Westward! Ho! -In 1848, gold was found in the California hills of America and the rest, as they say, is history.

The first 200 words of this essay...

WESTWARD, HO!

By Anna Karyl

In 1848, gold was found in the California hills of America and the rest, as they say, is history. The journey between the Missouri River and Sutter's Fort in California was on the order of 2,000 of the hardest miles one would ever want to travel. One fourth of that was through the Nevada wilderness. So it was only natural that eventually somebody would find something of value there.

They did. In 1849, a pioneer happened to pan in a ravine about forty miles east of California's border where he discovered a few flecks of gold. Though the amount of the gold was not worth stopping the westward-bound wagon train, it was enough to interest a fair number of California miners to revisit the Nevada territory.

As pioneers backtracked to Nevada, mines, houses, businesses, and towns appeared everywhere that gold and silver were found. Very soon thereafter, Nevada had a growing population to tend. One of the area's first newspapers, the HUMBOLDT REGISTER, observed the trend with a bit of sarcasm. "Roll along, Mr. Immigrant," the HUMBOLDT'S editor wrote, "Any fool can get to