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22 Gold Rush Album
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.