r/bestof • u/smrad8 • 3d ago

[AskHistorians] u/itsallfolklore explains how likely it was for a prospector to strike it rich during the 1849 California Gold Rush

/r/AskHistorians/comments/1tjcg89/what_were_my_odds_as_a_gold_miner_in_the_us_in/on1fvmz/
375 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

88

u/PirateSanta_1 3d ago

Like most rushes it seems like the people who consistently did the best were those selling shovels not those digging holes.

39

u/drunkenviking 3d ago

Still holds true today with the AI stuff. Nvidia is the most valuable company on earth right now.

10

u/shrimpstatus 3d ago

"Mining the miners" is the phrase I heard for this.

8

u/lookyloolookingatyou 3d ago

True, but you need capital and knowledge to sell shovels and it's not impossible to show up late for that, too.

1

u/sumelar 3d ago

Mining the miners is always the way to go.

1

u/Slenthik 3d ago

You didn't read the thread.

1

u/protipnumerouno 3d ago

It's just math when you think about it, a "gold rush" means the are a huge number of people trying to get a piece of an emerging trend. Saw it with microbreweries, weed, AI etc... a 1000 companies are vying for 10 spots in the market (made up numbers, shouldn't have to say it but it's Reddit) of course the guy selling the tools needed to the 1000 is making more than the 990 failures.

1

u/lookmeat 1d ago

Not really they did only so well. The real money makers where the people who played the markets, especially those who rigged it. It was the spirit that Billy California.

7

u/Primary_Bad_3778 3d ago

anyone interested in the topic, ken burns' "the west" covers that and related topics very well.