Moses Logan Rodgers (1835 - October 22, 1900) African American pioneer of California, arriving in 1849--the beginning of the California Gold Rush. California was annexed by the United States and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.
Moses Rodgers, who was born into slavery in Missouri, came to California in 1849. He became prominent during the Gold Rush as a successful mining engineer, making a lucrative career...
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Moses Logan Rodgers (1835 - October 22, 1900) African American pioneer of California, arriving in 1849--the beginning of the California Gold Rush. California was annexed by the United States and was admitted to the Union as the thirty-first state on September 9, 1850.
Moses Rodgers, who was born into slavery in Missouri, came to California in 1849. He became prominent during the Gold Rush as a successful mining engineer, making a lucrative career excavating gold in mines he owned in Hornitos in Mariposa County. He was regarded as intelligent, and his professional opinion was important. He quickly became known as an expert in the state, and investors went to him for advice regarding mining claims. He became so expert at it that in post-Civil War he was appointed superintendent of several mines (Mount Gaines Mine & Washington Mine). The stockholders of these mines seem to have been both blacks and whites. Rodgers's best known mine, for which he was a stock-holding superintendent, was...
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