Cheap The Gold Rush (Video) (Steve Boettcher, Mike Trinklei) Price

First televised in 1998 to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the California gold rush, this excellent, entertaining PBS documentary begins with the 1848 discovery of gold nuggets on the banks of the American River. What follows is nothing less than the birth of the first entrepreneurial movement in the U.S., an era with striking similarities to the economic reinvention of the Information Age. Filmmakers Michael Trinklein and Steven Boettcher (the team behind The Oregon Trail) show us how the country shifted from a steady agrarian society to one in which adventurous young people headed West (many of them from Europe) in hopes of building a fortune. Typically, some won and many failed, and Trinklein and Boettcher introduce a number of individuals from both camps. But the most interesting aspect of the program is the way a new economy was built upon the needs of the miners themselves: we meet a clever fellow named Sam Brannan, for example, who bought up every mining pan around for 30 cents apiece and resold each for a whopping $15. Levi Strauss, Studebaker, Armour Meats, and Wells Fargo Bank were all born during the gold rush, and an extraordinary number of women found economic freedom by starting laundry and cooking businesses patronized by weary miners. Narrated by John Lithgow, The Gold Rush is an all-American story about dreams and profits in a changing landscape--something with which we can surely identify today. --Tom Keogh

CATEGORY:	Video
DIRECTOR:	Steve Boettcher, Mike Trinklei
FEATURES:	Color, NTSC
TYPE:	Special Interests, History, Television Documentary, Documentaries by Topic
MEDIA:	VHS Tape