USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -However, only a minority of miners made much money from the Californian Gold Rush. It was much more common for people to become wealthy by providing the miners with over-priced food, supplies and services. Sam Brannan was the great beneficiary of this new found wealth.

Detailed explanation-2: -Gold worth tens of billions of today’s US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, though many who participated in the California Gold Rush earned little more than they had started with.

Detailed explanation-3: -During the 1850s and 1860s Brannan was known as the richest man in California. The chaos of the gold rush had played to his personality and business instincts, but he plunged into some schemes with the care of a gambler.