Reddit mentions of The Gold Rush Letters of E. Allen Grosh and Hosea B. Grosh (Shepperson Series in Nevada History)

First, the Gold Rush miners were adapt at exchanging gold dust for goods: the dust served as its own currency; weighing scales were ubiquitous and everyone knew the value of the metal, so it was accepted virtually everywhere. Banks were always willing to buy dust and exchange it for coins. Paper was shunned and was generally valued at a lower rate than coins. The process of gold into goods and coins was actually a reasonably easy process. The Grosh brothers discuss this, among other things in their letters.