The discovery of a few flecks of gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 1848 prompted one of the largest migrations in US history as citizens and immigrants moved for the promise of “striking gold” in California. For most, this promise did not materialize and today elementary students surmise as much when their textbooks show the grim faces of the Gold Rush framed in black and white, legs knee-deep in slimy, gray grit and hands holding dented pans and shovels. A Bugs Bunny cartoon from my own childhood displayed a failed prospector who finally wrestles Bugs Bunny only to yank out his own gold tooth and shout, “Euweka gold at wast!”
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