“Miners quickly learned to appreciate the search for gold as Mother Nature’s grand lottery scheme. A man could easily dig an entire season, carry and wash hundreds—even thousands—of buckets of gravel, and finish poorer than when he started, while the men working mere feet away on adjacent ground hacked open a “glory hole” and carried off more wealth in a morning than a man could earn in a decade working for wages. That ugly truth stood at odds with the old Puritan notion that honest toil earned a just reward. Gold mining was like gambling, it was gambling, Fortunately, in California, failure carried no special stigma. A bankrupt man rolled up his sleeves and went back to work, that was all. Pacific Coast society expected a man to have the sand to go “all in” in pursuit of the main chance—that was the whole point of being there. The entire California project was a speculative endeavor. In the rest of the nation, a bankruptcy dogged a man for his entire career. In California, many of the richest men had been busted several times, and all of them knew they might well be broke again tomorrow. Fortunately, in California, failure carried no special stigma. A bankrupt man rolled up his sleeves and went back to work, that was all. Pacific Coast society expected a man to have the sand to go “all in” in pursuit of the main chance—that was the whole point of being there. The entire California project was a speculative endeavor. In the rest of the nation, a bankruptcy dogged a man for his entire career. In California, many of the richest men had been busted several times, and all of them knew they might well be broke again tomorrow. Men drifted away from faltering diggings and wandered the Sierra foothills in an endless, restless search for the next big thing, hoping to be first to skim the cream from a new strike. Crouch, Gregory (2018-06-18T23:58:59). The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Kindle Locations 675-676). Scribner. Kindle Edition. Crouch, Gregory (2018-06-18T23:58:59). The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Kindle Locations 609-613). Scribner. Kindle Edition. Crouch, Gregory (2018-06-18T23:58:59). The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Kindle Locations 609-613). Scribner. Kindle Edition. Crouch, Gregory (2018-06-18T23:58:59). The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Kindle Locations 585-587). Scribner. Kindle Edition. Crouch, Gregory (2018-06-18T23:58:59). The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West (Kindle Locations 583-585). Scribner. Kindle Edition. ”