, Rush Locations: California, Indiana, New Orleans, Panama, San Francisco