May 14, 1852

An article published in the Arkansas Gazette noted that, of the people from Arkansas who had gone to California in the westward movement to seek gold in California, “It is calculated that out of every 100 persons…fifty have been ruined, forty no better [off] than they would have been had they stayed at home, five a little better, and four still better, and one has made a fortune.” It was estimated that, by 1860, some 2,000 Arkansans lived in California while another 11,000 had immigrated to Texas as an effect of the general westward movement.