The
year 1848 had been a difficult time for the governments of Europe.
Revolutions had shaken all but a few of the Old World states, and
unemployment was at a peak. European statesmen looked on the news from
California as an answer to prayer. Emigration to the gold fields would
take care of the surplus population.
Even
as the prospective gold-seekers from New York and New England, from
Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, were waiting for the spring grass to come on
the prairies, Dutch and German presses were busily turning out
emigration propaganda (left).
The guidebook shown below must
have set many a "Sydney Duck" on the wing from the Antipodes. Note the
comment pencilled in over the author's initials by some dissatisfied
customer.
