The California Gold Rush retrieved approximately 750,000 pounds of gold. To put this in perspective, the gold bar that often appears in films is 25 pounds (12.4 kg), and so the Gold Rush could have produced 30,000 of these bars. I have also heard it claimed - but I have no way to verify - that the total gold bullion available today would fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools. There simply isn't that much gold in the world, and the amount of gold produced was more valuable than sizable.

Depending on the purity of the gold and the exchange rate on a given day, a pound of gold was worth about $256, meaning that the Gold Rush produced about $192,000,000 in 1850 terms. Today that amount of gold is worth roughly $15,600,000,000. Also to put it in perspective, the Comstock Mining District, which flourished in what is now Nevada, 1859-1880 produced roughly $300 million in gold and silver at roughly the same exchange rate, making its worth today more than that of the California Gold Rush (although comparisons are difficult because the Comstock produced roughly equal values in silver and gold, and the subsequent values of the two precious metals have fluctuated differently).

The San Francisco Mint opened in 1854 to provide a means of standardized exchange of bullion: before that, gold dust and nuggets were used to purchase things, but every merchant had to rely on scales and an assumption of purity, so coins provided an important means to assist the growing California economy. Millions of dollars in California gold was minted in San Francisco. This - together with other mining strikes in the West - made the United States a bullion-rich nation.

Many '49ers returned home once they had "made their pile." Whether carrying gold in its raw form or newly-minted coins, these sojourners came back to set themselves up in businesses and farms. Some no doubt prospered while other lost their wealth, because humanity is what it is. It is important also to point out that the Gold Rush was an international phenomenon, so at least some bullion reached foreign shores as some people returned to their homes or sent friends and family some of the wealth that they had acquired.

Most 49er's stayed in the West, whether they "made their pile" or not. The trip back and forth before the transcontinental railroad was costly, difficult, and dangerous and there were plenty of opportunities in the West. Those who did return faced the same difficulties, as you indicate in your question. A nice "pile" would be, say $10,000, or roughly forty pounds of gold. That's not much to transport, if that's how the miner wanted to handle things. There were also bank notes where a miner would deposit/sell the gold to a banking institution, which would issue a certificate in that person's name to be exchanged at a sister institution in the East.

I am transcribing and annotating the diaries of Alfred Doten who arrived in California in 1849, and I was co-editor of the Gold Rush letters of the Grosh brothers. These '49ers were eager to send bullion back to family to repay investments made to support the journey of the Western sojourners - often called the Argonauts. At one point, Doten "panned" $3 worth of gold (less than a quarter ounce), so he could put the dust in a letter to be sent home - as a gift and as an amusement.

In these ways, bullion filtered back throughout the states and it entered into circulation as coins. I have heard - but cannot verify - that during tours of Fort Knox, people are shown gold bars that are more orange than the rest, and the claim is made that this is original Gold Rush bullion that is not as pure as more modern bullion, hence the discoloration. I don't doubt this, but I can't confirm it.

I hope this helps.

The Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes happened in British Columbia in the same era. The Fraser rush started in 1858 and the Cariboo two years later. There are many books, stories, articles and journals that document the gold taken and what happened to the miners that made it rich.

The first thing that I should mention is not all of the miners struck it rich. While there were huge amounts of gold taken out of the ground, the majority of it came from claims in small areas or creek beds. The miners who came first were able to stake claims and generally found the most gold while those who arrived later found nothing but misery and worthless ground. There is a well documented tale of "The Overlanders," three groups of hopefuls who left Ontario by land and crossed the continent to the Cariboo gold fields. Of 131 men and women who left Ontario only 80 made it to the goldfields a year later. Some gave up their quest and turned back to home, some died of starvation, some of sickness and some drowned. Of the few who eventually made it to the Cariboo only one man, James Wattie, struck it rich. Some of the men were hired on as labourers, a few started ranches and homesteaded while the majority of the others returned to their homes broke and dejected.

Of the miners who did find gold, few found enough to strike it rich. Some would find a profitable claim that provided a steady amount of gold with a lot of work and either abandon it or sell it and move on, hoping to find the motherload. Some would earn a decent amount of gold and spend every ounce of it searching for another strip of paydirt.

Some of the miners never survived the trip home to enjoy their wealth or lived to see it lost while shipping it home. The SS Central America sunk with 30,000 pounds of gold in its hold. The SS Pacific went down with $250,000 worth of gold. There are stories of men and stagecoaches being robbed: one of notable mention is $80,000 being taken by "Rattlesnake Barter," of which half was never recovered.

Some of the miners became fabulously rich but had no idea how to handle their new-found wealth. Billy Barker pulled over 37,000 ounces of gold from his mine yet he died a pauper in the Bachelor's Hall in Victoria. He was known to buy rounds of drinks for crowded bars and throw handfuls of gold nuggets at mirrors behind the counters to watch them shatter. He married a dance hall girl who helped him spend his wealth then abandoned him when the last of his money was gone.

James Cameron was a partner in the richest mines in the Cariboo. He brought his wife across the country to join him and became heartbroken when she died along the way. Distraught, he sold his share in the mine and returned home to retire. Cameron left the Cariboo with the equivalent of $5,000,000 in today's money. He built a mansion, generously gave money to friends and family, remarried and was broke in a dozen years. Cameron returned to the goldfields seeking another fortune in 1886 and died there a pauper.

Many of the miners who arrived at the gold fields were broke and unprepared. Food and merchandise were expensive, often costing 10 times what they did back home. Being too late to stake the rich ground the majority of them became labourers. Some of these men who had experience prospecting and mining managed to have merchants and businessmen back them with a grubstake in return for large portion of any gold they found. These men found smaller but profitable claims, but generally did not manage to retain any of the gold they found because they would spend it all searching for another claim of their own.

After the first rush of independent prospectors raced through the gold fields large consortiums and companies followed. It took a lot of capital to seek out a mine or move the large amount of overburden to reach the pay dirt which the independent miners did not have. After the first few years of the gold rush we see a change in ownership from individuals and partners to large companies working the claims. With a large number of shareholders the profits of the gold mines would be diluted to investors back east.

If you are interested I will dig through my books tomorrow and give you the names of the profitable Cariboo claims and how much gold was reported from them.