By the winter
of 1848, whispers of a gold strike had drifted eastward across
the country--but few easterners believed. It was an age when rumors
were discounted--and government officials were revered. The gold
discovery needed validation, and President James Polk delivered
just that in early December, 1848:
President
James Polk: 
"The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory
are of such extraordinary character as would scarcely command
belief were they not corroborated by authentic reports of officers
in the public service."
Polk's confirmation
reached deep into the soul of millions. His simple words were
a powerful call to action. Farmers left their fields; merchants
closed their shops; soldiers left their posts--and made plans
for California. Newspapers fanned the fires.
Horace
Greeley the of New York Tribune: 
"Fortune
lies upon the surface of the earth as plentiful as the mud in
our streets. We look for an addition within the next four years
equal to at least One Thousand Million of
Dollars to the gold in circulation."
By early
1849, gold fever was an epidemic. Discussions
of gold could be heard at nearly every kitchen table in the nation.
Young men explained to their wives that a year apart would be
worth the hardship.
Miner
Melvin Paden:
"Jane, I left you and them boys to procure a little property
by the sweat of my brow so that we could have a place of our own-that
I might not be a dog for other people any longer."
They said
their goodbyes and streamed west in unison--thousands of young
adventurers with a collective dream--a year of pain in return
for a lifetime of riches. They were dubbed "forty-niners"
because they left home in 1849. When they would return, was another
matter entirely.
