The California gold rush of 1848 – 1849 and its results
The lust for gold has existed since long before the birth of Christ, from the pharaohs in old Egypt to the forty-niners during the California gold rush. Gold has always been considered as a sign of wealth and because of its rareness and value it has had a big impact on history. The willingness of people to give up all they have in the pursuit of getting rich has motivated people to leave their home and to search for fortune; this was one of the reasons why people came to the United States. In the first colonies people just had one thing in mind which was money, people was out searching for gold instead of taking care of the colony and doing things necessary for its survival. This is repeated
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Before the gold rush California was populated mostly by Native Americans and Spanish colonists. The most western parts of the US had so far been left uncivilized by the English colonists except for some explorers. Before the Mexican – American War of 1846 – 1848 it wasn’t even American territory. At the time California and New Mexico belonged to Mexico. The war started due to the President’s Polk desire to expand U.S territory in the west by having New Mexico and California as a part of the US. The war was easily won by the United States and in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was signed on February 2 1848, Mexico lost about a third of its territory. Polk desire of expanding U.S territory had succeeded. With the new territory of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico it was the largest territory claimed by the U.S after the Louisiana purchase in 1803. …show more content…
He was a European born pioneer who came to California in 1839 and received land from the back then Mexican governor close to the Sacramento River. He established a new colony and built Sutter’s Fort which today is Sacramento the capital of California. Why Sutter is one of the first guys that is mentioned when talking about the Gold Rush is because it was on Sutter’s Mill, a water-powered sawmill, that James Wilson Marshall found the first gold flakes in the American River. Sutter’s colony which was called Nueva Helvetica which meant New Switzerland where his roots where from. Located at a junction between the Sacramento River and the American River at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it was a perfect spot for finding gold. The finding of the gold was on January 24, 1848, just a couple of days before the signing of the treaty in which California became U.S territory. This timing was perfect, the word of a new state in the West could now be written about together with gold findings. The rush was on.
History Essay: The Australian Gold Rush The Australian Gold Rush was often described as the “making of a country.” The Gold Rush was undeniably one of the most significant events in the history of Australia. In May 1851, the first grain of gold was discovered in Australia (Australian Government, 2015).
The California Gold Rush was a time during 1848-1857 where James W. Marshall found gold, as a result, people around the world came to California for it.
The westward expansion into California also leads to the gold rush. Some might say that the gold rush was a great thing, but was it really? The gold rush leads to the lack of government control and because of this the people took the law into their own hands. For those who committed small theft they “were punished by banishment from diggings” (Doc D) and for those who committed more serious crimes “there was the single alternative of hanging” (Doc D). As one can see the gold rush turned into a debacle that ended up allowing the people take the law into their own
In 1799 marks the start of the North Carolina Gold Rush. twelve year old Conrad Reed found the gold in the waters of lake meadow and where he took it home and used it as a doorstop for over three years. In 1802 Conrad father decided to take the rock to a jeweler who confirmed that the rock was gold and he bought it for 3.50 and later profiting a lot of it. Reed soon realized he had been swindled he aligned himself with partners in a crude mining operation at the site where his son found it at. The men scoured the bank and sandbarr using things like picks, shovel, pans, and gold panning to separate the heavy gold particles from the lighter sand rocks. Miners that was small time farmers sifted through sand and gravel along the NC’s streams and rivers. Since mining for gold only use simple equipment, a shovel and a pan to separate the gold people from all over the state and people from close areas wanted to try their luck. Gold in California was big deal too. On January 24, 1848 James wilson Marshall a carpenter from New Jersey found flakes of gold in American River at the base of sierra Nevada. Even though Marshall was trying to keep the discovery under wraps word go out to the people. By mid-March the newspaper was reporting that a large amount of gold was being turn up at Sutter’s Mill. As the News spread that fortunes are being made in California the first migrants to arrive was the ones that was accessible by
In January of 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, which is now in present-day California. From 1848-1849, 300,000 people rushed to California in search of gold. These gold-seekers, nicknamed “Forty-Niners”, came from all over the world. Most of the Forty-Niners came from the rest of America, but some even came from Europe, Australia, Latin America, and Asia. Because of the huge gold rush, roads, churches, schools, canals, cities, and towns were established in the California area. This new economic explosion influenced California to become a state in the Union.
The discovery of gold nuggets in Sacramento Valley in 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush of 1849. Which is one of most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. News spread of the discovery thousands of gold miners traveled over sea or overland to San Francisco and surrounding areas by the end of 1849. The non-native population of California territory was over 100,000, compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000. Two billion dollars worth of precious metal was extracted from the area during the Gold Rush peak in 1852.
Gold was found in the capital of California today Sacramento also called the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 to around 1857. The Mexican province governor gave John Sutter 50,000 acres of land to make a place his was going to call New Switzerland this land stretched from the Sacramento and the American Rivers (“Gold Rush”). John Sutter the owner of the new asked a man by the name of James Marshall to help him build a sawmill that would be located 50 miles east on Sutter's land. (Blashfield 1). So Marshall and his men went to work when Sutter came by to check the progress he found something sparkling in the water of one of the rivers near the sawmill and extracted a lump of gold from a nearby gorge and shouted Gold! Gold! We have found it! But Marshall didn’t really believe him until he threw down a handful of golden flakes on the table. This is how the gold rush started and had them thinking how to keep it a secret.
The California Gold Rush of 1849 was a major point in history that involved the colonization of the far west, the hunt for gold, and many issues to go along with it. During a period where nothing was really advancing or happening, many people began to look for a new job or a new way to make some form of money. In times like that, there are little to no jobs available. Some people managed to fine gold in the west, and a lot of it, specifically located in California. As people began telling others about it, the information eventually spread throughout the continent. Eventually, thousands of people were migrating out west in search of gold to get rich on.
Why was the California Gold Rush important? First some background information about this past event was that the California gold rush had began on the 24th of January in 1848, when a man named James W. Marshall had discovered a gold nugget in the American River. This was during the construction of a sawmill for John Sutter, who was a Sacramento agriculturalist. The news of James Marshall discovering this gold nugget had brought thousands of immigrants to California and even brought people from elsewhere in the United States and even from other countries. “When the gold rush began, California had a population of fourteen thousand; by the end of 1849, there were an estimated one hundred thousand in the former Mexican province.”
The California Gold Rush took place in 1848. The discovery of gold on Sacramento started the Gold Rush. Thousands of gold miners came from all over. In the late 1840's California was populated with about 100,000 people. As people heard about the gold rush they started to go look for gold. The California gold rush was very famous in the 1840's.
During the last half of the 19th century, relations between the United States and Mexico were just beginning to come together after ending the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold along the American River, in Sutter’s Mill, California. Less than two weeks later on February 4, 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and would mark the end of the Mexican-American War. Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the Republic of Mexico ceded to the United States more than one-third of its valuable land, including California. Californios, the people of
The first gold rush that happened in the United States was in California. This was in 1849 when a man named James Marshall found gold while he was building a sawmill on his property. After this speck of gold was found the word spread around California. Once the word was through California and other people started finding gold the news got to the 11th U.S. president, James Polk. James then sparked the gold rush by announcing that gold was being found in California without a problem, “You'll find it anywhere you dig down there.”. One year earlier Mexico gave up the California territory at the end the of the Mexican-American War. The sudden change of land ownership caused conflict between the Mexican Americans and the Californians.
On January 24, 1848 John W. Marshall discovered gold in California, which set its foundation for California’s future success. The Gold Rush gave California’s popular motto of, “Eureka” meaning “I’ve found it.” Also, the Gold Rush drew attention to California drawing cultures from around the world to seek better opportunities and make a greater extent of money than they would ever come across. This created California’s population to experience an influx during the 1840’s. Although it increased population in California, there were difficulties and problems with encounters between the Chinese immigrants, the rich, and miners that resulted in social conflict.
Gold found in California starting the Gold Rush, happened to not be the first discovery of gold in there. “But gold had been found in 1843 near the Mission San Fernando in Southern California”. Although this discovery did not spark much attention, reason being. At that the time the country was under Mexican rule. “ The great California gold rush began on January 24,1848, when James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River while constructing a sawmill for John Sutter, a Sacramento agriculturalist”. Discovery of this gold generated the Gold Rush, which is one of the most significant events that
The California Gold Rush happened January 24th, 1848. James Wilson Marshall was working one day as usual when he seen a shine from the “icy winter water.” He thought it was just a trick of the California sun. Becoming Anxious he then went to go check it out, he found five shiny nuggets. Marshall went back to his station and hammered the nuggets changing its shape but not breaking it, he found gold. The founding of gold by Marshall brought prospectors, immigrants, and new technology to what would be known as the Golden State. People were searching for wealth going crazy trying to found gold. Before the discovery of Gold in 1848, the majority of the West did not even belong to the United States. Scientists believe it was a form of the manifest destiny. Before then they didn’t even know gold existed. Very few people made money for finding the gold, they were also told that if they didn’t find any gold it was failure, and failure is a terrible sin.