Description
Book SynopsisBrothers Ethan and Hosea Grosh left Pennsylvania in 1849, joining young men from all over the world intent on making a fortune in the California Gold Rush. Their search for wealth took them across Mexico, by land and sea to San Francisco, to gold country in the Sierra foothills, and finally into Nevada’s Gold Canyon, where they discovered a deposit of silver near the fabulous Comstock Lode. Never before published, the Grosh brothers’ letters are among the most historically significant documents of the Gold Rush era.
The letters—disintegrating, scorched by fire, and nearly illegible—were preserved as evidence to be used in family lawsuits in which shares of the brothers’ wealth were contested. The Nevada Historical Society purchased them in 2007 after ten years of negotiation with the Grosh family. With their publication, the true story of the Grosh brothers is finally told in their own words. Greatly enhanced by the annotations and introductions of editors Ronald James and Robert Stewart, the letters constitute an essential contribution to Gold Rush history, separating harsh reality from romantic myth. In the end, these letters are the real treasure: fascinating, insightful, and poignant.
Trade ReviewThese letters are at once filled with minutiae and epic in their scope….[L]overs of historical fiction [will] find themselves entranced by the story of two smart and educated brothers who overcame obstacle after obstacle, only to die, having sampled but not attained their (short) lives’ dreams. There’s something about epistolary books that really make readers feel like they’re truly inside the letter writers’ mind—because they are. And that makes the tragic, brutal endings all the more sympathetic and real."" -
Reno News and Review, Jan. 24, 2013
""We are fortunate that James and Stewart have brought [the Grosh brothers] back to us in their own colorful and emotional words. This valuable book is highly recommended."" -
Nevada in the West, Winter, 2012
""As a solid primary source of the California Gold Rush, The Gold Rush Letters is a historical treasury, highly recommended especially for public and college library American History shelves.""-
California Bookwatch / Midwest Book Review October, 2012
""Unique and eye-opening"" -
Reno-Gazette-Journal, November 4, 2012
“These letters are a treasure trove of commentary on California society and politics in the early years of the Gold Rush. They also contain fascinating accounts of early settlers and mining in what would become Nevada, and provide considerable insight into the social dynamics of mining-rush society. The fact that both brothers died tragically adds poignancy to this already gripping history.” -C. Elizabeth Raymond, coeditor of
Comstock Women: The Making of a Mining Community
