The California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush

In this world, there are many countries. Every country has its own people, culture, riches and its very own special history, yet every country has had its own citizens immigrating to the United States to seek the “American dream.” In 1848, the “American dream” was a reality for many in the form of the “gold rush.” I will further discuss the beginnings of the gold rush gold rush starting with its discovery, the journey to the gold, and the collision of cultures during the process.

It is very unbelievable that such an important event in history was due to a discovery made by one man; a man named James Marshall. While working on building a sawmill for John Sutter, Marshall and about 20 other men set out to find lumber near a river, however the glint of something completely different caught his eye. On January 24, 1848, Marshall found about a pea size nugget of gold and then another. Both Marshall and Sutter wanted nothing more than to keep it a secret as the gold miners would keep them from their original task. To their dismay, word quickly spread through California, the rest of America and eventually the world and people flocked to California to make their fortune. The population increased by 86,000, according to some estimates, in two years.

Being that most of these wealth seekers left toward their goal in the year 1849, they were referred to as “49ers.” For those who did come for their fortunes, their journey was long and hard, and they had to endure hunger, thirst and many times sickness. Many made their way on foot or by wagon. San Francisco was the most popular port of call for those who came across the oceans. For some, the journey to California took up to treacherous nine months. Due to the travel times, some sought to find a short cut to the gold by crossing Panama. Although logical, what they did not realize was malaria and cholera were common in the rain forests of Central America.

After enduring the difficult travel, the gold was finally theirs for the taking. Gold, as we are often taught, is tucked away deep into the earth. However, in California, the story was different. It was in plain sight, all you needed were the right tools to separate it from the dirt and the ability to work hard. A typical miners’ days were spent digging, sifting and washing in ice-cold water for 10 hours a day. As the panning yielded less and less, miners turned to more advanced techniques to extract the gold from the earth.

Because there is only so much gold in any given spot, there were many miners who left with nothing in their pocket, providing that they even made it alive. By mid 1849, the gold became scarce, but the 49ers kept coming. The fact remained that although the gold was scarce- it was still there for the taking. Any discovery only encouraged more miners towards their dream. Many of the more successful, were not those who were the miners themselves, but rather those who sold the miners tools and other survival supplies, as well as services such as banking, transportation, and even mail delivery.

As the world rushed in to California, the gold seekers became out of control and beyond the reach of any established law. They disregarded the tribal governments of the California Indians and had little respect for the past practices of Mexican rule. With concerns of security and regulation of their mining claims, miners took things into