California Gold Rush Research Paper

The California Gold Rush is a big part of California’s history and is taught to 4th graders. As a future teacher, it is important to understand why and how topics like this one can help benefit our students. Settlers like John Sutter came from other countries to find a place on the expanding west coast, but in the early harsh terrain of California it didn’t come easy. A gold rush is defined as a rapid influx of fortune seekers rushing to the site of a newly discovered gold deposit (pocket of land). While there were many gold rushes in the 19th century the one that is being focused on happened in California in 1848. In 1848, James Marshall an employee of John Sutter at the time was testing the Sutter’s mill as usual. However, this time James noticed something different about the water running over gravel and sand. There seemed to be something sparkling in the sand, when he went to investigate he picked up some small yellow beads/flakes of metal. Those flakes of metal, turned out to be gold. James told John the news, that they gold at his mill. John and James tried to keep it

quiet, but soon enough the secret about finding gold got out and fortune seeking prospectors were heading over to California to find gold.
It was on John Sutter settlement that gold was found which sparked the 1848 California gold rush.

John was an immigrant from Switzerland who was born on February 15th, 1803 in kandern, a town a few miles from the Swiss border. Sutter’s time in Switzerland consisted of working for a paper business and meeting his wife, Annette D’beld. However, Sutter’s luck wasn’t as great as it would be in California. After a business failure, he decided to seek fortune in American. Leaving his wife and four children behind in Germany. After arriving in the united states Sutter worked as a merchant in Missouri for several years. All the while, dreaming of having his own agricultural settlement out in the west. It was in April of 1838, that John joined a trading expedition to the pacific coast. The traders made their way to Fort Vancouver that October, where they then sailed upon the “Columbia” to

Honolulu.
It was in Honolulu, where Johns luck started to turn. Sutter presented himself as an elite former captain for the Swiss Guard. Even though in reality he was broke and struggling to make his way to California. John made friends with the natives, and by the time he left in 1839; Sutter had gathered supplies, money, and 9 Hawaiians to help him build a settlement in the Sacramento valley of California. Two weeks after Sutter reached Monterey in 1839 his crew and himself landed and surrounded by a group of about 200 native Americans. Sutter was able to establish a connection/friendship and soon started forming his base camp. However, to qualify for land, Sutter had to become a Mexican citizen which he did in august of 1840. When Sutter was grated his land, a whole 48,827 acres he named it “New Helvetia” after his home.
It was in the 1840s that Sutter started building his Fort to protect his newly acquired settlement “New Helvetia”. John hired many to work him, at the settlement. On the settlement, John had large herds of cattle and horses. Along with his flour mill, bakery and blacksmith shop. Making Sutter’s settlement a great stop before you reached San Francisco’s bay. By 1844, Sutter’s fort was completed however, in 1847 Sutter hired James Marshall who was born in 1810 to build a saw mill on the south side of the American river. About 5o miles east of Sutter’s fort before the completion of the sawmill, however Marshall discovered gold in the sand in 1848. It was after this time, when the news of gold broke out that Sutter’s luck went downhill. With the influx of gold miners known as 49ers, Sutter men stopped working to look for gold. The lost of both his men and the miners caused Sutter’s land to deteriorate. Leaving him with no choice but to eventually sell his land.
The gold rush, was a new adventure for many. But for Sutter and Marshall it was the beginning of the end. Sutter a man who traveled for the American Dream before it was the American dream couldn’t survive the assault of the 49ers. Losing his land and everything he worked for. The California gold rush is a major part of our rich history and John Sutter and his fort are a important part to that era. Students should be learning about this in their classes to understand that sometimes things don’t always work out. However, that you should never give up, on the journey because you may succeed like John did for a while.