These "forty-niners" left behind families and jobs in the hope of instant wealth. A few succeeded handsomely, but the gold fields destroyed some and disappointed many more. The gold fields were very lucrative with up to $50,000,000 in gold being found every year for several years; but the gold finds were spread very unevenly. As the easily mined placer gold deposits were worked out the much more capital intensive hard rock mining took over. Americans and foreigners of many different countries, statuses, classes, and races rushed to California for gold. Almost all (~96%) were young men under age 40. Women in the California Gold Rush were initially less than 4% of the population in 1850 and had many opportunities to do new things and take on new tasks in women poor California. Argonauts, as they were often called, walked over the California Trail or came by sea. About 80,000 Argonauts arrived in 1849 alone—about 40,000 over the California trail and 40,000 by sea. In April 1850, a harbor master's estimate counted 62,000 people from across the globe arriving in San Francisco by ship in the preceding 12 months. Hundreds of ships lay abandoned, anchored in San Francisco Bay, their passengers and crews abandoning the ships to search for gold.