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English writer Thomas De Quincy had a little fun with exaggerated tales of Gold Rush wealth, which he speculated—tongue in cheek—were generated by liars who told tall stories like this one. Two ounces of tobacco and a spade, with rather a large sack for bagging the gold, having a chain and a padlock—such is the stock required for a beginner. In a week he will require more sacks and more padlocks; and in two months a roomy warehouse, with suitable cellars, for storing the gold until the fall, when the stoutest steamers sail. But, as we observed, some people are never content. A friend of ours, not twelve miles from San Francisco, in digging for potatoes, stumbled upon a hamper of gold that netted forty thousand dollars. And, behold, the next comer to that locality went off in dudgeon because, after two days' digging, he got nothing but excellent potatotes; whereas he out to have reflected that our friend's golden discovery was a lucky chance, such as does not happen to the most hard-working man above once in three weeks.Thomas De Quincey published his satiric account of Gold Rush exaggerations in Hogg's Weekly Instructor in 1852. |
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below to hear radio segment.
