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COPYRIGHT 2006 California Historical Society
GOLD RUSH SAINTS: CALIFORNIA MORMONS AND THE GREAT RUSH FOR RICHES
By Kenneth N. Owens (Spokane, Washington: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2004, 398 pp., $39.50 cloth, $19.95 paper)
This important volume produced by Kenneth N. Owens, professor emeritus of History and Ethnic Studies at California State University, Sacramento, explores the activities of the Mormons or Latter-day Saints in early Gold Rush California. Owens notes that the "Mormon role in the California gold rush has been largely overlooked" [17] first by contemporary observers and later by chroniclers of California's past-both Mormon and non-Mormon. Owens effectively sets the historical record straight, carefully documenting the contributions of Latter-day Saints.
In making his case, Owens presents a rich variety of historical documents, including contemporary narratives, later recollections, and other primary source materials, all interwoven into an informative narrative history. The volume focuses on the period from 1846, when the first Latter-day Saints arrived, until 1857 when Brigham Young directed all his followers to abandon the Golden State and...
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