Originally aired on January 28, 2008.
Tom Fudge: You know what we call California: the Golden State. I've never been sure why it's called that. Maybe it is because in summer the grass on the green hills dries in the arid climate and the hills turn golden. But more likely it's because California was created due to the Gold Rush .
If that sounds like an exaggeration, it's not. Gold was discovered here 1848, the Gold Rush began in earnest in 1849, and statehood arrived in 1850. During this time, hundreds of thousands of people moved to California, traveling by land or ship. Cities were born. Roads, schools, and churches were built, a state constitutional convention was convened, and the state's huge agriculture industry took hold. It all happened during the Gold Rush.
A professor at Oceanside's Mira Costa College has written a book about the Gold Rush. The book is called
Hard Road West
. The author is Keith Heyer Meldahl, who is, interestingly, a professor of geology. His book tells the story not just of the human emigration that caused the Gold Rush, but also of the geology that put the gold here, and the landscape that made the West what it is.
Guest
- Keith Meldahl , professor of geology at Mira Costa College in Oceanside and author of the new book Hard Road West about Gold Rush emigrants and the rough California terrain they encountered.
