Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush

Clay, Karen; Jones, Randall S.

doi:10.1017/s002205070800079x

Cited by 36 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…S2). For this purpose, we developed fire index time series (as described earlier) based on only the nine sites (18,24) that were recording fire since 1600 CE (1642 and 1686, respectively) and the 20th-century area-based fire index. These fire index time series were therefore based on a constant number of recording sites (9,18,24) during the pre-1908 section of their time series.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 and Table 1). In 1848, a rapid influx of European immigrants occurred after gold was discovered in California (i.e., Gold Rush) (18). The average fire index during the Gold Rush-Settlement period (1848-1904 CE) was similar to that during the Native American period (P > 0.05), and the population of California increased from ∼93,000 to nearly 1.5 × 10 6 people by 1900 (19) (Table 1 and Fig.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Taylor

Trouet

Skinner³

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

176

158

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Large wildfires in California cause significant socioecological impacts, and half of the federal funds for fire suppression are spent each year in California. Future fire activity is projected to increase with climate change, but predictions are uncertain because humans can modulate or even override climatic effects on fire activity. Here we test the hypothesis that changes in socioecological systems from the Native American to the current period drove shifts in fire activity and modulated fire-climate relationships in the Sierra Nevada. We developed a 415-y record (1600-2015 CE) of fire activity by merging a treering-based record of Sierra Nevada fire history with a 20th-century record based on annual area burned. Large shifts in the fire record corresponded with socioecological change, and not climate change, and socioecological conditions amplified and buffered fire response to climate. Fire activity was highest and fire-climate relationships were strongest after Native American depopulation-following mission establishment (ca. 1775 CE)-reduced the self-limiting effect of Native American burns on fire spread. With the Gold Rush and EuroAmerican settlement (ca. 1865 CE), fire activity declined, and the strong multidecadal relationship between temperature and fire decayed and then disappeared after implementation of fire suppression (ca. 1904 CE). The amplification and buffering of fire-climate relationships by humans underscores the need for parameterizing thresholds of human-vs. climate-driven fire activity to improve the skill and value of fire-climate models for addressing the increasing fire risk in California.anthropogenic landscapes | fire ecology | land use | regime shifts | climate variability A n increase in the extent of forest fires in the American West since the mid-1980s (1) has enhanced risks to lives, property, water quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and other ecosystem services (2). This increasing wildfire trend has become even steeper during the past decade, with a higher number of large wildfires (>100 km 2 ) each year in each Western state compared with the annual average from 1980 to 2000 (3). The fire problem is particularly acute in California, where a history of fire suppression (4), climate change (1, 5), more extreme fire weather (6), expanding development (7), and massive wildfires (e.g., 2013 Rim Fire, 1,042 km 2 ) have caused significant socioecological impacts. Future area burned in California is projected to further increase with anthropogenic warming (8). With more than half of the annual federal firefighting budget already being spent suppressing fires in California (4), a sustainable system of fire management requires approaches beyond active fire suppression (9). Predicting future fire activity is challenging because humans can alter fire regimes and fire-climate relationships even if climate becomes more conducive to fire (10). Changes in socioecological systems (SESs) can modulate or even override climatic effects on fire regimes through changing land use, igniti...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Taylor

Trouet

Skinner³

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

176

158

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…It is apparent that there is a recording bias towards nationals with middle-class origins (Clay and Jones 2008).…”

Section: Nineteenth-century Gold Rush Experiences Forty-niner Miners mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rohrbough (1998: 12-13) observed, 'Open access to the gold in California seemed to represent the purest example of American economic democracy in 4 The stream of migrants was over 95 per cent male (Clay and Jones 2008). 5…”

Section: Nineteenth-century Gold Rush Experiences Forty-niner Miners mentioning

confidence: 99%

Artisanal gold-rush mining and frontier democracy: Juxtaposing experiences in America, Australia, Africa and Asia

Bryceson¹

2018

Between the Plough and the Pick: Informal, Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Contemporary World

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“…Exploration was to a large extent a private enterprise, in what Clay and Wright (2011) describe as an open and saturated market. As an illustration, in around 1850, miners in California earned on average less in relative terms than day laborers in other parts of the United States, an indication that open entry gave way to a dissipation of rents (Clay and Jones 2008). Taken together, such a private and massive search in a market with open entry-the mineral rush-suggests that specific mineral discoveries were largely independent from the political status of the place of discovery at the time of discovery.…”

Section: Empirical Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Wild West IS Wild: The Homicide Resource Curse

Couttenier

Grosjean

Sangnier

2017

Journal of the European Economic Association

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We document interpersonal violence as a dimension of the resource curse. We rely on a historical natural experiment in the United States, where mineral discoveries occurred sometimes before, sometimes after formal institutions were established in the county of discovery. In places where mineral discoveries occurred before formal institutions were established, there were more homicides per capita historically and the effect has persisted to this day. Today, the share of homicides and assaults explained by the historical circumstances of mineral discoveries is comparable to the effect of education or income. Our results imply that short-term and quasi-exogenous variations in the institutional environment can lead to large and persistent differences in cultural and institutional development.

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Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush

Cited by 36 publications

References 19 publications

Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Artisanal gold-rush mining and frontier democracy: Juxtaposing experiences in America, Australia, Africa and Asia

The Wild West IS Wild: The Homicide Resource Curse

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