The Bonanza Kings-The Social Origins and Business
Behavior of Western Mining Entrepreneurs, 1870-1900. By Richard H. Peterson.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971, 1977. Bibliography. Tables. 191
pages. $9.95.
Reviewed by Mark Wyman, Assistant Professor of History,
Illinois State University, student of Western mine labor.
The current emphasis on history "from the bottom up" is
inverted in this new study by Richard H. Peterson. The author, an instructor at
the College of the Redwoods, Mendocino Coast Branch, believes that the mine
entrepreneur rather than the lone prospector is the crucial figure to understand
in examining Western metal mining in the late nineteenth century. Fifty Western
"bonanza kings" are examined as to nativity, migration, education, training,
labor policies, and methods used to obtain property, capital, and technology.
Many of the fifty headed West soon after the gold rush, often
for non-economic reasons, and they benefitted greatly from these early
experiences as placer miners or suppliers. As merchants or bankers, some were
soon providing capital to miners, learning which enterprises paid best, and
often becoming mine owners themselves when borrowers defaulted. Their education
during this process turned many into the shrewd entrepreneurs Peterson details
in this concise, straightforward account-men who "tried to make it an exact
business" even though it was definitely "not an exact science."
The Turner thesis could hardly be ignored in a study of this
sort. The author addresses the issue briefly at the outset, arguing convincingly
that for the entrepreneur in mining, milling, and smelting, the West
provided more freedom to rise than did the Eastern business world. Perhaps no more
tolerant than other regions, the mining frontier was still "more
democratic" and "more open" than the East. He shows
statistically that comparatively more immigrants and men of poor economic and educational
backgrounds were able to rise to top levels in Western mining. Little is done in
this-study, however, to indicate what went wrong with the "almost" bonanza
kings-was it guessing wrong in an economic downturn? Failing to switch to a new
milling method?
Or was it luck? Peterson devotes some time to discussing how
various entrepreneurs played the boom-and-bust cycle and managed to stay on top.
But it is apparent from many of the case histories that luck was often important
in determining success or avoiding failure.
Related to this is another issue: beyond their own skills,
what was it in the West that encouraged or permitted such success? The book
indicates that the chance for a new start in an undeveloped region was
important: most "joined the westward movement at an early stage," usually during
the rush into a new district. Such an opportunity was past or passing in the
East, forcing newcomers there to grapple with established enterprises and
methods of operation.
Peterson is at his best in creating flesh-and-blood humans
out of the legends and generalizations surrounding the bonanza kings. This is
especially true regarding labor relations, a field in which the blood from
Cripple Creek and other conflicts has been used to spread a universal stain over
mineowners as a cruel and reactionary group. Admitting that this was basically
true in several cases, the author demonstrates that many other bonanza kings
were sympathetic to their workmen-often because of their own humble beginnings,
or previous employee status, but also for purely economic reasons. In the end
they are a varied group-lucky, skillful, eager, and finally believable.
