Essay On The Fraser River Gold Rush

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The Fraser River Gold Rush in Victoria, BC in 1858 had a large impact on many different groups of people. Over 30,000 people seeking wealth traveled to the western part of the country now called Canada. The abundance of gold caused people from all over the world to settle in British Colombia, taking advantage of the short-lived burst in resources. One of the first groups of people who settled by the Fraser River were the Chinese immigrants who traveled up the continent from San Francisco. Later, many other people of Chinese descent moved directly from Hong Kong, looking for a better life in the “Gum Shan” (the “Gold Mountain”). They didn’t get very far before a shortage of labour caused the government relied on the Chinese workers to do hard …show more content…

Locals such as builders, hotel owners and merchants were on the receiving end of the wealth income, making enough money from all of the immigrants without even needing to mine for gold. Because of the sudden rise in activity in the area that was once just a few trading posts, the town of Victoria was able to build itself into a more developed civilization, as well as developing a factor to Confederation. At the same time, the largest group of miners were Americans, who viewed the Fraser River Gold Rush as an extension to the previous one in California. Because of their size, the American miners owned many large sections of the land around the hotspots where the richest discoveries were made. This was a main reason that they caused conflicts between the Aboriginals and the British. During the gold rush, the Americans took control of the mining and had the greatest outcome of wealth. The outcome of the Fraser River Gold Rush was much greater than anticipated. Tens of thousands of immigrant miners settled in Victoria, causing the colony to develop at an amazingly fast rate. All of the action in the west side of the continent was a helpful resources that the founding fathers used to initiate Confederation and had an overall productive effect on

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