Essay On The Gold Rush

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On January 24, 1848 James W. Marshall found a shiny piece of metal near the American River, which changed California and eventually the whole West forever. This event kick started the Gold Rush, which would eventually become one of the most important events in our country’s expansion Westward. The Gold Rush transformed business and expanded everything in its path. The railroad came as a result from the Gold Rush in order to bring mass amounts of people, who gave up everything to have a chance at making a fortune, out west to make their dreams come true. San Francisco was transformed from a small town by the sea, to one of the largest cities in the U.S. The California Gold Rush during the 1840’s was a significant event that brought a massive immigration movement to the west, shaped and built San Francisco’s economic growth, and opened up the western migration that united our nation from coast to coast in 1838. In 1838, John A Sutter decided that Mexican-controlled California offered him the greatest chance of success and fortune. He traveled west on the long and grueling Oregon Trail. Sutter followed it until he came to Fort Vancouver, and from there he headed south to California. He finally arrived in California in 1839. He set up a meeting with the provincial governor of California in Monterey. Sutter proposed an idea about building a colony in Monterey and the governor gave him nearly 50,000 acres of land. On this piece of land, Sutter created Sutter’s Fort between 1840 and 1842. In 1848 when one of John A Sutter’s employees, James Wilson Marshall, found gold in the South Fork of the American River, life was never the same for John Sutter. The discovery electrified the world and soon brought thousands of eager gold seekers by ... ... middle of paper ... ...The railroad connected the east and west coast, which united America and allowed both coasts to trade and work as one. The California Gold Rush during the 1840’s was a significant event that brought a massive immigration movement to the west, shaped and built San Francisco’s economic growth, and opened up the western migration that united our nation from coast to coast in 1838. The Gold Rush forever changed the United States and led to the expansion of not only the west, but also the entire Country. The massive influx of immigrants that entered the west along with gold seekers from other parts of the country created a cultural melting pot of different people, languages, and ideas that make up what America is today. The California Gold Rush of 1848 was crucial event in the development and growth of the United States and without it; the country would not be the same.

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