Gold Discovered in California - California History for the Young Reader

The Land Known as Alta California

The Conquered Province

Gold Discovered in California

They Came by Way of Panama

They Came Around the Horn

They Came Overland by Train

The Story Ends Where it Began:
Along El Camino Real

Gold Discovered in California is about the greatest migration of man with a single purpose in mind. Entertainers of all sizes and shapes from all corners of the earth came to California. One of those to come was Henry Charles Lee, an Englishman, a circus man. He performed in San Francisco, built a pavilion in Sacramento and made preparations for his shows on his ranch in Stockton. He traveled up and down the gold country for eleven years, performing nightly before the miners. Gold nuggets were thrown at his feet. After the performance, he walked around the arena and picked them up. He put them away for safekeeping. Henry Charles Lee saw it all, from the pick, pan, and shovel to the long Tom, the cradle and the sluice and on to hydraulic mining.

This book was based on material obtained from both circus libraries at Baraboo, Wisconsin and San Antonio, Texas.

The State Library at Sacramento had many references of Henry Charles Lee. The Huntington Library at Pasadena has the original Coville Papers that praise Henry Charles Lee for his charitable contributions.

Both McMinn's Theatre of the Golden Era, and Dressler's Pioneer Circus contained valuable material.

The description of San Francisco in 1851 when Henry Charles Lee arrived was described in The Last Adventures by Clarkson Crane.

Wilbur Leeds researched the ads of the San Francisco Star giving the story the authenticity and continuity it needed.

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ISBN 0-87062-232-3