Gold Rush Girl

by Avi

  “And how do you suppose we could even get to the gold fields?” I said.

  “The ketch,” said Thad.

  For a moment, no one said anything. Then I said, “Is she still out there?”

  “I saw her two days ago.”

  “Truly?”

  Thad grinned. “Got on her. She’s just as we left her.”

  I looked to Sam.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Sure, my dad would love the money to go, but not me heading out there to get it. The two of us had a bad time before. But . . .” He turned to me. “You for it?”

  “I don’t think my parents would like it either.”

  “Which means?” said Thad.

  “I have to think about it.”

  I did not speak the entire truth. I knew exactly what I wished to do. The question was, How was I to tell my parents?

  Later, I sat my parents down — Jacob was not there — and began by saying, “Without my friend Sam, Jacob would not be with us.”

  I related yet again how Sam was the one who told me what had happened to Jacob. I also made sure they understood all he had done to help save him, even losing his job. Then I went on to relate his story, how he and his father had come seeking gold, only to be driven from the diggings. Finally, I told them what happened to Sam’s brother.

  I said, “I need to find a way to thank him, and the best way is to find enough gold so they can get back to New York State.”

  Then I added, “I am not asking permission to go. I just want you to know where I’m going with my two best friends.”

  That is to say, I gave them no choice.

  So it was that one week later, Thad, Sam, and I were on the ketch, sailing eastward into the bay, heading for the gold fields. We had our pans, shovels, and food. Of course, we also changed our little boat’s name. She was no longer called the Sadie Rose. The name, which I had crudely painted on her stern, was:

  Our Destiny

  What happened to the hundreds of ships that made up Rotten Row? Many rotted away or were stripped of their wood for building in the city. Some were converted to other uses, such as a church, a jail, warehouses, and saloons. But many were deliberately sunk in Yerba Buena Cove and used as landfill, as land was extended from Montgomery Street to what is now the Embarcadero. So it is that when building foundations were (and still are) constructed, the remains of these old ships are often found. A part of one such ship, the Niantic, may be seen in San Francisco’s Maritime Museum.

  Tory’s home, 15 Sheldon Street, in Providence, Rhode Island, is a real place and may be seen on Google Maps. A family named Blaisdell lived there until 1848.

  The etiquette instructions provided for Tory’s dance school come from lesson books of the day.

  San Francisco is still an amazing place.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2020 by Avi Wortis Inc.

  Cover illustration copyright © 2020 by Sarah J. Coleman

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  First electronic edition 2020

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number pending

  Candlewick Press 99 Dover Street Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

  visit us at www.candlewick.com