This text is one of three companion volumes for young readers to the PBS television documentary "The West", by filmmakers Ken Burns, Stephen Ives and Geoffrey C. Ward, who also collaborated on "The Civil War" series. Before 1848, only a few non-Indian people lived in the West. But a tiny nugget of gold, no bigger than a dime, discovered on January 24th, 1848, changed the history of the West, and of America, forever. Drawn by the promise of instant riches, thousands of people from all corners of the world flocked to the goldfields, the largest migration in the country's history. For many, the gold rush would only lead to loss - of money, of health, even of life. But for others it would prove to be an adventure, a chance to create a whole new world. Drawing on source material, this text tells the story of those who left everything behind for the chance to strike it rich - and those whose lives were changed irrevocably by their coming.

 

This book is part of a book series called The West .

There are 118 pages in this book. This book was published 1997 by Little, Brown & Company .

Liza Ketchum grew up in a family that placed a high value on the arts, particularly storytelling, music, and dance. Her father, also a writer, loved to tell about Liza's great-grandmother, a singer and pianist who caused a scandal when she eloped with a musician at the height of vaudeville's popularity. That story, along with the vaudeville songs that her grandfather used to sing, inspired Liza to write The Life Fantastic . She is the author of sixteen published books of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, including the recently published Out of Left Field , set in contemporary Boston with echoes to the Vietnam War era. Her middle grade novel, Where the Great Hawk Flies , won the Massachusetts Book Award for Young Adults. Liza and her husband divide their time between the Boston area and southern Vermont.