Women in the California Gold Rush were scarce but played a vital role. Alton Pryor captures the plights, the disappointments and the joys of the women who first arrived in California. The author maintains that it wasn't the men who settled California. It was the women, who showed their strengths against formidable odds they faced in the trek to the gold fields. It was Jenny Wimmer who determined if that gold nugget James Marshall found was true gold or not. She did it by cooking it in the kettle of lye soap she was making.