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Jump Back in Time Western Expansion & Reform (1829-1859)
 
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J Street, Sacramento, 1853
J Street, Sacramento on New Year's Day, 1853

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%%hunt_margin%% Pioneer Life in Sacramento
November 25, 1849

Did you ever wonder what it would have been like to head for California during the Gold Rush? In 1849, after the announcement that gold was discovered in Sutter's Creek, 40,000 people, called forty-niners, traveled to California by sea. Thousands more traveled across land. They were lured by the prospect of finding gold and riches. Yankee trader Franklin A. Buck was among those who headed west to seek his fortune. Just 20 years old, Buck left his job in New York and set sail for California in January 1849. On November 25, 1849, he wrote a letter to his sister Mary about his experiences in the boomtown of Sacramento City. Buck opened a supply store there and business was booming like the town!
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