Many were shysters, gamblers, crooks and whores looking to find easy prey in the miners.

A smaller group, which included Colis P. Huntington, were sharp business who had no intention of panning for gold. He was a successful hardware store owner with his brother and he successfully opened a hardware store in the boom town of Sacramento with Mark Hopkins. Both went on to be part of the Big Four of the Central Pacific Railroad which, as you know since you went to the rr museum (-: was the western half of the transcontinental railroad.

This mess we’re in in Iraq will come back to bite us in future history. And it should, as should the anihaltion of the Native Americans in our country, Hitler, Stalin, Mao. They are/were all cancers on the mores of their time.

But you can’t make assumptions of right or wrong of a populace in general using current values and morals. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t wrong. It just “was.” And if something was perceived as wrong by the populace it was changed, like the Sherman Anti-Trust Bill to reign in the tycoons who were making tons of $ (LEGALY) on the backs of the poor.

Gees! How did I get on this soap box! (-: What city are you living in?
Bill

As for the greed thing, I’d agree, although I do think it’s important to recognize rather than white-wash the not so nice parts of our history. Economically, I’m sure our state wouldn’t be what it is today if that hadn’t happened, just like our country probably wouldn’t be where it is without things like slavery, but that doesn’t make those things good.

I really wasn’t trying to badmouth them necessarily, or downplay their contributions to society, etc., just point out some of the things that jumped out at me that you don’t often think about in the context of those stories. One in particular was the tales of the men who left their homes in other parts of the country to pursue the opportunity to get rich quick in California. In some cases, they left behind their wives and children (who probably had to work incredibly hard to provide for themselves in the absence of their husband/father), and in others they took them with them on a very dangerous trip which claimed many of their lives.

I just think that it’s interesting that there is a tendency to ascribe some sort of nobility to their actions because of the fact that we are reaping some of the benefits of their efforts, but in reality it seems to me that the motives for many were rather less than admirable, and the amount of suffering they were willing to put their families through for the prospect of easy money is not something I can respect, any more than a guy who cleans out his family’s life savings in our day and age to go blow it in Vegas for the chance to make millions, even if he does say he’s only doing it to make a better life for him and his family.

Couple of thoughts and questions:
1. What tour company did you go with?
2. Disregard that non-sense about sharks. The issue about swimming from The Rock is the currents and whether you catch them right.
3. Did you report the tour director for the racist comments? Sure hope so.
4. Sounds like you didn’t have much of a tour director. At dinner I tell everyone they need to be seated first. Then the teacher starts releasing tables showing good behavior to go to the restroom AND wash their hands. Occassionaly, on the way in, someone says they REALLY need to go. I point them to the restroom. It actually works pretty well.
5. With all respect, I don’t have much patience for those who dis those in the past for their “greed.” They all worked within the parameters of accepted behaviour. As our society has matured morally and culturally those parameters have tightened and continue to tighten (Did you know no woman had ever been elected to the state legislature until the mid-70’s?). it’s pretty safe to say that without those “greedy” people you wouldn’t have had the $ to make a three-day field trip with your son. Or maybe even live in CA.

Bottom line: I REALLY enjoyed your observations about the trip. Thanks!

What did the error say, or was it too long to read?

Pier 39 could be fun if you like eating junk food and buying useless souvenirs. I guess I shouldn’t make it sound so bad; it does look pretty cool, and I’m sure a lot of people would like it. If you like malls, it’s basically like a mall in a really good location, it just doesn’t have any book stores or anything like that. The arcade was pretty good too, and it did have an aquarium at the beginning, which we didn’t go in. There was also this thing where you could make your own things full of different colored (and scented) sand, but I’m not sure what those are called.

I guess after saying all that, it wasn’t quite so bad, I think I just wasn’t in the mood for it at the time. It also might have been better if it wasn’t raining.