The Gold Rush of California

 

Summary of Article:

• The California Gold Rush began in 1848 when a carpenter named James Marshall discovered gold while inspecting a lumber mill near Coloma on the American River.
• Despite efforts to keep the discovery quiet, news spread rapidly, leading to a massive influx of people hoping to strike it rich.
• Thousands of people, known as Forty Niners, traveled from all over the world to California to seek their fortune.
• By 1855, an estimated 750,000 pounds of gold had been extracted, primarily by big business owners and a small percentage of lucky individuals.
• The gold rush had significant effects, including mass migration, the development of new industries like Levi Strauss's durable pants, and California's admission to the United States in 1850.
• Today, the site of the gold discovery has been turned into an 800-acre historical park, attracting thousands of tourists annually.

 

Welcome to Historical Horizons. Greed has always been a part of human nature. It's not uncommon for people to risk everything to get their hands on some treasure or get rich overnight. Sometimes people do find some hidden treasure. That can make people leave everything and rush to the treasure in hopes of getting some.

One such incident happen in California in the 19th century. The discovery of gold over there, transformed not only the place but also the lives of so many people. It is historically known as 'California Gold Rush'. How did it all take place? How much gold was found? How many people did actually benefit from there? What's there today? Let's find out.

The Discovery of Gold:

In 1848 California, a carpenter by the name of James Marshall was installing a lumber mill, near Coloma on the American River. On 24th January, James was out there to inspect the canal on the American river, where he had installed the mill. During his inspection he noticed some small golden glittering stones by the canal bank.

In anticipation of having found gold, he took those stones out. He shared this discovery with his co-workers as well as the owner of the mill, John Sutter. At first, John Sutter did not believe that it could be gold. But upon thorough inspection, he finally realized that it was gold. That made him ecstatic.

However, there was one problem; the land where gold was discovered did not belong to him. Since it was not his property, anyone could take gold from there and he couldn't stop them. Therefore, John wanted to purchase that land as soon as possible so as to become the sole owner of gold. The Mexican - American war had just recently finished.

And that part of California was not formally a part of America. Nonetheless, it was under the control of American military. It was not possible for John to purchase that land until the fate of the region was decided between American and Mexico. In order to get the land cheaply, John tried to cut some deals with the natives.

But that too wasn't legal because the natives didn't have any right to own or sell any piece of land. Because of this restriction on land purchase, he tried to keep the news of gold discreet. So he told his employees to keep it to themselves. He didn't want any outsider to come there sniffing for gold.

And before any of that happens, he wanted to purchase the land. But the news was too exciting to be withheld. And it didn't remain a secret for too long. John's crew had seen the gold nugget and had stopped working on the lumber mill. They spread around the area in search of more gold. That's how it all began.

At first, only people from nearby areas reached the landscape. Some of them got actually successful but most of them didn't find any gold. So they declared it a mere rumor. It was about 7 weeks later that a newspaper in San Francisco published this news. It was not long before the news reached masses but most of them found it too good to be true.

A few days later, one of John's crewmen went to a shop to buy some mining tools. But instead of money, he paid the shopkeeper with tiny lumps of gold. The shopkeeper was really amazed at this. Offcourse he had heard the news of gold, but thus far he only considered it a rumor. The shopkeeper, Samuel Brannan, thought if the news was true, he could also get rich just by selling those mining tools.

So he reached the location of gold discovery himself. Surprisingly he was able to find some gold too and that made him believe the news even more firmly. Brannan who belonged to San Francisco shared this news with his friends and family back home. Many of them left everything behind and went to the gold site.

In no time, the population of the place reached thousands. By 1848, the news had reached the eastern parts of America. And a local New York newspaper republished the news. As soon as it appeared in the paper, thousands of people set off for gold hunt. On December 5, 1848, even the US government declared the discovery of gold to be true.

Forty Niners:

The confirmation by the government made people go crazy. People from everywhere left their jobs and families to go find some gold. Everyone wanted to be the first to reach California. People used 3 routes to get there from the east coast. One of them was by land while the other two were by sea.

People coming by sea would reach San Francisco first and from there they would cover 140 miles on land to reach the gold fields near American river. The gold rush didn't stay in America. Rather people from China, Australia and Europe also reached California. Since all of them got there in 1949, they were called Forty Niners.

By the end of that year, the people count had gone over a hundred thousand. In attempts to reach the gold field quickly, some people even tried to cross the eastern desert and lost their lives. That part of America is among the hottest places on earth. It was in 1849 that this place was given the title of Death Valley.

As soon as they would reach California, people would get themselves tent, food and mining tools at an expensive price. Some of them were even fooled by frauds and were sold fake tools. The first thing to be done after reaching the gold fields was to claim the piece of land where they expected to find gold.

But the prospects of finding gold heavily depended on luck. The luckier ones would find gold that was worth upto $2000 in a single day. But not everyone was this fortunate. The early years of gold rush had seen law and order situation in California. With the increase in influx, crime rate went up with frequent fights between miners.

On top of that, Americans didn't want any other people to claim this gold. Attacks on other nationalities by Americans, especially Chinese and natives had a routine matter. Consequently, the state of California imposed a tax of 20 per month on foreign miners. It was made mandatory for foreign miners to obtain a license for mining.

By 1850, the surface level and slightly below surface level gold, that was easy to dig out, had been taken. But people were still getting there in large numbers. Big business people also came with their machinery and the poor miners joined them as labour force. The advent of hydraulic mining increased gold mining by multiple folds.

By 1855, most of the gold had already been taken out. According to estimates, approximately 750 thousand pounds of gold was extracted during the gold rush. It is interesting to mention that in 1857, a ship carrying 30 thousand pounds of gold from California to New York, sank in the Atlantic ocean. In 1988, the remains of this ship were eventually recovered with some amounts of gold as well.

However, the search for the rest of gold is still going on. It is a fact that only 5% of all the people going to California got rich from gold rush. And that constituted majorly of big businessmen. Whereas 95% of the people couldn't score any fortune. You must be wondering if John Sutter could find any gold. Unfortunately, he was among the 95% unlucky. And if he had any luck, it was too meager to mention.

The Effects of Gold Rush:

In order to supply the gold fields with water, many canals were dug from the river and small dams were built on them. That made it difficult for local farmers to get water for agriculture, resulting in their lands getting barren.

Gold Rush caused the greatest mass migration in American history. Due to increased population, many new job opportunities arose. Among the gold seekers, there was a guy named Levi Strauss. He started the business of making durable pants for gold miners. The idea became a success and later on he secured a patent for these pants.

Even today we know this brand by the name of Levi's and it's head office is in San Francisco. Some of the people coming from other states or other countries, also brought their culture with them. Another good thing that came out of gold rush was that due to this sudden increase in population, California became an independent state in 1850 and was included in the United States of America. By 1855, the people count had crossed 300 thousand.

What's Happening There Today?

The question is what do we find today in the gold fields of California? The legendary place where gold was discovered in 1848 has been transformed into an 800 acre historical park. The lumber mill was also rebuilt according to its original design and it has been a part of this park.

Thousands of tourists visit this place each year. And explore this place of such grand historical significance. It was neither the first nor the last gold rush; however famous it was. That's why this article became a part of our blog.

Do share your feedback in comments. Also share with us if you would be a part of any gold rush that happens today.