Synopses & Reviews
An environmental History of California during the Gold Rush Between 1849 and 1874 almost $1 billion in gold was mined in California. With little available capital or labor, heres how: high-pressure water cannons washed hillsides into sluices that used mercury to trap gold but let the soil wash away; eventually more than three times the amount of earth moved to make way for the Panama Canal entered Californias rivers, leaving behind twenty tons of mercury every milerivers overflowed their banks and valleys were flooded, the land poisoned. In the rush to wealth, the same chain of foreseeable consequences reduced Californias forests and grasslands.
Not since William Cronons Natures Metropolis has a historian so skillfully applied John Muirs insight“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”to the telling of the history of the American West. Beautifully told, this is western environmental history at its finest.
Andrew C. Isenberg is a professor of history at Temple University. He is the author of The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750–1920 and is a former fellow of the Huntington Library and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Between 1849 and 1874, almost one billion dollars in gold was mined in California. The California gold rush was a key chapter in American industrialization, not only because of the wealth it produced but because of its heavy environmental costs. With labor costs high and capital scarce, California miners used hydraulic technology to shift the burden of their enterprise onto the environment: high-pressure water canons washed hillsides into sluices that used mercury to trap gold but let the soil wash away, and eventually thousands of tons of poisonous debris entered California's rivers. The profitability of hydraulic mining spurred other forms of resource exploitation in the state, including logging, large-scale ranching, and city-building. These, too, took their toll on the environment. This resource-intensive development, typical of American industrialization, became the template for the transformation of the West.
Not since Williams Cronon's Nature's Metropolis has a historian so skillfully applied John Muir's insight"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe"to telling the ecological history of the American West. Succinct and provocative, Mining California is environmental history at its finest. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title "At a time when [California's] residency has been forecast to grow by 13 million in the next 25 years, with its population probably stretching into its farthest regions, Mining California offers sobering reading on the consequences of unchecked expansion."Tess Taylor, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "At a time when [California's] residency has been forecast to grow by 13 million in the next 25 years, with its population probably stretching into its farthest regions, Mining California offers sobering reading on the consequences of unchecked expansion."Tess Taylor, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "A broadly researched history of the impact of human, especially Euramerican, settlement in California . . . Isenberg amply demonstrates how California's unstable geography, erratic weather, singular mix of natural resources, and shortages of capital and labor all encouraged growth of extractive industries (of which mining was the first example) and innovations to reduce labor costs and achieve economies of scale through the large-scale organization of enterprise . . . Offering excellent maps and a comprehensive bibliography, the book is richly illustrated, fully endnoted, and superbly written. This excellent read, a model for future studies, deserves highest recommendations and above."D. Steeples, Mercer University (Emeritus), Choice "Based on extensive archival work and written in clear prose accessible to both a general and more specialist audience, Mining California is a welcome addition to the growing number of studies on the environmental history of mining in the American West."Peter Coates, Environmental History "Andrew Isenberg's erudite new book explores the beginnings of European impact on my own state of California, to which I had moved under the spell of its supposedly pristine environment but unaware of its history, which is concisely recounted here."Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
"Andrew Isenberg shoves rustic myths aside to reveal a gold rush California that roared, buzzed, clanked, and trembled with machines, and bore the cost in polluted rivers, denuded mountain slopes, ruined ranches, and shattered Indian communities. Anyone wanting to understand the industrial, social, and ecological revolutions that constituted America's most famous economic boom must read this elegant and provocative book."Louis Warren, University of California, Davis
"As entertaining as it is insightful, Isenberg's book does justice to the dramatic ecological transformations California underwent in the half century after the gold rush. This is environmental history at its best."J.R. McNeill, author of Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the 20th-century World
"Andrew Isenberg's superb new book analyzes the ecological domino effect set in motion by the California gold rush, which touched off the cycles of environmental degradation the scale of which we can only now fully appreciate. Filled with lessons and warnings, Mining California is a timely and important book."William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
"Forget rugged individualism: corporations owned the Old West, agribusiness dominated the 19th-century landscape, and speculators looted the public trust. So writes environmental historian Isenberg, observing that the passage of the Homestead Act of 1862 did little to prevent the West from being carved into resource-extractive estates. In this setting, California suffered 'enclosure,' much as the highlands of Scotland had; Indians were pushed aside, valuable properties appropriated and the government molded to benefit the largeholders. In Northern California, the driving forces were not only agricultural interests, but also companies devoted to removing ore and timber. They prospered, while their workers and tenants suffered; as Isenberg points out, for example, the miners who worked the first wave of the Gold Rush were earning $20 a day in 1848, but only $3 a day in 1856 (and that second number, he notes, 'represents only the wages of those who earned enough in the gold country to remain there'). One cause was the replacement of labor-intensive forms of extraction with machinery; on the American River, placer mining technology took the place of humans, and soon whole mountains were washed into the San Francisco Bay. Timber companies removed huge quantities of redwood trees, once
Review
“Superbly written. This excellent read, a model for future studies, deserves highest recommendations.” D. Steeples,
Choice;
An Outstanding Academic Title“As entertaining as it is insightful, Isenberg's book does justice to the dramatic ecological transformations California underwent in the half century after the Gold Rush. This is environmental history at its best.” J. R. McNeill, author of Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
“Andrew Isenberg's superb new book analyzes the ecological domino effect set in motion by the California Gold Rush, which touched off the cycles of environmental degradation the scale of which we can only now fully appreciate. Filled with lessons and warnings, Mining California is a timely and important book.” William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
“The book offers a mother lode of descriptions of the sheer scale of projects undertaken, and a keen portrait of the ecological domino effect of new industries…. At a time when the states residency has been forecast to grow by 13 million in the next 25 years, with its population probably stretching into its farthest regions, Mining California offers sobering reading on the consequences of unchecked expansion.” San Francisco Chronicle Page Traynor - Brian Lehrer, host of On the Media, National Public Radio - James McBride, author of The Color of Water and Miracle at St. Anna - Kevin J. Anderson - Dorothy Allison - Philip Lopate - Clive Cussler - Jon Winokur - Tony Hillerman - Jonathan Kellerman - W.E.B. Griffin, author of Final Justice - James Carville - Jacqueline Carey - Douglas Brinkley - David Gibson - Anthony Minghella - Fay Weldon - Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain - Antonya Nelson - Jean Thompson - Charles Stross - Spider Robinson - Neal Asher - Karl Schroeder - Elizabeth Bear - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Russ Parsons - Philip Pullman - Sara Douglass - Bill Bryson - Barbara Ehrenreich - Kirkus - John Blades - Ellen Kanner - Gilbert Taylor - Jane Brody's "Personal Health" column in The New York Times - Daniel Mallory - Jim Harrison, author of True North - Michael Ondaatje - Karen Karbo - Kristine Huntley - Susan Orlean - John Banville - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Neil Walsh - Stephen R. Donaldson - Jacqueline Carey - Glen Cook - Elizabeth Haydon - David Drake - Robert Charles Wilson - Cory Doctorow - Bret Easton Ellis - Candace Bushnell - Dominick Dunne - Jay McInerney - Jonathan Demme, filmmaker - A.O. Scott - Martin Arnold - Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes - J. B. Priestley - Charles de Lint - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Gillian Engberg - Clarissa Cruz - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Patrick Anderson - Walter Jon Williams - S. M. Stirling - Connie Willis, Hugo Award-winning author of To Say Nothing of the Dog - Morgan Llywelyn - Jacqueline Carey - George R.R. Martin - Frederick Busch - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Paul Di Filippo - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - SciFi.com - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Los Angeles Times - Vanity Fair - New York Times Book Review - Rocky Mountain News - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Cincinnati Enquirer - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - The New York Times - The Washington Times - Los Angeles Times - West Coast Review of Books - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Rocky Mountain News - Chicago Tribune - New York Sun - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Horn Book Magazine - School Library Journal - USA Today - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Entertainment Weekly - January Magazine - Booklist - Library Journal - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - New York Observer - The New York Times Book Review - Publishers Weekly - The Knoxville News-Sentinel - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - Midwest Book Review - Santa Barbara News-Press - Newsweek - Library Journal - Greenwich Magazine - Time Out New York - New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - Booklist (starred review) - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred) - Washington Post Book World - Publishers Weekly, starred review - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - School Library Journal - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - Publishers Weekly (starred review) - SF Site - New York Observer - The Economist - Publishers Weekly - Enigma - SF Site - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Romantic Times - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Booklist - The Guardian - The Observer - Financial Times - New York Observer - Houston Chronicle - Art Week - Christian Science Monitor - Charlotte Observer - Edmonton Journal - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Time Out New York - Library Journal - Cincinnati CityBeat - Globe and Mail - Quill and Quire - Vancouver Sun - New York Times Magazine - The Washington Post - Library Journal - Booklist - Dallas Morning News - Newsweek - The Washington Post Book World - The Los Angeles Times Book Review - Booklist - Stephen Coonts - W.E.B. Griffin - Thomas Fleming - Walter J. Boyne - Pages Magazine - Chronicle - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Chicago Tribune - Kirkus, starred review - Library Journal - Kirkus - Publishers Weekly - Mystery News - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - People - Entertainment Weekly - The Boston Globe - The Columbus Dispatch - The Roanoke Times - Bookstreet USA - Sullivan County Democrat - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - New York Daily News - Publishers Weekly - The Dallas Morning News - The Guardian [UK - ] - The New York Times - The Times [UK - ] - Washington Post - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Parade - Publishers Weekly - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Washington Post Book World - San Francisco Chronicle - Newsday - Buffalo News - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Library Journal - Los Angeles Times - Library Journal - Booklist - The New York Times Book Review - Kirkus Reviews - Bulletin of Center for Children's Books - School Library Journal - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Time Out - Mail on Sunday - People - Kirkus Reviews - Elle - Time Out New York - Miami Herald - New York Post - David Gibson - Douglas Brinkley - People (four stars) - Baltimore Sun - New Yorker - Seattle Times - Library Journal - Booklist - The Chattanooga Free Press - Kirkus Reviews - The Calgary Herald - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune Book World - Houston Chronicle - Los Angeles Times - Publishers Weekly - San Francisco Chronicle - The Atlantic Monthly - The New York Times - The New York Times Book Review - The New York Times Book Review - The Washington Post - Time - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - Publishers Weekly (starred review) - Library Journal (starred review) - The Dark Spiral - Washington Post Book World - The New York Times - Philadelphia Inquirer - Newsweek - Publishers Weekly - Independent (UK) - Spectator (UK) - Times Literary Supplement (UK) - Booklist (starred review) - Indianapolis Star - Kirkus Reviews - New York Times - New York Times Book Review - Vogue - San Francisco Chronicle - Village Voice - The Dallas Morning News - El Paso Herald-Post - Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, USA Today bestselling authors - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Max Evans - Norman Zollinger - Publishers Weekly - Richard Wheeler - Rocky Mountain News - Tony Hillerman - Tulsa World - The New York Times - Analog - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - Essence - CNN Money - Chicago Tribune - Philadelphia Inquirer - The Orlando Sentinel - Booklist - Romantic Times - Library Journal - O magazine - Washington Post - Publishers Weekly - The Australian Woman's Weekly - Romantic Times BOOKreviews - Library Journal - Boston Globe
Review
“Superbly written. This excellent read, a model for future studies, deserves highest recommendations.” —D. Steeples,
Choice;
An Outstanding Academic Title“As entertaining as it is insightful, Isenberg's book does justice to the dramatic ecological transformations California underwent in the half century after the Gold Rush. This is environmental history at its best.” —J. R. McNeill, author of Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
“Andrew Isenberg's superb new book analyzes the ecological domino effect set in motion by the California Gold Rush, which touched off the cycles of environmental degradation the scale of which we can only now fully appreciate. Filled with lessons and warnings, Mining California is a timely and important book.” —William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
“The book offers a mother lode of descriptions of the sheer scale of projects undertaken, and a keen portrait of the ecological domino effect of new industries…. At a time when the states residency has been forecast to grow by 13 million in the next 25 years, with its population probably stretching into its farthest regions, Mining California offers sobering reading on the consequences of unchecked expansion.” —San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
An environmental History of California during the Gold Rush Between 1849 and 1874 almost $1 billion in gold was mined in California. With little available capital or labor, heres how: high-pressure water cannons washed hillsides into sluices that used mercury to trap gold but let the soil wash away; eventually more than three times the amount of earth moved to make way for the Panama Canal entered Californias rivers, leaving behind twenty tons of mercury every mile—rivers overflowed their banks and valleys were flooded, the land poisoned. In the rush to wealth, the same chain of foreseeable consequences reduced Californias forests and grasslands.
Not since William Cronons Natures Metropolis has a historian so skillfully applied John Muirs insight—“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”—to the telling of the history of the American West. Beautifully told, this is western environmental history at its finest.
About the Author
Andrew C. Isenberg is a professor of history at Temple University. He is the author of
The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 and is a former fellow of
the Huntington Library and the Shelby Cullom
Davis Center for Historical Studies.