Typical Miners Cabin in Remote Mining Region, Placer County.
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During the Gold rush a miner would have been fortunate to have a cabin
such as this to live in; many Forty-Niners rushed directly from the
ship they arrived in to the gold fields without so much as a blanket.
Subsisting on a diet of pork, hard bread and whisky and living in a tent
unprotected from the elements, the prospector faced many risks to his
health. Malnourishment led to conditions such as scurvy and left miners
more susceptible to diseases like cholera, which was very common in the
crowded, refuse-laden camps in which they lived. As one might expect,
treating miners made many physicians quite wealthy—the going price
merely to be examined was an ounce of gold, to be treated cost even more.
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