News Update April 6, 2026 - Gold Rush (1 Viewer)

Julie

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JJDESIGNS NEWS UPDATE 6th APRIL 2026
THE GOLD RUSH

The discovery of gold or silver in the West was usually followed by a rush of people attempting to arrive at the new district first to get established in mining or business. New mining camps were hastily constructed out of materials that could be easily transported over great distances and on difficult terrain. The most common early structure in these camps was the canvas tent.

THE CASH STORE

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Tents were used for both shelter and to operate early businesses in the camps. The entrepreneur with the tent could be in business weeks before his rivals who attempted to build a more elaborate structure, and those first few weeks were a lucrative time to be selling goods or services to the hundreds or even thousands of people pouring into a new camp.

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An advantage of tents is that they could be packed up and moved to the next camp in the event that the rush to the current camp turned out to be a bust. Many mining rushes were the result of misinformation or outright fraud. People who’s only investment in the camp was a tent on the ground could pack up and move on to the next rush with little trouble.

Tent cities usually didn’t last more than a year. Any camp that proved to have rich enough mines to last longer than a season would usually transition to wood buildings fairly quickly.

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Once the gold had been mined, the next question was what to do with the natural gold. With so many thousands of new prospectors entering the areas, there was really no sufficient infrastructure to accommodate all this new prosperity, and a great deal of improvisation took place.

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Initially a great deal of bartering for goods and services took place. People became quite skilled at buttssing and weighing gold dust and nuggets for its rough value. Therefore it initially became a basic means of exchange.

Certain individuals and institutions began minting gold coins from miners gold dust, so a basic currency started to develop.

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In 1854 the US Mint opened in San Fransisco which provided a more stable and agreed upon currency, which quickly dominated the new state and adjacent territories.
The early economy that developed relied upon entrepreneurs who arrived with sufficient financial resources to become merchants and bankers.

GOLD RUSH TENTS WILL BE AVAILABLE LATER THIS YEAR.

PLEASE NOTE THERE WILL BE NO NEWS UPDATE NEXT WEEK.

Best wishes,

john jenkins
 
What John is presenting is getting more and more incredible!
He pushes the boundaries of the simple figurine standard a little further each month! Did you ever find this kind of trade in the Fur Trade, mixed in with trappers and Native Americans?
 
What a great scene. Ilove them but have not collected this series. But a few of these might gind a home at my place
 
These 5 sets, plus the previously shown tents, means the rest of this year has enough monthly releases to see us up to Christmas. Really happy that I bought into this series. Certainly the makings of a tent city, if one wanted do that. Robin.
 
I predict that the tents previously presented will be out of stock two months after their release!
And this one certainly will be in only slightly longer time as well!
 

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