Pio Pico

California Gold Rush Enables Massive Land Speculation Fraud and Corruption Schemes

| Importance: 7/10

The California Gold Rush of 1849 created a lawless environment that enabled systematic land fraud and banking corruption as the region lacked effective legal institutions. When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California remained technically under American military occupation following …

Palmer (San Francisco banker) Pio Pico Peralta family California state government systematic-corruption land-speculation financial-fraud institutional-failure economic-extraction
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