Prostitutes_and_the_Gold_Rush

PROSTITUTES AND THE GOLD RUSH The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848 propelled thousands of American men to spend their life savings to gamble on an opportunity they never dreamed possible. In a country that was becoming increasingly less of a land of opportunity, the idea that a person could strike it rich by collecting gold off the ground was irresistible. California underwent many changes that led to a demand for prostitution. The most important factor was the never ending flow of young men who came to look for gold. In 1849, young men migrated from all over North America. Coming to California from the east had three routs you could choose from. One way was to go by sea sailing around Cape Horn, Panama and overland. The amazingly beautiful Cape Horn route was the most popular rout during the Gold Rush, with hundreds of ships traveling the 13,000 miles around the tip of South America. If weather conditions were bad, this trip could take as long as eight months. Due to the Gold Rush Fever, the ships were often jammed with passengers, causing unsanitary conditions. A number of passengers suffered from scurvy, due to a lack of fresh vegetables and fruits in their diet. Other passengers failed to prepare for the change of the seasons, and suffered from bitter wind and cold as the ships came around Cape Horn in July. Some ship captains saw a possible shortcut in the sea route and instead of going all the way around Cape Horn; they cross through Panama in Central America. This route was much shorter, but this rout had its own set of problems. When sailing from the east coast of the United States, Passengers had to sail on the Atlantic side of Panama, and then walk across the Isthmus to the Pacific coast. The tropical climate and diseases killed many travelers. Most travelers found that having to take two ships to San Francisco and the tropical climate disastrous. Because of the rough conditions of gold mining, respectable women such as wives with children were left behind. The theory of early gold miners was to make it rich quick and then return home within a year. This belief came from the fact that early miners got rich quick by simply picking up the placer gold from the ground and streams. After about 2 years it became more difficult to find gold and men had to stay longer. The overwhelming numbers of business opportunities and lonely men stimulated a plentiful market for prostitution. With business opportunities lucrative in California, the demand for prostitution increased. The prospect of gold brought new business with expendable incomes into California. These businesses consisted of provisional stores, saloons, gambling halls, bath houses and brothels. The profit potential for financial growth in these areas was high and ontrapanors monopolized on the demand. Every day, prices, wages and profits rose. The potential for upward mobility and limited entertainment was great especially among professional prostitutes. Women came to California from all over the world, to work as prostitutes and to capitalize on the scarcity of sex and companionship. In 1850 California had 537 registered saloons. Women were so scares that prostitutes were not typically viewed as immoral. There were virtually no laws prohibiting or trying to regulate or control prostitution. Men paid up to $20.00 a night just for the privilege of having a prostitutes company, and that didn’t include sex. The majority of prostitutes were not of the Anglo race. They mostly consisted of Mexican, Indian and Chinese women. In desirability French Prostitutes were on the top of the totem pole, Mexican women second, Indian women third, Chinese women fourth, and last on the totem was African Americans. Basically the lighter your skin, the more you could charge. Prostitution, during this era was glamorized. Unfortunately being a prostitute during the gold rush was anything but glamorous. California Prostitutes suffered from many problems including unwanted pregnancy. During this time they didn’t have contraception; the only alternative to an unwanted pregnancy was having a dangerous abortion or giving birth and raising an illegitimate child. Pregnancy was not the only problem that prostitutes faced; disease was also difficult to escape. If discovered in time some sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis were treatable, but treatments were very painful and costly. Other sicknesses such as Communicable diseases, like measles, tuberculosis, cholera, yellow fever, cholera and diphtheria were also a constant threat. During the late 1800 there was no knowledge of how they were spread or how to treat them. Contributing factors, which led to the spread communicable diseases, was poor living conditions and the lack of sanitation practices. Bathing during the gold rush involved a strenuous time consuming process of heating water on a wood stove, filling the tub with the hot water and then emptying the dirty water. Things like available clean water and sewage collection were not yet developed. This meant that for most people, being clean was rare. It is unknown what the average life span of prostitutes was but it was almost certainly less than the average woman in this era. Another problem that plagued prostitutes was the use of drugs. Often prostitutes worked for pimps or madams who collected most of their earnings. To make more money, the prostitutes often influenced drinks and drugs on their customers. Sometimes prostitutes would also use the drugs and alcohol with the johns. Addiction was a common problem among prostitutes, they used drugs to escape reality and numb there pain. Finally as California became more settled, men started bringing their wives and families to the west. Respectable women despised the prostitutes; this led to the criminalization of prostitution in California in 1908. It was often necessary for brothels to pay bribes to the local police to keep operating. Prostitution still thrives in California currently, although frowned upon by the main stream Christan society. There are many feminist groups that believe that prostitution should be legalized. I think that pimping and trafficking should be illegal. But i also believe that I should have the right to use my body however I want. Works Cited Barnhart, Jacqueline. Working women: prostitution in San Francisco from the Gold Rush to 1900. Publisher University of California, 1976. Ronald,Takaki.A Different Mirror. Publisher: Back Bay Books, 1993. Acuna, Rodolfo. Occupied America- 7th ed. California. Pearson, 2007 Franzius, Andrea. “California Gold Migrating to California: Overland, around the Horn, and via Panama.” (November 1997): 11/21/2012< http://people.duke.edu/~agf2/history391/migration.html >.