The minersī fixation on gold changed Californiaīs entire economy. Before 1848, wealth among Mexican and Anglo settlers in California had been defined by property: land, cattle and houses as in Sutterīs case. During the gold rush this definition changed as ounces of gold dust circulated as a new payment for goods and services, replacing the previous currency of cowhides, which had been known as "California bank notes." With gold in circulation, California swiftly became part of the worldīs cash economy. With the new currency, the prices of goods and services rose, and many newcomers were surprized when they confronted the high costs of living and the steep prices for tools and machinery. But even those who found enough gold so they had ample money to spend soon discovered there was not much to buy. With provisions scarce at first, the prosperous and the poor all wore similar clothes, lived in similar, primitive tents or cabins, used the standard tools and machinery and ate the same monotonous food.
Only the entertainment industry managed to grow fast enough to separate miners from their hard-won money. Gambling halls displayed tables loaded with thousands of dollars in gold and silver; saloons offered drinking, music, and variety shows; while a range of brothels thrived on prostitution. Indeed, the sudden availability of money, an overwhelmingly male population, and the rootless and mobile situation of thousands of newcomers made mining camps an ideal ground in which prostitutes could prosper. The Victorian cultural myth of female passivity, which claimed that "normal" women did not enjoy sex, contributed to prostitution in general. But in comparison to the rest of the US, prostitution in the West was central to early social life in the camps and towns. Miners purchased sex as a necessary commodity similar to the mining tools they bought.
Suddenly, Californiaīs economy had changed almost overnight. The gold rush, with its new definition of wealth, proved Sutterīs fears correct. Within months it had destroyed his little empire as gold diggers trampled on his crops, artisans abandoned his workshops, and laborers disappeared from his fields to go hunt for gold.