Emphasis Preaching Journal

The 50 years between 1849 and 1899 were filled with the discovery of gold in North America. Hundreds of thousands of farmers and workers left their families to head west and seek their fortunes mining gold. Men from China, Australia, Mexico and Europe came, too. Overnight pristine wilderness was transformed into camps and "boom towns" full of miners and the businesses that sprang up to service their needs. Tents gave way to permanent buildings --shops, hotels and homes. By the turn of the century these thriving places were silent.