Gold Fever on Discovery

[Ordell]

Anyone watching? It's a miniseries on the California Gold Rush and how basically one guy built San Francisco capitalizing on prospectors. Mike Rowe is narrating and they have a few talking heads, one of them Dave Turin.

 

[calnatv]

These guys came out here to better there financial situations back home,many had wives,and children back home.....they all had families that many never got to see again.Disease was rampant

Yep. Plenty of diaries and journals of the time that state that. I have a huge book collection with a 1/3 of it being dedicated to the gold rush. A misconception was the "lonely prospector" Most traveled in groups of 20 to 30 men in search of new finds. Safety in numbers. Also they were kids for the most part. In their late teens and early 20's. This "era" only lasted a few years before the hoards arrived and outposts, towns and roads started to be built.They may have mentioned that on the show. Unfortunately I missed it

 

[kuger]

I think you better get your money back from your drug and sex studies of the California Gold Rush because you are totally wrong.I have read a great many period journals(un-edited)as well as have searched Ship contents coming into the Port Of San Fran from 1849 -1858,no where was it ever mentioned any where that any MJ was smoked,shipped or brought in,or cocain for that matter,nor was there any mention of having sex all night.They were detailed enough to mention the weather,what they ate,how much gold they found,and who they owed and who they paid to the penny,as well as who they talked to on a particular day.....surely they would have mentioned puffing a bowl....they described smoking opium and described in great detail the methods they either self treated themselves or their friends of cholera and a number of other ailments they came down with(A great read is the Journal of Israel Lord)often using a pill of MERCURY,now why didnt they mention cocain,marijuana,and these sexual escapades?As I said before the days of the Gunfighter were more in line with your tales.......read up on the GOLD RUSH then we can play some more...also I am pretty sure my knowledge and reputation is well known here....Have you ever even been to the Mother Lode?

 

[kuger]

.....also..please show me an example of these cocaine tins of which you speak...........I have box's of opium tin parts,box's of the tins an array of food came in,as well as the liners of tea box's(have you ever seen a lead Tea box?)no cocain bottles,or tins....I wont tell you your area's history,dont try and tell me mine.....my forefathers were brave enough to come here in the 1840's and we are still here today..

 

[Ordell]

You can't stay up all day and all night having sex without stimulants and drinking at the same time.

You were never 20 years old, were you?

 

[deserdog]

"Mummies in Egypt have been found to have cocaine in the body tissue."

Cocaine comes from the cocoa plant, native to South America.

 

[Sungram]

Yes It is a very interesting show. Hate I have to wait until Friday for the next part.

 

[aurumdigga]

"Mummies in Egypt have been found to have cocaine in the body tissue."

Cocaine comes from the cocoa plant, native to South America.

I am a buff of politically incorrect history. History has been purposely re-written by historians and this is a point you have to understand about History that is taught in colleges and high schools.

Deserdog, I have chose to answer you because your comment was worth answering and is a very new finding. I mean, how can a three or four thousand year old mummy have gotten cocaine from South America? It sounds absurd I must admit.

I will let a youtube video explain the findings. The how is a longer story that I understand but this is not the place to write such explanations.



As far as what Kugar says, I can easily say that his information is sanitized with the same flaws as re-written history wants you to know. Marijuana grew wild in Nebraska and surrounding States up until the 80's when the government took steps to eradicate it. I have seen it growing wild in Alabama & Florida myself. You can't stop it once it gets going. American Indians smoked it. Mexicans smoked it. South Americans smoked it. Central Americans smoked it. It would be inane to even think that marijuana was not a natural weed in North America when no effort was made to eradicate this weed in the 1700's, 1800's, and the 1900's . I just wish they could do the same thing to Kudzu here in the South without killing wildlife at the same time.

I don't have to find a picture of anything about cocaine. Just watch the movie Papillon. This same product in the movie came from Central or South America that was seen in the movie. Snuff tins were used to market it for many purposes. I imagine that snake oil salesmen used this in their snake oil also. It was not illegal to do so......so why not!

Also, anywhere there is opium, there is heroine. Chinese opium dens were prolific in San Francisco in the 1800's and 1900's. Just know that the use of drugs has been purged from the history of the USA. Drugs of all kinds were used in, Asia, Europe, Africa, and most certainly in the USA in the 1800's and 1900's because there were no laws to prohibit them. Like I said, Coke, the drink, got its name from the cocaine in the original formula and it was legal. It was used for melancholy and any other thing you wanted to use it for.

Look for the invention of the syringe and you will figure out what junkies started putting in these new fangled syringes as soon as they were available to the public.

Also, this boric acid cure for STD's that I mentioned was used during the Civil War in the USA. It didn't work but it was tried for years. Mercury tablets were used for healing as well.

Like I said too, if the holder of the patent for the Radio is still taught to be Marconi, (which is wrong), then you have to realize that history not correct as it is taught in schools. This is just one example.

It is more likely that heroin was used more prolifically than cocaine which came in the hydrochloride form in the 1880's. Still, the leaves were exported to be put in the gums to give the same effect as today's hydrochloride form of the coca leaves.

Kuger, stick to metal detecting or whatever you do. You are out of your league when you question my knowledge of politically incorrect history. I only pounced on you because you took it upon yourself to attack my knowledge.... which is something that I have studied for many years and find it fascinating to delve into since the mid 70's.

By the way, Sears & Roebuck used to sell cocaine and a syringe in their catalogue. Sears Sold Cocaine? Lots of it | ImmatureBusiness

 

[kuger]

......and again you are wrong.....unlike your self,I have not learned what I know from school,I live here,as has my family since before the Gold Rush.I have been obsessed with anything to do with the Gold rush my entire life,and have researched it to depths only a small hand full have.....for sure over somebody in Georgia!My whole issue with this show was that it wasnt factual,but you likely wouldnt realize even that.You can not give what I have asked because it didnt exist.I have already explained to you the reasons I know what you claim didnt happen,and you have proceeded like a poltician to dance around the subject and tell me where cocaine came from,and where pot grows,and nothing about why t was never mentioned in the mANY detailed writings....why wouldnt any of the likes of Mark Twain have mentioned it?It never grew wild here and I sure never recall hearing mention of it any of the travels of those who who came by wagon stopping to harvest or by any of those who came by ship listing it in their cargo rolls(which many are on line if you know how to research)I happen to own the supply rolls for the largest privately owned shipment of goods ever sent to Coloma in 1852,it lists everything down to tooth brushes,and quinine....never any mention of cocaine or MJ.Rheumatism was huge affliction...surely if a fellow had cocaine or MJ, he would have par took,and for sure mentioned it....they mentioned any number of other ailments and cures....no mention.Given some of the events,and Companies you have eluded to, I am not even sure you know what years the Gold rush even was,so your "Pounce",missed As I said stick to supporting your political stance to allow your habit and keep it out of my history....

Challenge for you......since you are such a scholar.......find me one mention in any un-edited GOLD RUSH period Journal,or reputable GOLD RUSH period book that supports your claims

 

[KevinInColorado]

I too was disappointed to see several factual errors in the first few minutes of the show. Left me questioning the overall accuracy of this "documentary"...seems more like edu-tainment with a focus on the graphic and dramatic.

 

[enamel7]

Kuger,
He saw it on YouTube in a video on the internet, so it has to be true

 

[DizzyDigger]

Arum,

Can't speak to all of your post, but can confirm that a variety of cannabis
was wild growing in the United States. It was (and is) more commonly referred
to as "Ditch Weed".

It's was/is known as Cannabis Ruderalis, or more commonly known to
the world as "HEMP". This is the same plant that was used for making ropes
for the war, and the same HEMP plant that farmers wish to cultivate here
in the US (it is currently a banned plant).

It is all but useless as a medicine, and has an average THC content of
less than 3%, meaning you could smoke a pound of the stuff and all you
would get is a headache. It is an INDUSTRIAL plant.

The marijuana available today for medicinal/recreational use comes from
the Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa varieties..same family, but quite
different in potency (much higher) and these 2 varieties also have little
use for industrial purposes due to their smaller sizes.

Cannabis Indica/Sativa was most commonly used in medicines and tinctures right
up until the 1930's when Mr. Anslinger had his way and they then became
anathema.

So, was there "marijuana" in the gold fields? Most likely, but it was just an ingredient
in the medicines and balms of the day, and odds are nil that miners were sitting around the
Long Tom sluice smoking doobies all day.

 

[keitha43]

Arum,
So, was there "marijuana" in the gold fields? Most likely, but it was just an ingredient
in the medicines and balms of the day, and odds are nil that miners were sitting around the
Long Tom sluice smoking doobies all day.

Loved this statement! I was always taught in History that Columbus discovered America, Edison invented the light bulb, and other "Facts" and now find out a lot of things aren't true as more evidence is discovered. I guess until I finish building my "Time Machine" we may never know what did and didn't happen in the past with 100% certainty.

 

[kuger]

Loved this statement! I was always taught in History that Columbus discovered America, Edison invented the light bulb, and other "Facts" and now find out a lot of things aren't true as more evidence is discovered. I guess until I finish building my "Time Machine" we may never know what did and didn't happen in the past with 100% certainty.

...I am the first to tell ya that History has been watered down,and embellished...there were not even gunfights down main street at High noon!It irks me,just the same as claiming things that are totally unsubstantiated......Myself and my peers have found so much that is not in the history books,but is at just about anybodies finger tips who are willing to "dig",a little deeper.Period journals,period ads,period ship rolls,period supply lists,archeological reports(The excavations of the Hoff Store is a great one!!!).I am fortunate to be able to investigate and see directly what comes from Gold Rush Site excavations.Major clues!!!!If evidence isnt there to support claims then......as for this subject....I am done.I dont get on these to argue and I will not.The proof of my claims are easily found,and my reputation is easily confirmed.I have no vested interest to change history from what it truly was

here are some later "drugs",used as medicine...just as I originally stated http://finbotclub.blogspot.com/2011/03/cocaine-and-opium-common-in-early-quack.html

 

[DizzyDigger]

Kuger: No doubt that info you get, first hand, is superior to that learned
by Aurum from books. That's the issue with "history", as no matter how
much we learn from books, there are always those issues which didn't catch
the historians eye, or the historian had an agenda of their own and
"massaged" the truth to support his own view of what had occurred.
Could be that Aurum shared what he knew to be "true", but based
solely on his research with the materials available.

As for the MJ issue, as said there were no doubt many medicines
present in the camps that had Cannabis Indica as an ingredient,
as it was used in hundreds of medicines - from cough syrup to
analgesics. Some people of the time (including George Washington),
did smoke the flowers of the hemp plant (Ruderalis), but it was used
only as a very mild relaxant.

Miners of the day didn't have marijuana leaf or buds, and when they wanted
to relax they most certainly went for "The Fast Stuff" that was readily
available for a bit of gold...aka: Whiskey.

 

[bedrock bubba]

Sigmund Freud was a coke fiend!
King Tut was a crack head!
Hitler was a meth monster!
Mummies walk around at night stoned and kill people! I know! I saw it in a movie.
Vampires exist, and are whacked out on crank!The movie, Krankenstein, proved it!
Eric, the Red, was a mean Viking drunk, a bar room brawler, who belonged to an outlaw motorcycle gang!

The first 3 items are true.
And mummies having coke on them is true. That adds to the ancient Atlantis theory, and how they could sail all over the globe back then!

 

[aurumdigga]

Michael Cremo's book, forbidden Archeology points to many untruths in the accepted taught history of this Nation and the World. I can not encapsulate all that I have learned, experimented with in science, and read as best evidence through personal letters and notes that were never published by some great people in history.

I did read a letter to either the daughter of Darwin or to his wife. It stated that he has yet to find any evidence of one species evolving into another. He died about a year later.

Just know that cocaine is as easy to make as rose oil or any other perfume.

To make cocaine, all you need is some grain alcohol, a large container, and some coca leaves. The leaves and alcohol are put into the container. In hours after the leaves have soaked, a white foam starts to appear on the top of the alcohol. You simply skim this white alkaloid from the alcohol as it comes to the top.

Then you cover this white substance with some cloth, let the alcohol evaporate in the heat of the sun..... and bam .... what you have left is pure cocaine. Simple to do. It doesn't take some knowledgeable scientist to understand how cocaine is made. Cocaine has been around longer than historians will allow it to be known.

I made a statement that this documentary was "sanitized" as all history is corrected to make history more politically correct for the children. If a person/adult wants to believe this propaganda type of history, I have no problem letting them be uninformed. These people are probably better off being uninformed. Some people like Kuger can't handle the truth it seems.

The politics of history is all I brought up here. I gave some very good illustrations and links. Scientists themselves said that the cocaine mummies would be hard to explain. But..... Science does not lie. This means that not telling of these finding is not a lie in the eyes of the people that rewrite the history books. It gives them pleasure to do so.

Dizzy Digger, you are right about a lot of the hemp growing in the midwest was hemp. Hemp is not Ruderalis though. I am not really sure what classification hemp is but I am almost positive that it is not Ruderalis. I could be wrong though but I know that Ruderalis is a very small plant that looks nothing like a large hemp plant. This is a small marijuana plant that has almost no THC that naturally grows in Russia. I knew that when I saw that. There are three types of marijuana, Ruderalis, Sativa, and indica. Indica is mostly associated with Hash. This is a bushy plant that grows to about seven or eight feet at the most. Sativa can grow twenty feet or larger with certain strains that have not been corrupted by indica strains.

I have read that even hemp can have a 20% to 30% THC level if you have a female that does not seed. If it seeds, the resin stops producing to catch the pollen.

I think it is important to understand that accounts of people smoking weed, or corn shucks will always be left out of history.

In the Civil war, soldiers would throw away their dice or betting items before going to battle. They didn't want to bring shame to their family by being caught with these items if they were killed. I found a die near Ezra Church here in Atlanta. It is one of my favorite finds. Other friends found chess pieces made from bullets at this same site.

Sometimes you have to be intimate with medicine to know of the extremes that Civil war soldiers experienced to understand that aspect of war and the people. With drugs, it was swept under the table to not defame any soldier that lost their life in battle. There are many reasons for rewriting history. The gold rush has this same attribute. It is about the gold, not the other stuff that made it seem so tawdry or shameful to America.

You will find mention of these drugs used but historians will always try to nix it out of common knowledge.

Like I said, Marconi did not invent the radio and does not have the patent for the radio, yet, it is still taught in school today that marconi was the first to invent this device that changed the world as we know it. Lies about cocaine, opium, heroin, and marijuana use are no different.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Aurumdigga, have you read "Lies my teacher told me" by James W. Loewen? It is full of info on the spin we put on the past to avoid shaming and to make ourselves look good to our children, etc. I think you'd love it!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Aurum, you could very well be correct that "Hemp" is not from the
Ruderalis strain of Cannabis, but other than the appearance and leaf
structure it sure as heck isn't close to Sativa or Indica strains.

There are a few strains of Sativa's that will grow over 20', and they
are mostly the Colombian and African land-race strains. The parents
of "Colombian Gold" were both from the high mountains of Colombia
and reportedly could grow large enough that it took a chain saw
to bring them down.

Another one is Santa Marta Gold, a true land-race Sativa strain from
the very high mtn's of Colombia. I've seen these grow over 20', and
they would have gotten larger had their environment not been modified.

A female plant that does not get pollinated will not bear seed (or maybe
just a few), and that is known as sensimilla, a fancy Spanish word meaning
"without seeds". BTW, the best breeders in the world have yet to produce
a strain consistently yielding over 25% THC.

Regarding Kuger's version of events, you must take into consideration his
hands-on knowledge of the subject. Writers wrote what they believe to be
true, and that is generally based on information they've either read themselves
or heard from a third-party. Physical evidence tells a different story, as Kuger
has noted. You're sharing what you learned from books and academia, and he's
sharing what he learned first-hand growing up in the area, and studying the
actual evidence from the period. You are correct in that you're sharing what you
learned, however what he learned first hand is contrary to what those books
taught you. Maybe reality included a bit of both?

 

[Goldwasher]

Once gain Kuger...my double like button does not work.....Aurumguy...stop refrencing the civil war and wild west in relation to the "Gold Rush"..which was a very Brief period from 1848 to barely '51 '52 anything after that is really should just be called life in the New State of California. In the camps of the Motherlode and the Northern Goldfields (different places) Kugers description is spot on. Companies of men trying to better themselves and Moving from place to place learning to mine by mostly trial and error. Cold wet winters followed by muddy messes of spring. Dry and Hot in the summer, Disease was rampant. All kinds of nasty critters thrive in the warm pools of creeks in the summer and peoples understanding of sanitation and the spread of disease, were nothing like they are today. yes there were whores in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Stockton...But you did not just go back and forth from the Goldfields to the Coast or the Delta. Most only went back there so they could go back East, and yes there were "Businesses there trying to squeeze the last of the dust from any foolish fellow who would partake. In the foothill camps there were not really any available women...A few wives and family members....initially to pass time and have fun when they had the chance... the men actually danced together... making light of the fact that there were no women...or in fact if a women did happen to be there....they actually stood in line to take their turn dancing with her....not because they were horny.... but, because they were homesick, and missed the only life they knew before heading west. Like Kuger I put way more stock into first hand evidence and period first hand accounts..there are some good published history books but, they have never attended a day of public school.And it does bug, me that there is this thing that we have to show how horrible our forefathers were....drunks and druggies...is it so we can make society today feel better about themselves?? I think not mainly embellishment of facts...just because coke, weed, opium, and alchohol existed does not mean that it was a main driving factor in day to day life. When you spend a lot of time in the Canyons, creek bottoms and woods here and you see how much work was done by hand, it is very obvious that you are not looking at the work of doped up teenage party animals. Those 5 foot 4 easterners lived on Lean Game meat, the occasional thick cut steak, Carbs and dirty water. If you look at the tintypes you can see that they absolutely had built up the strength to pick you up over their head if you questioned their virtue. By the way Heroin was not created until 1874...so the presence of an opium den does not maean that there was also Heroin...Maybe it is time to go spew ignorance on an other forum.

 

[kuger]

^^^^^^^^^^^THATS FACT RIGHT THERE ^^^^^^^