California Gold Rush

The California gold rush began on January 24, 1848, in the Sacramento Valley. The first sight of gold nuggets found during the Gold Rush was located in the American River, by James W. Marshall. After the news of the gold became known the tidings spread quickly. Information about Jame's discovery caused thousands of immigrants to migrate, changing the nation forever. Citizens living in California were especially provoked with this, due to their homes being intruded on. Before the gold was first found in 1848 the estimated population was less than 1,000 people. Within one year the nations' population had jumped tremendously to approximately 100,000 people. California officially became recognized as a state in 1850, and after two more years had passed almost 250,000 immigrants, businessmen, families, and miners, had traveled to California in hopes of discovering gold. By 1850 more than 300,000 gold questers assailed California.
Both James and John were left without any fortune from their discovery. A San Francisco businessman, known as, Sam Brannan was responsible for spreading the announcement of the gold located at Sutter's Mill, mainly because he ran down the streets of the small towns in California announcing the two men's discoveries. After the news quickly began to spread, travelers invaded Sutter's Mill and overran his region. Miners primed up tents outside of the primal mining camps, which were ambient to where they were hunting for gold. In the first ten years of the Gold Rush, more than five-hundred mining camps were launched. Sometimes these camps would quickly develop into towns known as “boomtowns”. Cities located in both San Francisco and Columbia are two instances of where boomtowns could be located during the gol...

... middle of paper ...

...12 million ounces of gold was mined during the gold rush (would be worth around $20 billion using todays prices). The autarkic, audacious spirit that is such a crucial part of California’s economy today is a lasting reflection of the great gold rush in 1849. Disputably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the the mid-1800s.

Works Cited

http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849

http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/goldrush.html

http://lessons.ctaponline.org/~dbaker/dbaker/A%20folder/theimpactofgold.html

http://www.calgoldrush.com/

http://www.malakoff.com/sutter.htm

http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/eras/era4.html

http://www.coloma.com/california-gold-discovery/history/california-gold-rush/

http://ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/geology/goldrush.html

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbforty.html