Women in the California Gold Rush
Encyclopedia
Women in California
Gold Rush
were scarce but played an important role. Some of the first people in the mining fields
were wives and families who were already in California
. A few women and children worked right alongside the men but most men left their wives and families home. The number of women in California changed very quickly as the rich gold strikes and lack of women created strong pressures to restore sex balance. As travel arrangements improved and were made easier and more predictable the number of women coming to California rapidly increased. Most women probably came by way of Panama
as this was one of the fastest trips (40–90 days) and one of the most reliable—although expensive in 1850--$400–$600/person one-way. Passage via Panama became much more predictable after the paddle wheel
steam ship lines were up and running by late 1849. In Ireland
, the Great Potato Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852 that drove many desperate women to the United States
and on to California
.
Women of many different countries, statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The rapidly increasing population had very few women in it and what women there were found myriads of opportunities. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the women poor gold fields and communities.
Women going to California to rejoin their families usually had their passages paid for by miners or businessmen who had decided to make California their new home. Most of the male Argonauts
had originally planned on getting their gold and returning home to rejoin their families and enjoy their new riches. Typically women euphemistically labeled as entertainers had little or no money for passage but as soon as they showed up in California they were hired by various saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, peep shows and/or brothel
s. The cost of passage was typically paid for by the entertainer agreeing to work for the payees for at least three to six months. These ’’entertainers’’ initially were the majority of the female population. Very few of these ’’entertainers’’ made the five to six month trip by wagon on the California Trail
or chose the five to seven month all sea journey around Cape Horn
.
As the gold mining and associated businesses prospered, many men decided to make California their new home and many husbands or potential husbands sent money back to their original homes for their women and families to join them. Others went back east to wind up their business there and escort their women and families to California. Many single men started communicating with female acquaintances they knew and many proposals were accepted with this long distance dating. Some communities back east were severely depleted in men who had left for the gold fields and some of these excess women decided to join their friends or family headed to California. It took 40-60 days for a letter to go from California via Panama to a city in the east and another 40-60 days for a reply so this was ’slow’ courting. If these long distance proposals were accepted, the prospective groom if a successful miner or businessman sent money for passage and spending money. Usually as soon as the prospective bride got off the ship they were rushed to a preacher to get married. Most single women in California quickly had several proposals for marriage. As time went on the ever increasing immigration of more women and families started changing the composition of the female population and the entertainers soon became out numbered.
There were many unusual opportunities for women in the cities and gold fields as men, starved for female company, paid extravagant fees to associate with women or buy products that were made by women. There are several stories of women making more money selling home made pies, doughnuts, etc. then their husbands made mining. Laundrys, Restaurants, lodging, mending, waiting tables, all paid good wages.
These entertainers were joined by a few women (less than 3% of initial travelers) who came either overland via the California Trail
or by sea with their husbands and families. They refused to be left behind to fend for themselves or miss an exciting life changing opportunity. A few of these travelers became widows as their husbands died of disease or were killed. On the California Trail
, about 4% of the people on the trail died from accidents, cholera
, fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. On the sea voyage via Panama there were the usual hazards of traveling across the Isthmus of Panama by canoe and mule, waiting in disease prevalent in Chagres
and Panama City
where cholera
and yellow fever
often took a dreadful toll—up to 30% of some travelers. The final step was catching a paddle wheel steam ship
for the 15-20 day trip to California. See Ulysses S. Grant
's biography for a vivid description of the hazards of crossing Panama.
The sex imbalance hehehehehe in California (indeed in most of the West) would persist though several generations as the number of females gradually increased to something roughly equivalent to the numbers of males.
The 1850 U.S. California Census, the first census that included everyone, showed only about 7,019 females with 4,165 non-Indian females older than 15 in the state. To this should be added about 1,300 women greater than 15 from San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa counties whose censuses were lost and not included in the totals. This gives about 5,500 females greater than age 15 in a total California population (not including Indians who were not counted) of about 120,000 residents in 1850 or about 4.5% female. The number of women in the mining communities and mining camps can be estimated by subtracting the roughly 2,000 females who lived in predominately Californio
(Hispanics born in California before 1848) communities and were not part of the gold rush community. About 3.0% of the gold rush Argonauts before 1850 were female or about 3,500 female Gold Rushers compared of about 115,000 male California Gold Rushers.
By California’s 1852 State Census the population has already increased to about 200,000 of which about 10% or 20,000 are female. Competition by 1852 had decreased the steam ship fare via Panama to about $200 and the Panama Railroad (completed 1855) was already working its way across the Isthmus making it ever easier to get to California.
By the 1860 U.S. Federal Census California had a population of 330,000 with 223,000 males and 107,000 females—still a male to female ratio greater than 2 males to 1 female. By 1870 the population had increased to 560,000 with 349,000 males and 211,000 females or a ratio of 100 males to 38 females. Equilibrium female-male number parity would take till the 1950 census with a total population of 10,586,00; 5,296,000 males compared to 5,291,000 females.
Women of all different statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The rapidly increasing California population had very few women and women found a myriad of different opportunities which were normally not available to them. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the women poor gold fields and communities. Some of the first women to show up were women from southern California, Sonora
, Chihuahua, Acapulco
, and San Blas
. Since Sonoran women predominated they all were typically all labeled ‘’’Sonorans’’’ or ‘’Senoritas’’ by the miners. They were soon joined by women from Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Since Chileans predominated all the South America
Latinos were all typically called ‘’’Chilenos’’’. As word got back to the east coast of the job opportunities for women and travel arrangements were worked out with paddle wheel
steam ship lines with dependable schedules on the Caribbean
and Pacific Ocean
many more women started coming to California.
Most of the women who worked in the saloons, gambling halls, dance halls and/or brothels were labeled ’’entertainers’’. Typically these entertainers had little or no money for passage but as soon as they showed up they were hired by various, saloons, gambling halls, dance halls and/or brothels who paid for the cost of their trip. The women typically repaid the cost of passage by agreeing to work for the payees at least three to six months. In women starved California men paid up to $16.00 to $20.00 a night for the privilege of having them sit at the same gaming table with them. Very few of these ’’entertainers’’ made the five to six month trip by wagon on the California Trail
or chose the five to seven month all sea journey around Cape Horn
.
In San Francisco, a official port of entry for California shipping and passengers, the population exploded from about 200 in 1846 to 36,000 in 1852. In San Francisco initially many women (and men) were housed in wooden houses, ships hauled up on the shore to serve as homes or businesses, canvas wood framed tents and other flammable structures. These types of structures combined with a lot of drunken gamblers and miners led almost inevitably to many fires. Most of San Francisco burned down six times in six Great Fires between 1849 and 1852.
From San Francisco by late 1849 Paddle steamers were transporting the miners and others 125 miles (201.2 km) to Sacramento, California
and the start of the California Gold Rush
country.
Young Chinese girls were bought in China and sold as Chinese prostitutes for Chinese men and were considered to be the bottom of the prostitute's hierarchy. They were always far fewer than the male Chinese population with only seven Chinese prostitutes known in 1850. Hispanic women typical were considered one rung up in desirability. In late 1849 French Prostitutes got a head start as about 200 of them showed up in San Francisco. Other French prostitutes showed up from French settlements in Lima
Peru
and Santiago Chile. White American and French prostitutes were considered the most desirable and could and did charge the highest prices. Many French prostitutes, for example, became very wealthy since they were actively sought at the saloons, gaming tables, dance halls, peep shows, etc. and as escorts to prosperous miners and business men. Typically, the lighter complexion a woman had, the higher price she could get. Prostitution occurred in organized brothels, individually rented rooms, and in saloons, gaming halls, or fandangos--which offered dancing, gambling, alcohol, and sometimes prostitutes. Increasing populations of miner's and businessman's wives and their families helped further stigmatize prostitution when middle-class morality began to come to California in the late 1850s.
In 1850 San Francisco had 537 registered saloons. There was little opportunity to do anything except visit the saloons—very little else existed. California Prostitutes suffered from a litany of problems common to prostitutes then and now. Unwanted pregnancy was a distinct possibility since there were no commonly available contraceptive drugs or apparatus. The alternative to an unwanted pregnancy was back room abortion or giving birth and raising an illegitimate child of often uncertain parentage. Disease was a constant problem difficult to escape since syphilis was common among a lot of men and women. If discovered in time, there were treatments for syphilis
but it was costly and painful. Communicable diseases, like cholera
, measles
, tuberculosis
, diphtheria
, etc. were a constant threat as knowledge of how they were spread or how to treat them was unknown. Germs would remain unknown for another 30 years and effective treatment for over a century in many cases. Sanitation practices were expensive and not understood so clean water and sewage collection and treatment were just starting to develop. Epidemics like cholera and yellow fever
killed thousands. Medical treatments were of very uneven quality as almost anyone could call themselves a doctor and treat patients—professional medical training and certification was just starting to be developed. Medical knowledge was so poor that training often did little or no good. If you survived you got a doctor bill, if you died you got buried.
To make more money, the women were often paid to ‘’push’’ drinks on their customers and if successful they often ended up inebriated. Sometimes they were allowed to drink tea which only ‘’looked’’ like the expensive drinks their companions were paying for. Drug, alcohol or gambling addiction was common problem as some women tried to escape into another world. Often prostitutes were managed by pimps who collected a large share of their earnings. Drunk customers were a continuing problem. Many men were dirty and wore dirty clothes. Almost unique to this period is the lack of baths of the typical man (and women). Bathing involved a strenuous process of heating water on a wood stove, dumping it in a tub, washing down and then dumping the dirty water. Not everyone believed in being clean and baths were infrequent for many. Eventually there did develop bath houses where bathing could be done for a fee. Clothes were hard to wash and iron and there are several stories of dirty laundry being sent to Hawaii to be cleaned and ironed and then returned—it was cheaper than getting it done locally.
Some of California’s prostitution practitioners were indentured Chinese women, economically and socially oppressed Latina women, or kidnapped and enslaved white women. It was a form of oppression not a profession. From 1848 to the late 1850s, prostitutes experienced an unprecedented ascension in power and a rapid fall from grace as more ‘’respectable’’ women and their families came to California. Many prostitutes were illiterate and signed contracts with dubious legality with an X. As the number of prostitutes multiplied prices went down and it became harder to make a living. As prostitution became more illegal it was often necessary to pay bribes to the local police to keep operating. It is unknown what the average life span of prostitutes was but it was almost certainly less than the average woman in this era. Prostitution was often a dirty degrading experience for the women who participated in it.
or earn wages/cash while the husband tried his luck panning for gold. One of the most popular ways for a woman to earn a living was to run a boarding house
. California was about the only place that women could earn wages higher than men for equivalent work because women were scarce, and the men would pay just to be in their company and have them do household tasks the men did not want or know how to do.
Most single women came as part of a family group or as an "entertainer". Many men did not find their fortune in the gold fields, and having a woman around to earn money with boarding, washing, cooking, sewing, etc. could mean the difference between the family living well and not. A few women even had their own gold mining claims and came out west with the specific intention of panning for gold. As the easy to find placer gold became scarcer or harder to work and mining became more complex than panning for gold as well as capital and labor intensive, women typically moved out of the goldfields and into some other type of work. Most women had many marriage proposals and could get married almost as soon as they found someone they liked.
In the mines in the Sierra Nevadas, where there were fewer white women, Mexican
and Chile
an women gained importance as increased competition caused them to leave the larger towns and cities and go to the smaller gold mining camps. This opportunity for upward economic gain was easier for non-white women than for non-white men.
Starting in the mid-1850s, people began to “civilize” the Gold Rush population by settling into their traditional roles, mores and economic classes and abandoning non-traditional gender roles. Many lone men sent for their families and middle class American morality re-emerged as the number of middle class wives and families increased. It is estimated that about 30% of the male miners were married men who had left their families to try their luck in California. Many men returned back to their homes but many more decided get their family to California and stay. The influx of more white women, who were seen as symbols of purity and morality in the typical Victorian view, often changed the "accepted" morality and mores. In some Societies and communities with large populations of non-white immigrants some non-white male groups were assigned formerly “feminine” roles(e.g., the Chinese laundry and cooks).
tradition there and in other states historically under the sway of French- or Spanish-based legal systems. The English-based common law
under which many American jurisdictions operated then, women upon marriage had little or no property rights beyond provisions for one-third of the household goods and land in the event of death of the husband.
There were arguments both for and against this provision. A delegate recently arrived from New York warned against granting women separate property rights, based on his experiences in France. There, he argued, such rights promote "the spectacle of domestic disunion.... There the husband and wife are partners in business, raising the wife from head clerk to partner. The very principle is contrary to nature and contrary to the married state." One delegate who supported the provision declared, "We are told, Mr. Chairman, that woman is a frail being; that she is formed by nature to obey, and ought to be protected by her husband, who is her natural protector. That is true, sir; but is there any thing in all this to impair her right of property which she possessed previous to entering into the marriage contract? I contend not." Another argued that it would empower women and attract them to the state, where marriageable Anglo-American women were scarce: "Having some hopes that I may be wedded...I shall advocate this section in the Constitution, and I will call upon all the bachelors in this convention to vote for it. I do not think that we can offer a greater inducement for women of fortune to come to California. It is the very best provision to get us wives that we can introduce into the Constitution."
While interpretations of the constitutional provision varied, according to scholar Donna C. Schuele, "A consensus emerged whereby the constitutional guarantee of married women's property rights was viewed as a progressive enactment boldly distinguishing the Golden State from eastern jurisdictions struggling to emerge from the grips of antiquated notions of law and patriarchy." In 1850, however, the California State Legislature enacted property laws that expressly undermined certain aspects of the constitutional guarantee. In particular, one statute provided that the husband had management and control even of the wife's separate property, although he could not sell or encumber the property without the wife's consent made in writing and confirmed outside the presence of the husband.
History of California
The history of California can be divided into several periods: the Native American period; European exploration period from 1542 to 1769; the Spanish colonial period, 1769 to 1821; the Mexican period, 1821 to 1848; and United States statehood, which continues to the present day...
Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
were scarce but played an important role. Some of the first people in the mining fields
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
were wives and families who were already in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. A few women and children worked right alongside the men but most men left their wives and families home. The number of women in California changed very quickly as the rich gold strikes and lack of women created strong pressures to restore sex balance. As travel arrangements improved and were made easier and more predictable the number of women coming to California rapidly increased. Most women probably came by way of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
as this was one of the fastest trips (40–90 days) and one of the most reliable—although expensive in 1850--$400–$600/person one-way. Passage via Panama became much more predictable after the paddle wheel
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
steam ship lines were up and running by late 1849. In Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the Great Potato Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852 that drove many desperate women to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and on to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Women of many different countries, statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The rapidly increasing population had very few women in it and what women there were found myriads of opportunities. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the women poor gold fields and communities.
Women going to California to rejoin their families usually had their passages paid for by miners or businessmen who had decided to make California their new home. Most of the male Argonauts
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
had originally planned on getting their gold and returning home to rejoin their families and enjoy their new riches. Typically women euphemistically labeled as entertainers had little or no money for passage but as soon as they showed up in California they were hired by various saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, peep shows and/or brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s. The cost of passage was typically paid for by the entertainer agreeing to work for the payees for at least three to six months. These ’’entertainers’’ initially were the majority of the female population. Very few of these ’’entertainers’’ made the five to six month trip by wagon on the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
or chose the five to seven month all sea journey around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
.
As the gold mining and associated businesses prospered, many men decided to make California their new home and many husbands or potential husbands sent money back to their original homes for their women and families to join them. Others went back east to wind up their business there and escort their women and families to California. Many single men started communicating with female acquaintances they knew and many proposals were accepted with this long distance dating. Some communities back east were severely depleted in men who had left for the gold fields and some of these excess women decided to join their friends or family headed to California. It took 40-60 days for a letter to go from California via Panama to a city in the east and another 40-60 days for a reply so this was ’slow’ courting. If these long distance proposals were accepted, the prospective groom if a successful miner or businessman sent money for passage and spending money. Usually as soon as the prospective bride got off the ship they were rushed to a preacher to get married. Most single women in California quickly had several proposals for marriage. As time went on the ever increasing immigration of more women and families started changing the composition of the female population and the entertainers soon became out numbered.
There were many unusual opportunities for women in the cities and gold fields as men, starved for female company, paid extravagant fees to associate with women or buy products that were made by women. There are several stories of women making more money selling home made pies, doughnuts, etc. then their husbands made mining. Laundrys, Restaurants, lodging, mending, waiting tables, all paid good wages.
These entertainers were joined by a few women (less than 3% of initial travelers) who came either overland via the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
or by sea with their husbands and families. They refused to be left behind to fend for themselves or miss an exciting life changing opportunity. A few of these travelers became widows as their husbands died of disease or were killed. On the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
, about 4% of the people on the trail died from accidents, cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. On the sea voyage via Panama there were the usual hazards of traveling across the Isthmus of Panama by canoe and mule, waiting in disease prevalent in Chagres
Chagres River
The Chagres River is a river in central Panama. The central part of the river is dammed by the Gatun Dam and forms Gatun Lake, an artificial lake that constitutes part of the Panama Canal. Upstream lies the Madden Dam, creating the Alajuala Lake that is also part of the Canal water system...
and Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
where cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
and yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
often took a dreadful toll—up to 30% of some travelers. The final step was catching a paddle wheel steam ship
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
for the 15-20 day trip to California. See Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
's biography for a vivid description of the hazards of crossing Panama.
The sex imbalance hehehehehe in California (indeed in most of the West) would persist though several generations as the number of females gradually increased to something roughly equivalent to the numbers of males.
Number of Women
| California Population (in thousands) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Male | Female |
| 18401 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| 18502 | 120 | 110 | 10 |
| 18523 | 200 | 180 | 20 |
| 1860 | 380 | 273 | 107 |
| 1870 | 560 | 349 | 211 |
| 1880 | 865 | 518 | 347 |
| 1890 | 1,213 | 703 | 511 |
| 1900 | 1,485 | 821 | 665 |
| 1910 | 2,378 | 1323 | 1,055 |
| 1920 | 3,431 | 1,814 | 1,613 |
| 1930 | 5,677 | 2,943 | 2,735 |
| 1940 | 6,907 | 3,516 | 3,392 |
| 1950 | 10,586 | 5,296 | 5,291 |
| 1960 | 15,717 | 9,827 | 10,336 |
| 1970 | 19,971 | 9,817 | 10,386 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | |||
| 1) Californios found in 1850 U.S. Census |
|||
| 2) 1850 Census Adjusted for missing data | |||
| 3) 1852 California State Census | |||
| California Historical U. S. Census Data | |||
The 1850 U.S. California Census, the first census that included everyone, showed only about 7,019 females with 4,165 non-Indian females older than 15 in the state. To this should be added about 1,300 women greater than 15 from San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa counties whose censuses were lost and not included in the totals. This gives about 5,500 females greater than age 15 in a total California population (not including Indians who were not counted) of about 120,000 residents in 1850 or about 4.5% female. The number of women in the mining communities and mining camps can be estimated by subtracting the roughly 2,000 females who lived in predominately Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
(Hispanics born in California before 1848) communities and were not part of the gold rush community. About 3.0% of the gold rush Argonauts before 1850 were female or about 3,500 female Gold Rushers compared of about 115,000 male California Gold Rushers.
By California’s 1852 State Census the population has already increased to about 200,000 of which about 10% or 20,000 are female. Competition by 1852 had decreased the steam ship fare via Panama to about $200 and the Panama Railroad (completed 1855) was already working its way across the Isthmus making it ever easier to get to California.
By the 1860 U.S. Federal Census California had a population of 330,000 with 223,000 males and 107,000 females—still a male to female ratio greater than 2 males to 1 female. By 1870 the population had increased to 560,000 with 349,000 males and 211,000 females or a ratio of 100 males to 38 females. Equilibrium female-male number parity would take till the 1950 census with a total population of 10,586,00; 5,296,000 males compared to 5,291,000 females.
Prostitution
Women flooded to California from several countries and cities to work as prostitutes and entertainers to capitalize on the scarcity of women. Most had worked as prostitutes or entertainers in some other city before going to California. Most were called entertainers and worked in saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, peep shows or brothels. Many came to take advantage of the possibility of getting married to a prosperous miner or businessman and getting out of the business. Many of them did. Others became mistresses to high rolling customers who could afford to keep them in the style they desired. In the early 1850s women were so scare that prostitutes were not typically viewed by most as immoral, and many were in fact highly desired and their company actively sought. Initially there were virtually no laws prohibiting or trying to regulate or control prostitution. Then as now the often flamboyant fashion styles set by many prostitutes was copied by other women.Women of all different statuses, classes, and races were involved in the California Gold Rush. The rapidly increasing California population had very few women and women found a myriad of different opportunities which were normally not available to them. As word of the gold rush spread so did the word of opportunities for women to work in the women poor gold fields and communities. Some of the first women to show up were women from southern California, Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Chihuahua, Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
, and San Blas
San Blas
San Blas, the Spanish name for Saint Blaise, can refer to:*San Blas, La Rioja*San Blas Department*San Blas, Costa Rica*San Blas, Quito*San Blas, El Salvador* San Blas, Nadur* San Blas, Nayarit* San Blas, Sinaloa* San Blas Atempa, Oaxaca...
. Since Sonoran women predominated they all were typically all labeled ‘’’Sonorans’’’ or ‘’Senoritas’’ by the miners. They were soon joined by women from Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Since Chileans predominated all the South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
Latinos were all typically called ‘’’Chilenos’’’. As word got back to the east coast of the job opportunities for women and travel arrangements were worked out with paddle wheel
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
steam ship lines with dependable schedules on the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
many more women started coming to California.
Most of the women who worked in the saloons, gambling halls, dance halls and/or brothels were labeled ’’entertainers’’. Typically these entertainers had little or no money for passage but as soon as they showed up they were hired by various, saloons, gambling halls, dance halls and/or brothels who paid for the cost of their trip. The women typically repaid the cost of passage by agreeing to work for the payees at least three to six months. In women starved California men paid up to $16.00 to $20.00 a night for the privilege of having them sit at the same gaming table with them. Very few of these ’’entertainers’’ made the five to six month trip by wagon on the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
or chose the five to seven month all sea journey around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
.
In San Francisco, a official port of entry for California shipping and passengers, the population exploded from about 200 in 1846 to 36,000 in 1852. In San Francisco initially many women (and men) were housed in wooden houses, ships hauled up on the shore to serve as homes or businesses, canvas wood framed tents and other flammable structures. These types of structures combined with a lot of drunken gamblers and miners led almost inevitably to many fires. Most of San Francisco burned down six times in six Great Fires between 1849 and 1852.
From San Francisco by late 1849 Paddle steamers were transporting the miners and others 125 miles (201.2 km) to Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
and the start of the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
country.
Young Chinese girls were bought in China and sold as Chinese prostitutes for Chinese men and were considered to be the bottom of the prostitute's hierarchy. They were always far fewer than the male Chinese population with only seven Chinese prostitutes known in 1850. Hispanic women typical were considered one rung up in desirability. In late 1849 French Prostitutes got a head start as about 200 of them showed up in San Francisco. Other French prostitutes showed up from French settlements in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Santiago Chile. White American and French prostitutes were considered the most desirable and could and did charge the highest prices. Many French prostitutes, for example, became very wealthy since they were actively sought at the saloons, gaming tables, dance halls, peep shows, etc. and as escorts to prosperous miners and business men. Typically, the lighter complexion a woman had, the higher price she could get. Prostitution occurred in organized brothels, individually rented rooms, and in saloons, gaming halls, or fandangos--which offered dancing, gambling, alcohol, and sometimes prostitutes. Increasing populations of miner's and businessman's wives and their families helped further stigmatize prostitution when middle-class morality began to come to California in the late 1850s.
In 1850 San Francisco had 537 registered saloons. There was little opportunity to do anything except visit the saloons—very little else existed. California Prostitutes suffered from a litany of problems common to prostitutes then and now. Unwanted pregnancy was a distinct possibility since there were no commonly available contraceptive drugs or apparatus. The alternative to an unwanted pregnancy was back room abortion or giving birth and raising an illegitimate child of often uncertain parentage. Disease was a constant problem difficult to escape since syphilis was common among a lot of men and women. If discovered in time, there were treatments for syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
but it was costly and painful. Communicable diseases, like cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
, etc. were a constant threat as knowledge of how they were spread or how to treat them was unknown. Germs would remain unknown for another 30 years and effective treatment for over a century in many cases. Sanitation practices were expensive and not understood so clean water and sewage collection and treatment were just starting to develop. Epidemics like cholera and yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
killed thousands. Medical treatments were of very uneven quality as almost anyone could call themselves a doctor and treat patients—professional medical training and certification was just starting to be developed. Medical knowledge was so poor that training often did little or no good. If you survived you got a doctor bill, if you died you got buried.
To make more money, the women were often paid to ‘’push’’ drinks on their customers and if successful they often ended up inebriated. Sometimes they were allowed to drink tea which only ‘’looked’’ like the expensive drinks their companions were paying for. Drug, alcohol or gambling addiction was common problem as some women tried to escape into another world. Often prostitutes were managed by pimps who collected a large share of their earnings. Drunk customers were a continuing problem. Many men were dirty and wore dirty clothes. Almost unique to this period is the lack of baths of the typical man (and women). Bathing involved a strenuous process of heating water on a wood stove, dumping it in a tub, washing down and then dumping the dirty water. Not everyone believed in being clean and baths were infrequent for many. Eventually there did develop bath houses where bathing could be done for a fee. Clothes were hard to wash and iron and there are several stories of dirty laundry being sent to Hawaii to be cleaned and ironed and then returned—it was cheaper than getting it done locally.
Some of California’s prostitution practitioners were indentured Chinese women, economically and socially oppressed Latina women, or kidnapped and enslaved white women. It was a form of oppression not a profession. From 1848 to the late 1850s, prostitutes experienced an unprecedented ascension in power and a rapid fall from grace as more ‘’respectable’’ women and their families came to California. Many prostitutes were illiterate and signed contracts with dubious legality with an X. As the number of prostitutes multiplied prices went down and it became harder to make a living. As prostitution became more illegal it was often necessary to pay bribes to the local police to keep operating. It is unknown what the average life span of prostitutes was but it was almost certainly less than the average woman in this era. Prostitution was often a dirty degrading experience for the women who participated in it.
Other forms of women's work
A few women came to California with their husbands and children and often helped pan for goldPlacer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
or earn wages/cash while the husband tried his luck panning for gold. One of the most popular ways for a woman to earn a living was to run a boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
. California was about the only place that women could earn wages higher than men for equivalent work because women were scarce, and the men would pay just to be in their company and have them do household tasks the men did not want or know how to do.
Most single women came as part of a family group or as an "entertainer". Many men did not find their fortune in the gold fields, and having a woman around to earn money with boarding, washing, cooking, sewing, etc. could mean the difference between the family living well and not. A few women even had their own gold mining claims and came out west with the specific intention of panning for gold. As the easy to find placer gold became scarcer or harder to work and mining became more complex than panning for gold as well as capital and labor intensive, women typically moved out of the goldfields and into some other type of work. Most women had many marriage proposals and could get married almost as soon as they found someone they liked.
In the mines in the Sierra Nevadas, where there were fewer white women, Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an women gained importance as increased competition caused them to leave the larger towns and cities and go to the smaller gold mining camps. This opportunity for upward economic gain was easier for non-white women than for non-white men.
Marriage
Due to the very low number of women in Gold Rush California, the marriage market was in women’s favor. While parental approval and economic concerns still occasionally played a role in engagements, they decreased in importance. Mixed marriages, while still stigmatized, were more common in California due to the diverse pool of women in which white women were a small minority. Women also found it easier to get a divorce in California than elsewhere as the judges seemed to want to increase the number of women in the marriageable pool. As divorcees, these women did not receive the negative public scrutiny sometimes evident elsewhere because divorce was often part of the new Californian culture. Eligible women usually had several proposals for marriage in a short time.Starting in the mid-1850s, people began to “civilize” the Gold Rush population by settling into their traditional roles, mores and economic classes and abandoning non-traditional gender roles. Many lone men sent for their families and middle class American morality re-emerged as the number of middle class wives and families increased. It is estimated that about 30% of the male miners were married men who had left their families to try their luck in California. Many men returned back to their homes but many more decided get their family to California and stay. The influx of more white women, who were seen as symbols of purity and morality in the typical Victorian view, often changed the "accepted" morality and mores. In some Societies and communities with large populations of non-white immigrants some non-white male groups were assigned formerly “feminine” roles(e.g., the Chinese laundry and cooks).
Property rights
Delegates at the 1849 California Constitutional Convention considered and adopted California's first constitution. It provided that "All property, both real and personal, of the wife, owned or claimed by her before marriage, and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise, or descent, would remain her separate property". Delegates advanced various arguments in favor of the provision, including that it reflected the existing law of California as well as that of other states. The language of the proposal was taken nearly word for word from the Texas constitution, reflecting the civil lawCivil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
tradition there and in other states historically under the sway of French- or Spanish-based legal systems. The English-based common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
under which many American jurisdictions operated then, women upon marriage had little or no property rights beyond provisions for one-third of the household goods and land in the event of death of the husband.
There were arguments both for and against this provision. A delegate recently arrived from New York warned against granting women separate property rights, based on his experiences in France. There, he argued, such rights promote "the spectacle of domestic disunion.... There the husband and wife are partners in business, raising the wife from head clerk to partner. The very principle is contrary to nature and contrary to the married state." One delegate who supported the provision declared, "We are told, Mr. Chairman, that woman is a frail being; that she is formed by nature to obey, and ought to be protected by her husband, who is her natural protector. That is true, sir; but is there any thing in all this to impair her right of property which she possessed previous to entering into the marriage contract? I contend not." Another argued that it would empower women and attract them to the state, where marriageable Anglo-American women were scarce: "Having some hopes that I may be wedded...I shall advocate this section in the Constitution, and I will call upon all the bachelors in this convention to vote for it. I do not think that we can offer a greater inducement for women of fortune to come to California. It is the very best provision to get us wives that we can introduce into the Constitution."
While interpretations of the constitutional provision varied, according to scholar Donna C. Schuele, "A consensus emerged whereby the constitutional guarantee of married women's property rights was viewed as a progressive enactment boldly distinguishing the Golden State from eastern jurisdictions struggling to emerge from the grips of antiquated notions of law and patriarchy." In 1850, however, the California State Legislature enacted property laws that expressly undermined certain aspects of the constitutional guarantee. In particular, one statute provided that the husband had management and control even of the wife's separate property, although he could not sell or encumber the property without the wife's consent made in writing and confirmed outside the presence of the husband.