Spreading the Word: A History of Information in the California Gold Rush.(Book review)

Spreading the Word: A History of Information in the California Gold Rush. By Richard T. Stillson. (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Pp. viii, 274. $55.00.)

This detailed study of how gold rushers got information, assessed it, and acted upon it in the 1849 California gold rush should appeal to specialists of the gold rush or the history of American journalism. The author essentially asks about the would-be miners "What did they know and how did they know it?" As he points out, getting good information was critical in making the decision to go, in finding a safe way to California, and in finding gold in the Sierras.

Richard T. Stillson's study is impressive in the depth of research regarding the many ways in which gold rushers found information but is limited to 1849 and 1850, years in which information systems about California were almost nonexistent and were undergoing rapid development. By 1850, he contends, the situation was much improved, especially as a result of the letters the forty-niners sent home. Furthermore, Stillson focuses almost exclusively on Americans who traveled the overland trails. Little is said of those who went by sea or through Panama, nor of those who came from Europe, China, or elsewhere.

Still, within this narrow focus there are interesting nuggets to be mined. Stillson notes, for example, that Eastern guidebooks were available in the Midwest, but few Midwestern guides made it to the Atlantic states. He notes that Northern and Southern newspaper editors reacted much differently to the rush and provided different information to their readers because of this. He notes the way that overland travelers communicated with each other along the trail, and how they came to distrust printed guides in favor of rumors as they went farther west, resulting in the infamous disaster of the Lassen Cutoff. Once in California he also notes the need of travelers to communicate with the East, the inadequacy of the post office system, and the rise of private express companies to fill the miners' needs. Each of these findings contributes to our understanding of the gold rush.

Readers may be frustrated by the narrow focus of the study, and especially the limited context provided for comparing these findings to other news events of the nineteenth century. Such comparisons might make the significance of many of Stillson's findings clearer. However, the study makes a fine start toward further studies of this nature.

In the conclusion, Stillson compares the way the gold rushers evaluated the reliability of information with the way modern day Americans judge the credibility of the many sources of news that bombard them on cable television, the internet, etc. His final questions are provocative and suggest new ways in which to examine many events in the past. Perhaps in this way, Spreading the Word makes its strongest impact as a call to take a new look at old and familiar terrain.

Mark A. Eifler

University of Portland