Download or read book We the Miners written by Andrea G. McDowell and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The California Gold Rush is thought to exemplify the Wild West, yet miners were expert organizers. Driven by property interests, they enacted mining codes, held criminal trials, and decided claim disputes. But democracy and law did not extend to “foreigners” and Indians, and miners were hesitant to yield power to the state that formed around them.