The Wells Fargo Book of the Gold Rush

The Wells Fargo Book of the Gold Rush by Margaret Rau begins with James Marshall's 1848 discovery of gold flakes in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and chronicles the mayhem that follows, with covered wagons headed west, townships springing up in their path and the start of Wells Fargo in 1852, which provided an ""express forwarding agency"" for valuable cargo. The book ends with the ""Bust"" of 1855 and the Forty-Niners' departure. Period photographs and drawings from the Wells Fargo Historical Archives illustrate the events. (May)