How did people live pre gold rush?

Answer 1

It depends on whom your speaking of and on their location.
Those European and other immigrants living in the mountains lead a very rugged and hard Scrabble life style mostly trapping and hunting wild game to survive. Those who lived near but not in the mountains, lived a slightly better life style in secured compounds, such as Bent's Fort in what became Colorado, and had access to a higher level and quality of trade goods and implements.They also had better access to lines of communication than did their mountain dwelling counterparts.
The Natives that lived in the mountains lived a stone age life style, where as the Plains natives lived life in a generally mobile and migratory life style following herds of Bison, Elk Deer or other large game and ate mostly from such sources vs. the mountainous folks who ate most anything edible they could get their hands on due to the much harsher conditions they lived in.