Gold Fever, Part Three
The Path to Civil War
Ken Salter
The Committee of Vigilance of 1851 has disbanded and violent crime is on the rise again in San Francisco. By 1854 the City averages two murders a day, with only a handful of convictions. Armed criminals, cutthroats, and the low life rule the streets at night. Efforts to outlaw gambling and prostitution have failed despite laws to prohibit these practices and public clamor to enforce them. By 1855, San Francisco has 537 saloons, one for every 15 men, women and children. Placer gold deposits are nearly exhausted, yet gold seekers continue to arrive in droves. Competition for the meager gold remaining along the rivers fuels intolerance and animosity against foreigners, especially Mexicans South American and the Chinese; even French and Italian miners are threatened. the San Francisco economy tumbles into recession, which foments growing economic and political tensions.
Southerners seeking to carve out a slave-holding state in Southern California gain control of the state’s governments and highest courts. California appears headed, like the nation, to a civil war over slavery. Will Manon’s restaurant be a target of the pro-slavery factions because she rescues and employs two former Chinese sex slaves? Will the economic downturn doom the restaurant and Pierre’s entrepreneurial enterprises? Can one raise a family and survive in this corrupt, lawless, and ruthless town as hotheads incite violence and chaos and push the City to the brink of civil war?
6” x 9”, 392 pages, 35 black & white illustrations. Published by Regent Press.
ISBN 978-1-58790-359-5 trade paper
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