Entirely economies failed when town leaders placed all their eggs into one basket. Take the mining towns as a prime example. Large populations escaped the east coast. Wagon trains were led west. Like the caravans that brought Marco Polo to the riches of China, families were willing to camp out in mining towns covered in snow for their opportunity to find gold. Good luck was found by shoveling into the dirt. Miners picked at mountains. Men walked into the water that was recently melted snow with pans so that the waves would welcome gold that broke from the hills. Merchants prospered. Property owners with a special interest in their own land started to organize men for protection. Since protection is the world’s oldest profession, groups were organized by new judges: Fire men, police corps, guards at the gates, and inspectors. Business was booming until the mines collapsed. Lawless rebels fought for jobs. The river stopped supplying gold. Trade ceased. No one had money to buy baked bread, so families fried water mixed with flour and called the biscuits pan cakes. The leaders were the last to go, but when those men who controlled the government left, every individual collectively packed his bags, lifted them into their wagons, and abandoned the ship.
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