Click on each title to see more information. California Indians & the Gold Rush by Clifford E. Trafzer.Adding a chapter to the story of the gold rush, Trafzer tells about the Indian 49ers who provided more than half the labor during California?s mining frenzy. $10.95 Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. This is another Charley Parkhurst story, but it has as much to do about life in the mid 1800s as it does the gold rush... $4.99 Snowshoe Thompson by Nancy Smiler Levinson. This sweet, easy-to-read story tells how a Scandinavian miner brought news to a small, snowbound boy in gold rush California. $3.99